These 3-ingredient maple glazed bacon wrapped carrots are a super easy way to kick your carrots up a notch! A perfect vegetable side dish for entertaining.
Looking to kick your carrots up a notch? These carrots are wrapped in bacon and glazed with real maple syrup, then roasted to absolute carrot perfection.
I’m guessing it doesn’t take too much imagination to appreciate the goodness that maple glazed bacon brings to lovely carrots. You’ll want to just pick them up and eat them like candy. Or if you have a little more restraint than me, serve them on a plate for dinner, to make carrots the star of your meal.
Ingredients and substitutions
Speck or Bacon – I used Speck here. Speck is thinly sliced pork that looks similar to prosciutto (and comes from the same cut of pork), but prosciutto is cured, while speck is smoked. As such, speck has more of the taste profile of bacon, except bacon comes from pork belly. So in a nutshell … looks like prosciutto, but tastes like bacon. And since it is sliced thinly, it is perfect for these carrots.
I believe that Speck is better known in Europe, but it is becoming more widely available and used in North America. When Speck shows up at my local, small-town Ontario Walmart, I know for sure it’s gone mainstream here :) That said, if you can’t lay your hands on it, you can substitute pancetta rounds or thinly sliced regular bacon.
Recipe tips!
- While maple syrup makes a delicious glaze, it is sugar and sugar will burn and smoke when cooked at high temperatures. That’s why I suggesting cooking the carrots and bacon part way through before brushing with maple syrup. That said, you may get a little smoke or burning on the pan still towards the end, so be warned if your smoke detector is on the sensitive side. You can minimize the risk by wiping up some of the maple syrup that drips onto the pan before putting it back in the oven.
- Test your carrots for done-ness by inserting the tip of a sharp knife near the top of the carrot. It should pass through with little resistance.
Top Tip!
When picking out your bunch of carrots, look for a bunch where the carrots are mostly the same thickness, so they will cook at the same rate. Also, look for thinner carrots, where the thickest part of the carrot is no more than about 3/4-inch thick. This will ensure that the carrot and speck cook thoroughly without under or over cooking one of the other.
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Ingredients
- 8 thin carrots , greens trimmed to a couple of inches, even sized and no more than 3/4-inch thick at the thickest end
- 8 slices bacon, speck or thin pancetta rounds
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. (not fan-assisted).
- Wrap individual carrots with one slice of bacon, twisting it around and overlapping slightly, leaving the top and bottom part of the carrot uncovered. Place on baking sheet in a single row, leaving a bit of space in between each carrot.
- Roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and brush generously with maple syrup and add some freshly ground black pepper on top if you like. Return to the oven and roast another 10-15 minutes, until carrot is tender and speck is crisp. Remove from oven and give one more light brush with maple syrup before serving.
Notes
More Vegetable Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Made this recipe last night for company. I had prosciutto on hand, so I used that; I’ll try the pancetta next time. Excellent! I did find the carrots took longer than 30 minutes to roast, but totally worth waiting for. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Barb. Thanks so much!
What a perfect holiday dish, love the sweet-savory flavors!
Thanks Laura!
Absolutely gorgeous! Who cares about the holiday turkey when there are these carrots to be had?! Thanks for the explanation of speck – sounds perfect to me. I always try to buy uncured bacon – so this sounds about right. Beautiful veggies!
Thanks Tricia!
Oh man these are beautiful! The perfect holiday dish! Pinned!
Thanks so much, Annie :)
I just caught these on IG Jennifer and my mouth started watering! They look fantastic! Perfect for the upcoming holidays!
Thanks Mary Ann and yes, Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend and would be a great addition to a holiday table, for sure!
Three ingredients and I could be enjoying this?? YES please! Love speck and the whole smoky/salty situation it has goin’ on. Bet it pairs beautifully with the sweet maple syrup :)
It’s a great combination of flavours! Thanks Dawn :)
I JUST bought pancetta yesterday, now I’m off to find some fabulous carrots!
You won’t regret it, Sue :)
Wow, these are the most stunning carrots ever! I’m quite certain I would eat them like candy!
Thanks Chris :) We gobbled these up in no time!