This is a combination of three simple things that come together into a devilishly delicious dish: maple roast carrots with a subtle hit of spice, crispy seasoned chickpeas and a cooling, creamy yogurt sauce with a lovely subtle hit of garlic. Substantial, impressive side or meat-free meal!
Spicy maple roast carrots with crispy chickpeas and yogurt sauce
I love dishes like this. Take nice-but-nothing-spectacular things. In today’s case, spicy maple roasted carrots (3 ingredients), crispy chickpeas (crack a can) and a yogurt sauce.
Individually – fine.
Together – INCREDIBLE!
The thing here that makes this so special is the contrast of flavours and textures. Sweet and spicy from the carrots. Crunchy and savoury from the chickpeas. Creamy and cooling from the lemony garlic yogurt sauce.
It is so, so, SO very good!
I also think you’ll appreciate the convenience of the making process. Both the carrots and chickpeas cook in the oven at the same time, taking around 30 minutes for the carrots to become caramelised and tender, and the chickpeas crispy and clattering across the tray.
You do big swirly smears of the yogurt sauce on a platter, pile the glistening carrots on top and shower with the crunchy chickpeas, stand back and you immediately know you’ve just made something moreishly delicious!
How much do you wish that spoon was heading towards your mouth right now??
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make these loaded spicy maple roast carrots. Actually not that much! I’ve just broken it up into groups for ease of reading.
Carrot options
I like the visuals of dutch carrots but you can use ordinary carrots instead. Just cut them in quarters or half lengthwise so they are around the same width as dutch carrots.
Spicy maple sauce for roasting
Just sriracha (for spiciness and vinegar) and maple syrup. You can use honey instead, though I really love the flavour maple brings to this dish.
Crispy roasted chickpeas
Just a can of chickpeas and a simple seasoning adds great crunch and extra fun to this dish! It also adds starch which turns it into meal-territory.
lemon garlic yogurt sauce
Here’s what you need for the yogurt sauce. This is a simple, powerhouse sauce that’s incredible versatile that I use frequently, from Chicken Shawarma wraps to draping over roasted pumpkin, koftas to lamb borek. Use a good Greek or Greek-style yogurt if you can, else any plain yogurt (not sweetened or flavoured).
How to make it
Toss and roast. That’s really all it takes! The chickpeas and spicy maple roast carrots will both take around 30 minutes in the oven so we can do them both at the same time.
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Dry roast plain chickpeas – Drain the chickpeas, spread them out on a tray then roast for 10 minutes. This works wonders for crispy oven roasted chickens – without fussing with waiting around for them to air dry or rubbing them dry with tea towels!
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Season – Then toss the chickpeas with the oil, salt, pepper and seasonings. I just do this on the tray – if you’d got a rubber spatula, you can scrape-and-toss pretty effectively just straight on the tray.
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Roast – Then roast the chickpeas for a further 20 to 25 minutes until they are crispy. You’ll know just by shaking the tray when they’re ready as they will clatter noisily around on the tray.
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Toss the carrots in the sriracha, maple syrup, salt, pepper and oil.
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Roast 30 minutes – Spread on the tray then bake for 30 minutes until the carrots are tender and they are a bit caramelised.
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Yogurt sauce – Mix the ingredients until combined.
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Extra sauce (optional) – I also like to mix up just a splash of plain maple and sriracha to pour over as the dressing. Mainly for extra sauce, because the sauce used to roast the carrots is caramelised onto the carrots as we want, rather than remaining in a pool on the tray, and I like the fresh vinegary hit that the sriracha brings to the dish. But it’s optional!
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Assemble – Then to assemble, spread the yogurt sauce on a plate. Pile on the carrots, including scraping out any juice left on the tray. Pour over the extra maple-sriracha sauce, then tumble over the chickpeas. Sprinkle with coriander (and pistachios as an optional extra, if using) then serve immediately!
How to serve these loaded spicy maple roast carrots
Think beyond the side dish!
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As a meal – Hand on heart, what you see in the photos was my lunch then dinner (I was stuffing carrots in warmed pita breads)
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Salad lunch spread* with friends – This clunky titled concept is something I like to especially do for lunch gatherings with friends. I put out a selection of what I call “substantial salads” (ie not just a bowl of leafy greens), crusty bread, and usually some crudités with hummus or feta dip. This dish is definitely going to make my next salad lunch spread!
I like doing these salad spreads because it’s something different, people alway like a selection of dishes, I choose salads that can be prepared ahead and it’s usually an easy way to deal with the inevitable presence of someone gluten-free, vegetarian and/or “trying to be healthy”.
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As a side dish. Yes, I had to list it! And definitely an occasion-worthy side dish.
There you go! I’d love to know what you think of this dish. I always get a touch nervous with recipes I just invent on a whim, usually when I get inspired when I see a particular ingredient on special (in this case, dutch carrots!). – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Spicy maple roast carrots with crispy chickpeas and yogurt sauce
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Side, vegetarian main
MIddle eastern vibes, Western
Servings5 as a side, 2 – 3 as a main
Tap or hover to scale
Ingredients
Extra sauce (optional) – Note 2
Lemon garlic yogurt sauce:
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 200°C/425°F (180°C fan). Arrange the oven racks so they are 20 cm/8″ apart (for air circulation).
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Chickpeas & carrots – Drain the chickpeas then spread on a tray (still wet). Toss the carrots with the Spicy Maple Sauce ingredients. Put both trays in the oven (carrots on the top shelf).
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Chickpeas 10 min + 20 min – Remove the oven dried chickpeas from the oven after 10 minutes (Note 4). Push them to one side of the tray, drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with all the spices, salt and pepper. Toss well using a rubber spatula, then return to the oven for a further 20 minutes until they’re crispy (listen for the clatter when you shake the tray – or eat one! Note 4).
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Carrots 30 min – Roast the carrots for 30 minutes, tossing halfway, until they are tender and caramelised on the edges.
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Yogurt Sauce – Mix the ingredients in a bowl and set aside for at least 20 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
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Extra sauce – Mix until combined.
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Assemble – Spread the yogurt sauce on a plate. Pile on the carrots, scraping out every drop of juices on the tray. Drizzle with extra sauce, if using. Sprinkle over chickpeas, then coriander and pistachios. EAT!
Recipe Notes:
1. Carrots – I use dutch for visual purposes and because when I made this for the photos, dutch carrots were on special. But regular carrots can be used in a pinch. Cut them vertically into dutch-carrot width long pieces (quarters for normal carrots, half for small ones)
2. Extra sauce – I like to add a touch of extra sauce at the end because all the sauce caramelises in the oven and coats the carrots (as intended). I also like the vinegary tang that the sriracha brings to the dish.
3. Pistachios – A late addition to this dish included in the video that just made it even better! For flavour and also looks good. But it’s optional. Toast over medium heat in a dry skillet (no oil) until there are small golden patches. Remove, cool, chop.
4. Roasted chickpeas should be crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside. The initial 10 minute dry roasting will make these oven chickpeas crispier than the usual technique of air or towel drying then roasting, but the fact is they will never be as crispy as deep frying (and that’s ok, our hips are happy with this) and they don’t stay crispy for longer than 2 hours UNLESS you roast them for 45 minutes until they are rock hard all the way through (these are a little too hard to eat, in my opinion)
Leftovers will keep pretty well for a day, bring to room temp them eat (it’s a bit messy to separate yogurt from carrots to heat the carrots). Otherwise keep the components separate and heat the carrots. Oven chickpeas don’t stay crispy for longer than a couple of hours.
Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings as a side.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 304cal (15%)Carbohydrates: 41g (14%)Protein: 8g (16%)Fat: 13g (20%)Saturated Fat: 3g (19%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 6mg (2%)Sodium: 632mg (27%)Potassium: 683mg (20%)Fiber: 8g (33%)Sugar: 20g (22%)Vitamin A: 20221IU (404%)Vitamin C: 14mg (17%)Calcium: 147mg (15%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Life of Dozer
Since Dozer and I started meeting readers in “real life”, he’s been blessed with adorable gifts from generous people. Here is a memorable one. It’s handmade. So touched a reader took the time to make this!! I just love it. 😇
Nagi
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