Sous Vide Carrots – Brown Sugar Glaze
Sous Vide Carrots will convince you that sometimes it’s best to sous vide your vegetables. Yes, they’re that good!
What Is Sous Vide Cooking?
I’ve been a sous vide fan for a long time. It’s nothing short of a miracle what this method of cooking can do for flank steak, corned beef, and brisket!
But what about vegetables? Well, to answer that, let me first describe what sous vide is. It is a method of cooking in which the food is placed in a sealed bag and then submerged in a water bath that is the exact temperature for a perfect outcome.
A sous vide immersion circulator brings the water to the chosen temperature and then circulates the water for even cooking. The food is precisely cooked every single time. No guesswork. And no over or undercooked food. (For more detail, see my Sous Vide Burgers Recipe.)
It is perfect through and through, edge to edge. You can see why this is amazing for meat. (Think perfectly medium rare steak all the way through. No tough outer edge or undercooked middle. It’s divine.)
Is It Worth It To Sous Vide Vegetables?
So now that you know what sous vide is and how it works and why it’s great for meats, let’s talk about sous vide vegetables.
The first time I cooked a sous vide vegetable was when I did beets. Ah. Maz. Ing! Like melt in your mouth amazing. So it occurred to me that other dense and sometimes hard to cook (and get right) vegetables might also be good sous vide candidates.
So here we are with carrots! There are two reasons cooking carrots sous vide is my favorite method for cooked carrots.
They retain all the deep, sweet flavors inherent in carrots. And they also retain a “snap.” No more mushy, flavorless carrots. It’s like a cooked carrot with a snappy freshness.
So, yes, it’s worth it to sous vide vegetables.
What Temperature Do You Sous Vide Vegetables?
Most of the hard, dense vegetables like carrots or beets are best done at 183 degrees. There is certainly room for variation on that though.
If you’d like to cook them a little faster, you can up the temperature to 195 degrees and cook them for about 25 minutes, although they will lose a bit of that “snappiness” that I love.
How Do You Remove The Air?
Removing the air from the sous vide bag is perhaps the most important step for success. Removing the air allows the water to come into indirect contact with all side of the food cooking.
The food will float on top of the water bath if there is air in the bag. This isn’t good! There are two ways to remove the air completely.
Using a food vacuum sealer is the most efficient and thorough way to remove all of the air from the food bag. Simply follow your vacuum sealer manufacturer’s directions and you’re good to go.
You can also use the water displacement method if you don’t have a vacuum sealer. Put your food into a zip top bag. Zip up the bag until all but one inch is sealed.
Then submerge all but the one open inch of the bag into a large pot or sous vide container that is nearly full of water. As you push the bag down, the air will escape through the opening.
Keep pushing down until almost all the air is out and only that one inch of the unsealed bag is out of the water. Then quickly seal the rest of the bag. Most of the air will be removed from the bag. Either method will work.
What Ingredients Are In Sous Vide Carrots?
- Whole carrots – Full-size carrots are great as long as they are less than an inch in diameter. You can also use baby carrots but they will not have quite the full flavor. (See full recipe below.)
- Butter – I prefer to use plant-based butter, but dairy butter will work too.
- Brown sugar – My preference is coconut sugar, but light brown sugar will work as well.
- Salt and pepper – to taste.
How to Make This Recipe
- Peel and trim the tops off the carrots, but leave the carrots whole. (see full recipe below)
- Fill a large pot or sous vide container with water.
- Place carrots into a sous vide vacuum bag or a zip top bag in a single layer. Add butter and brown sugar.
- Seal the bag and submerge it in the water bath. Insert sous vide circulator.
- Set the temperature to 183 degrees and let cook for one hour.
- Remove from the sous vide bath when done and pour into a heated skillet. Cook on medium high heat a minute or two until the sauce thickens a bit.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.
Tools Used in this Recipe
Sous Vide Carrots
Sous Vide Carrots will be your new favorite way to cook carrots. Cooked and crisp at the same time!
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh carrots, peeled (can use baby carrots)
- 2 tablespoons plant-based butter (or dairy butter if not vegan)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (I prefer coconut sugar)
Instructions
- Peel and trim the tops off the carrots, but leave the carrots whole.
- Fill a large pot or sous vide container with water.
- Place carrots into a sous vide vacuum bag or a zip top bag in a single layer. Add butter and brown sugar.
- Seal the bag and submerge it in the water bath. Insert sous vide circulator.
- Set the temperature to 183 degrees and let the water heat up then cook for one hour.
- Remove from the sous vide bath when done and pour into a heated skillet. Cook on medium high heat a minute or two until the sauce thickens a bit.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.