These herb and pine nut roasted carrots drizzled with tahini sauce are the perfect easy, low stress side dish to jazz up any meal. They are naturally vegan, gluten free and paleo making them the perfect side to take to big family dinners, potlucks, or other events.
As personal chefs we love a good side dish that looks and feels decadent, without taking much time to prepare, and these herb and pine nut roasted carrots drizzled with tahini sauce are exactly that! All they require is a short time in the oven, a blitz of a blender (or you can make the sauce by hand too), and a sprinkle of fresh herbs and voilà you have a unique side dish.
We love using carrots as a side dish for many reasons. One they are super versatile; you can roast, steam, sauté, shred, or have them raw. Really the options are endless which makes them perfect for meal prepping! Two it is really rare that someone doesn’t like carrots, even the pickiest of vegetable eaters usually like carrots. Three carrots are available fresh almost all year round here in lower mainland Vancouver which makes them a super accessible vegetable for almost everyone. Four they are a nutrition powerhouse, which as nutritionists we love! They are chalked full of beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin A, B vitamins, potassium and loads of fiber. This makes them perfect for helping to give your skin a natural glow and also aiding in digestion.
This side dish is also topped with tahini sauce which is another one of our favorites to use in the kitchen! Tahini is a seed butter that is made from sesame seeds which give it a very nutty flavour. You can go savory or sweet with tahini but our favorite thing is to pair it with flavours like garlic, ginger, lemon or miso which play well with the grounding nuttiness. We love making tahini sauce because even though it is easier with a blender it can easily also be made by hand too!
Herb & Pine Nut Roasted Carrots in Tahini Sauce
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients
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2 bunches Carrots washed and left uncut, we love using Heirloom Carrots for the colour variety but you can use regular carrots to
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¼ cup chopped fresh Basil
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¼ cup chopped fresh Parsley
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¼ cup toasted Pine Nuts, or try Pumpkin/Sunflower/Sesame Seeds
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⅓ cup Tahini
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¼ cup Lemon Juice, or juice from 1 large Lemon
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1 clove Garlic
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2-4 tbsp Water, depending on how thing you want your Tahini Sauce
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1 tsp Avocado Oil
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Salt & Pepper
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Optional topping: Pomegranate seeds
Directions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425. While the oven is preheating, toss whole carrots with salt, pepper, and avocado oil. Place on a lined baking sheet in the oven and roast for 18-23 minutes, or until tender but still with a bit of a bite. Flipping at the halfway mark.
Step 2
While carrots are roasting add tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and 2 tbsp of water to a high speed blender until smooth. If the sauce is too thick for your liking add 1-2 tbsp of water more. If you do not have a blender or just don’t want to dirty it you can also add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk, although you may need to add a little extra water for this method.
Step 3
Once carrots are done roasting, toss them with fresh herbs, pomegranate seeds (if using) and place in a serving dish. Drizzle your tahini sauce over top and then sprinkle with the pine nuts right before serving!
This recipe was created by nutritionist and blogger Danielle from Thyme to Nourish, you can check out more of her recipes here.
