Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with Balsamic Honey Glaze

Parsnips look like albino carrots but taste wonderfully nutty and sweet. They have the exact same roasting time as carrots and complementary color + flavor, so they’re a dream together.

These were sliced into sticks and arranged into an abstract turkey tail feather. If you aren’t celebrating turkey day with these, slicing them into coins is easier since the taper on parsnips is intense, and it’s difficult to slice them into the same thickness.

They’re super with the glaze, but still good without it.

Recipe Success Guide:

Making the glaze in the microwave is fast and easy. Make sure to use a large bowl, since it triples in volume when it bubbles up.

Chopping the parsnips and carrots into pieces of similar thickness will ensure even cooking. The taper on parsnips can make this a challenge, so if your knife skills are new, slicing them into rounds can also work.

Meal Ideas:

This is a hearty vegetable side dish that pairs well with any fall or winter meal.

Carrots and Parsnips + Harvest salad
Carrots and Parsnips + White bean kale soup
Carrots and Parsnips + Light protein like chicken or fish

Ingredients

Carrots and Parsnips

1 lb carrots
1 lb parsnips
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp table salt or 2 tsp kosher salt

Glaze

1 tbs butter or coconut oil
1 tbs honey or maple syrup
1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Step-by-step Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F
Scrub carrots and parsnips (don’t peel). Cut carrot tops off and then in half, separating top and bottom. Then, slice tops and bottoms in halve lengthwise. If carrot is very large, you may need to slice it a few times to get the proper thickness.*
Repeat with parsnip. Parsnips are usually much more tapered than carrots, so the top halves will need much more slicing than the bottom halves. Try to make your pieces the same thickness (length doesn’t matter as much), to ensure even cooking.*
Dump carrots and parsnips into a baking dish and toss to coat with olive oil and salt. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until a knife pierces a large carrot with no resistance.
Meanwhile, prepare glaze. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter, honey, and balsamic vinegar. This glaze will triple in volume while it’s bubbling, so use a bowl larger than you think you need.
Microwave in 30 second increments, until it’s the consistency of maple syrup, and coats the back of a spoon. This took me 2 minutes. If you don’t own a microwave, you can boil it in a small saucepan
When carrots and parsnips are tender, take out from oven and pour glaze over. If your glaze has thickened too much after cooling down, add water by the teaspoon, and whisk until it’s the consistency of maple syrup again.

*alternatively, you can slice the carrots and parsnips into coins. This is easier and a good idea if you’re not 100% with knives yet. Just slice down the length, producing hundreds or carrot/ parsnip coins.

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