Maple and Miso Glazed Roasted Carrots にんじんメープル味噌味

These Maple and Miso Glazed Roasted Carrots have a slightly sweet, caramelized flavor and are packed with umami! The salty-sweet glaze strikes a perfect balance, making it the tastiest vegetable side dish that everyone will love.

When I roast vegetables, I usually prefer to keep them classic, but sometimes I can’t resist adding a playful twist by infusing Japanese flavors, like in these Maple and Miso Glaze Roasted Carrots!

These humble carrots are roasted until tender on the inside, perfectly crispy on the outside, and wonderfully caramelized with a sweet-savory glaze. My family has enjoyed these carrots so much that they’ve been a staple on my holiday menu for years.

Why You’ll Love These Roasted Carrots

• While maple syrup imparts subtle sweetness with a hint of caramel note, miso delivers a deep savory oomph, making them an irresistible combo on roasted carrots.
• Easy and literally no fuss!
• The glaze is so versatile. You can use it in other roasted veggies of your choice—try eggplants, zucchinis, butternut squashes, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, ora colorful mix of vegetables.
• It makes an outstanding side that fits just as well with a weeknight dinner as it does with a holiday feast.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Carrots — I use rainbow carrots with their tops on for their rustic appearance and concentrated sweetness. The colorful rainbow hues make them an elegant yet eye-catching side dish.
• Extra virgin olive oil — Or any oil suitable for roasting veggies.
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• Maple syrup Use good quality maple syrup! You can substitute with honey or brown sugar.
• Miso — More on this later.
• Soy sauce — A tiny splash goes a long way.

How to Make Maple and Miso Glazed Roasted Carrots

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220ºC).
2. Mix together the maple syrup, miso, and soy sauce in a small bowl.
3. Peel the carrots (cut into uniform size if they are large) and place them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
4. Drizzle the carrots with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then toss well to coat.
5. Bake in the oven for 20–30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.
6. Remove the carrots from the oven when they are lightly browned and almost tender. Brush them with the maple and miso mixture.
7. Put the carrots back in the oven to finish cooking, about 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven, garnish with fresh thyme if desired, and serve warm.

What Miso to Use and Why

If you’re unfamiliar with miso, it’s a fermented soybean paste essential in Japanese cooking, renowned as the key ingredient in miso soup. However, miso offers much more versatility. Japanese cuisine incorporates miso in a wide array of dishes, including soups, marinades, sauces, and glazes. You can read more about it in this post.

There are numerous brands of miso paste available, but my personal favorite is Hikari Miso. For this roasted carrot recipe, I used Enjuku Koji Miso Reduced Sodium.

Enjuku Koji Miso has been a long-selling product from Hikari Miso for over 20 years, since its introduction in 1993. This preservative-free miso features a mild flavor and rich fragrance, complemented by natural sweetness and robust umami from koji. The Reduced Sodium version contains 25% less sodium than regular Enjuku Koji Miso.

Here are my tips for making the best-roasted carrots that are perfectly caramelized and deliver a WOW in the flavor department:

1. Avoid pre-cut baby carrots – Those baby ones that come in bags don’t have as much flavor as whole carrots. Plus, they have fewer nutrients.
2. Choose uniform sizes – Since we’re roasting the carrots whole, try to select carrots of similar sizes so they cook evenly at the same time.
3. Short on time? Shorten the roasting time by cutting the carrots into smaller pieces; they will cook faster.
4. Coat thoroughly with oil – Use your hands to coat the carrots with oil thoroughly.
5. Arrange on a middle or higher rack – For more char, use the top rack in the upper third of the oven. Also, the back of the oven is hotter, so place the thicker ends of carrots toward the back.
6. Use a convection oven – If you have one, do use it. I’d convection bake at 400 ºF, but the cooking time will be shorter with hot air circulating.
7. Adjust roasting time – Cooking times may vary based on carrot thickness. I prefer roasting just long enough to get caramelized edges without sacrificing their toothsome nature. If you prefer carrots to be meltingly tender, roast them for 3-4 minutes longer.
8. Miso burns quickly – Brush the carrots with glaze only during the last 5 minutes of roasting as miso can burn quickly.
9. Maintain oven heat – When glazing, quickly remove the baking dish instead of leaving the oven door open to prevent heat loss.
10. Garnish with herbs – While not necessary, if you have fresh herbs used in other holiday dishes, garnish some on top.

The Perfect Holiday Side Dish

Make your holiday lineup extra colorful and nutritious with this roasted carrot recipe! These carrots pair well with a variety of simple mains. In addition to the traditional turkey, ham, and roast chicken, here are some other delicious pairings I’d like to suggest:

• Instant Pot Sticky Asian Ribs
• Smoked Miso Butter Turkey Breast on Traeger
• Salmon Potato Gratin 
• Kabocha Gratin
• Miso Cod
• Honey Garlic Pork Chops

Leftovers? Enjoy them atop a salad the next day!

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Maple and Miso Glazed Roasted Carrots

4.59 from 41 votes

These Maple and Miso Glazed Roasted Carrots have a slightly sweet, caramelized flavor and are packed with umami! The salty and sweet glaze strikes a perfect balance for the tastiest vegetable side dish that everyone will love.

Print Pin

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 35 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 lb carrots (I used rainbow carrots)
• ▢ 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ▢ freshly ground black pepper

For the Maple and Miso Glaze

• ▢ 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• ▢ 1 Tbsp miso (I used reduced-salt Enjuku Koji Miso)
• ▢ ½ tsp soy sauce

For the Garnish

• ▢ fresh thyme (optional)

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

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Instructions

 

• Arrange a rack in the middle position of the oven and preheat the oven to 425°F (220ºC). Gather all the ingredients. If your carrots still have some moisture after washing, be sure to pat them as dry as possible; the drier the vegetable, the better it will roast.
  
• In a small bowl, mix together 1 Tbsp maple syrup, 1 Tbsp miso, and ½ tsp soy sauce.
  
• Peel 1 lb carrots (and if they are large, cut them into uniform slices so that they will roast evenly and finish cooking at the same time). Place the carrots in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper for easy clean-up. If the carrots are arranged too closely together or are on top of one another, they will steam, making them mushy rather than caramelized. In that case, use two baking sheets or a bigger baking sheet.
  
• Drizzle the carrots with 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. You want each carrot to have a light coating of oil (the oil keeps some moisture in for that interior tenderness). A good rule of thumb is about 2 Tbsp of oil per full-sized baking sheet (I‘m using a half sheet).
  
• Toss or roll the carrots in the oil and seasonings.
  
• Place in the oven and bake for 20–30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through to ensure that the carrots are getting equal exposure to the heat and have an equal chance at getting crispy and caramelized. The roasting time may vary depending on the size of the carrots (young thin carrots require less cooking time). When the carrots are lightly browned and almost tender when pierced with a wooden skewer, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Why almost tender? We still need to roast for 5 more minutes after brushing with the sauce.
  
• Brush the maple and miso mixture on one side of the carrots. Then, flip over the carrots and coat the other side. Put the carrots back in the oven to finish cooking, about 5 more minutes. The vegetables will start to brown on the bottom first (the side in contact with a hot surface will brown faster), so you‘ll need to flip over the carrots for even browning.
  
• Remove from the oven. Garnish with fresh thyme if desired and serve warm.
  

To Store

• Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3–4 days. They do not freeze well.

Notes

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

Nutrition

Calories: 100 kcal · Carbohydrates: 15 g · Protein: 2 g · Fat: 4 g · Saturated Fat: 1 g · Sodium: 349 mg · Potassium: 385 mg · Fiber: 3 g · Sugar: 9 g · Vitamin A: 18948 IU · Vitamin C: 7 mg · Calcium: 45 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: carrot, miso

©JustOneCookbook.com Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any website or social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.

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