Maple Glazed Speck Wrapped Carrots

These 3 ingredient Maple Glazed Speck Wrapped Carrots are a super easy way to kick your carrots up a notch!

Looking to kick your carrots up a notch? These carrots are wrapped in speck 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 speck 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.

These carrots are so easy, the only question you might have is “what the heck is speck?!”. If you aren’t familiar with speck, here’s a quick primer …

What is Speck?

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.

Cook’s Notes for Maple Glazed Speck Wrapped 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 bacon.

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.

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/speck 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.

Maple Glazed Speck Wrapped Carrots

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bacon wrapped carrots, maple glazed carrots

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes

Total Time: 14 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Energy: 139 kcal

Author: Jennifer

Easy and delicious, these carrots are wrapped in speck and roasted glazed with maple syrup. Great for any meal and/or your holiday table.

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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 speck or pancetta rounds
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Wrap individual carrots with one slice of speck, 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.

3. 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.

Recipe Notes

Be sure to read the "Cook's Notes" in the original post, for more tips, options, substitutions and variations for this recipe!