Grilled Carrots with Sweet and Sour Carrot Sauce

When’s the last time you grilled a carrot? Maybe it’s because they’re not considered a “summer vegetable,” but we don’t think about carrots often enough when we’re cooking over a live fire. This dish started out with me throwing some carrots on the wood-fired grill at my restaurant, and I let them go until they were very charred all over. They tasted like barbecued carrots, so I created a carrot-based barbecue sauce to double up on their sweet, earthy flavor. As with other vegetables and meats, I season carrots with both salt and sugar before they hit the grill to help them quickly pick up some char. To ensure even cooking, try to use carrots that are mostly uniform in thickness.

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Step 1

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. If any of the carrots are thicker than 1 inch, cut them on the bias into ½-inch slices. Working in batches, blanch the carrots until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and pat dry.

Step 2

Prepare a hot grill or preheat a grill pan over high heat. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots with the olive oil and season with the salt and sugar. Grill the carrots until well charred and just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Return them to the baking sheet and toss with about ½ cup of the carrot sauce, or more as needed to coat them completely.