Maple-orange glazed rainbow carrots

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I understand that rainbow-colored carrots are nearly identical in flavor and texture to a standard orange carrot, but there’s something about the beautiful hues of purple, red, and yellow that really elevate a meal.

I’ve always eaten a lot of carrots. I went through a stage when I ate an entire bag a day. And my preferred method of eating them was by roasting them. The heat brings out the natural sugars.

I created a recipe utilizing this beautiful produce, but I elevated the carrots’ sweetness even more by mixing them with orange juice and maple syrup before roasting them.

You may be wondering why there’s butter in the glaze. Here’s the deal: Cooking is all about building layers and layers of flavor. The butter gives the carrots extra flavor and provides a richness to the dish that simply cannot be acquired with oil. If you make this recipe with and without butter, I promise you’ll taste the difference.

I’ve never been concerned about adding butter to recipes because I always use Challenge butter.

I used Challenge butter in this recipe because I know they use hormone-free milk from local dairies, resulting in all-natural and high-quality products. Challenge only uses fresh, hormone-free milk, and they don’t add any unnatural additives.

Maple-orange glazed carrots

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon Challenge butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound rainbow (or regular) carrots, washed
• Optional garnish: coarse salt, chopped parsely, orange zest

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium-sized bowl, make the glaze by mixing together orange juice, maple syrup, butter, ginger, salt, and pepper
3. Mix the carrots in the glaze and place them in baking pan; do not discard the glaze leftover in the bowl
4. Cook the carrots for 15 minutes
5. Remove the baking pan from the ocen and stir the carrots. Pour the leftover glaze over the carrots, and cook another 10 minutes
6. Garnish with coarse salt, parsely, and orange zest, if desired