Roasted Maple Carrots with Stracciatella Cheese

A simple carrot side dish recipe celebrating roasted maple carrots and buttery pine nuts on a bed of creamy stracciatella cheese. Pretty enough for holiday celebrations but easy to make for midweek dinners. This oven glazed carrot recipe will please the soul and light up any table.

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Salad
• Best Way to Cook Carrots
• How To Roast Carrots In Oven
• What Is Stracciatella Cheese?
• Recipe Overview
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• How To Assemble Salad
• Variations and Substitutions
• How to Serve
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Salad

Roasted carrots with a maple glaze is a classic combination. The caramel sweetness of maple syrup develops the natural flavours of roasted carrots. I then added orange juice and a little zest to enhance the citrus aroma.

I wasn’t sure if the stracciatella cheese would be too much for the roasted maple carrots, but it was a perfect match.

Stracciatella di bufala is composed of small shreds of stretched mozzarella bathed in cream. It might sound overly rich, but it was light and buttery when mingled with the roasted maple carrots, pine nuts and fresh parsley.

This Dutch carrot recipe is so easy to make! Let the oven do the work for your roasted glazed carrots, and they will be glistening and so beautifully caramelised in no time.

Transform the humble carrot into a delicious side dish, pretty enough for holiday celebrations but simple enough to have during the week.

The colourful mix of roasted glazed carrots looks amazing against the snowy white stracciatella cheese. Great to serve on the dinner table during all the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

I tell you everyone will be asking for the oven glazed carrots recipe after they try it.

Best Way to Cook Carrots

Growing up, I wasn’t a big fan of carrots. I felt raw carrots had a funny taste, and cooked carrots were overdone in Chinese soup or undercooked in stir-fries.

It was very much a filler vegetable, nothing to brag about or showcase.

But how wrong am I!

We are always asked how to make carrots less boring. Well, I can answer this question easily now. There are so many ways you can spruce up this everyday vegetable. And it is so easy.

First up is to decide on the way to cook carrots. Then consider the seasoning and ingredients that pair well with carrots.

Carrot is a versatile vegetable that you can boil, steam, bake, saute, roast or deep-fry. Plus, you can shave, slice, shred, blend or just eat whole.

Fantastic in soups, salads, roasts, stews, tarts, cakes, fritters, stir-fries and noodles, this root vegetable is so delicious in many ways and should be celebrated as long as we know how to cook it properly.

It is about time we make carrot our hero ingredient.

How To Roast Carrots In Oven

My favourite way to cook carrots at the moment is definitely in the oven. It is such an easy process to roast carrots.

Coat in a little bit of olive oil and season with your favourite herbs or spices, and then leave in the oven for about 20 minutes until tender.

Roasting carrots soften and caramelise just perfectly so that the vegetable is tender and sweet. The slightly burnt bits adds character and texture.

In this recipe, I coat the Dutch carrots in maple syrup, olive oil and orange zest to lift the flavours, but there are many other options to try.

You can add spices like paprika and cumin or coat with seeded mustard to dial up the aromas. Or throw in some garlic cloves or herbs like parsley, oregano or sage for a more earthy affair in roasted carrots.

If you adore this roasted maple carrot recipe, you will love our other carrot recipes too – an easy, healthy lunch with Salad of Dutch Carrots, Hummus and Soft-Boiled Eggs or oven glazed carrots with Brussels sprouts for a delicious side dish.

What Is Stracciatella Cheese?

If you think you haven’t tried stracciatella cheese before, then you might be wrong. The reason being is that stracciatella cheese is used to make burrata cheese. Basically, when you burst the burrata balloon, milky stracciatella cheese oozes out.

Stracciatella cheese or stracciatella di bufala is a soft Italian cheese traditionally produced from buffalo milk. A silky texture, stracciatella di bufala is composed of small shreds of stretched mozzarella bathed in cream. The flavours are deliciously creamy and uber buttery.

I adore stracciatella di bufala. The match with roasted maple carrots was divine. Another great way to serve stracciatella cheese is with charred tomatoes and basil and mint pesto.

Recipe Overview

Flavour/Texture: The contrasting texture of roasted maple carrots with creamy stracciatella cheese is fabulous. I also love the added pine nuts for crunch and parsley leaves for freshness.

The creamy, buttery cheese counterbalances the sweet orange maple glazed carrots. Plus, I love how the stracciatella cheese acts like a creamy sauce/dressing as it mingles everything together.

Ease: This is an easy recipe with glazed carrots and maple syrup. Your oven will do most of the heavy lifting. All you need to do is mix and plate!

Time: You can easily prep this recipe ahead and roast it in the oven with other recipes on the go. The maximum time will be 40 minutes.

Ingredients

These are the ingredients you need in Roasted Maple Carrots with Stracciatella Cheese.

Carrots: I used Dutch carrots in this roasted maple carrots recipe as I adore the sweetness in the baby carrots. Plus, they don’t need peeling and the tips caramelise well in the oven.

Maple syrup: As the flavouring for this oven glazed carrot recipe is based on maple syrup, ensure you have a good quality bottle. Just be sure to store maple syrup well in the fridge once opened. Unlike honey, maple syrup can grow mould if not stored properly.

Orange, zest and juice: I added orange juice and zest to the maple syrup glaze for another level of aroma and flavour. The fruity orange complements carrots so well.

Olive oil: Good quality olive oil for the salad dressing to add depth and flavour.

Salt and pepper: To taste

Pine nuts: I know pine nuts can be on the more expensive side for nuts, but it’s worth it in this recipe, especially if serving for holiday celebrations. Even a small scattering of pine nuts can go a long way. The buttery pine nuts are a perfect match for roasted maple carrots.

Stracciatella cheese: You can buy stracciatella di bufala at any good deli or boutique grocery stores. Typically placed in the fridge with the other fresh cheese like mozzarella, bocconcini, burrata and fior di latte.

Parsley: One of the most popular herbs in salads, parsley is a garnish in this Dutch carrot recipe and adds leafy freshness.

Extra virgin olive oil: I used a good quality extra virgin olive oil tie in all the wonderful flavours to finish the side dish. You always need a good quality extra virgin olive oil in the pantry.

Instructions

Follow these instructions on how to make Roasted Maple Carrots with Stracciatella Cheese.

I bought two different coloured Dutch carrots, but of course, just the orange ones are fine. The purple carrots add colour and a slightly different flavour but are not crucial if you can’t find them.

Preheat oven to 180°C or 350°F.

You don’t have to peel Dutch carrots but be sure to scrub off any excess dirt. Trim off the green tops.

Peel ½ orange and keep zest. Cut the orange in half and squeeze one half into a large mixing bowl.

Together in the bowl, place Dutch carrots, olive oil, maple syrup, orange zest, salt and pepper. Toss well with maple syrup glaze until all is coated.

Place on an oven tray and roast in oven for approximately 20 minutes or until tender. I usually would turn the carrots at about 10 minutes so that the carrots are cooked evenly.

Turn oven off when done and keep there until ready to serve.

Whilst the carrots are roasting, prepare the other ingredients.

Over medium-low heat, toast pine nuts in a dry pan until golden brown. Stir and frequently move to avoid burning. Once they are ready, remove quickly from pan.

Wash and roughly chop parsley.

How To Assemble Salad

On a large platter, scoop stracciatella cheese onto half the plate.

Place the roasted maple-glazed carrots next to the stracciatella cheese with some overlapping on top of cheese.

Scatter toasted pine nuts and chopped parsley.

Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil to serve.

Variations and Substitutions

Different types of carrots: If you only have standard carrots in the fridge and want to use them up, you can easily swap Dutch carrots for them. Cut the carrots into long sticks on a diagonal.

Maple syrup alternatives: Roasted glazed carrots can also be made with a honey glaze versus maple syrup. I find honey to be a little sweeter than maple syrup, so adjust according to taste.

Stracciatella cheese substitute: If stracciatella di bufala is unavailable at your local deli or supermarket, you can use any of the following soft, fresh cheese: burrata, buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte in this gluten free salad. Tear the cheese apart when plating.

Nut free option: You can swap out the pine nuts for pepitas for a nut free salad.

Vegan option: Stracciatella might be harder to substitute if you are looking for a vegan option. There is vegan buffalo mozzarella available, or you can try layering the roasted maple carrots over hummus.

How to Serve

Here are some main dishes that will go well with Roasted Maple Carrots with Stracciatella Cheese.

Instant pot turkey breast: This roasted maple carrots salad and Stracciatella is the perfect side salad to serve with this turkey breast recipe. It would look amazing on that Thanksgiving table and will impress your family and friends!

Perfect roast beef: Beef and carrots go so well together. Serve this roasted maple carrots salad and Stracciatella this easy roast beef recipe made with red wine, garlic and a Dijon herb crust.

Instant pot pork tenderloin: This sweet and savoury recipe is made with budget-friendly pork tenderloin, fresh herbs, sliced onions, apples, and sweet apple jam. No better to serve it than with this roasted maple carrots salad and Stracciatella.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Transforming the humble carrot by roasting it with a deliciously fragrant orange maple glaze and matching it with creamy stracciatella cheese.

This Dutch carrot recipe is simple and easy to prepare with no fuss, so we can let our hero ingredient shine. Roasted maple carrots should definitely be on your next Thanksgiving menu.

That’s all!

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If you’d like to create your own salad and have an ingredient you’d like to hero, we have some great pairing suggestions to help you work out what flavours go well together.

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