Roasted Carrot and Red Lentil Ragout Recipe (2024)

What would be the down side to dicing the carrots before roasting? Would it not reduce cooking time and/or increase the browny bits?

I'd say sweet Spanish paprika and toasted ground cumin seed would fit in well, providing a gentle warmth (and color boost from the paprika). And kick in some ground coriander seed too, because it's often a helpful partner to the cumin.

What about using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock?

I have been making this for years. It is easy & excellent.

Following these instructions, the onion slices were hard to manage in the bowl. They need to be sliced into smaller, bite-sized pieces. I added cilantro upon serving, and that was a delicious addition.

Roasting the vegs before putting them into the pot turns them into something more than carrots and onions in stew. Trust the recipe; don't skip this step.

I have been making this for many years since it was first published. Yes, it makes a wonderful, hearty vegetarian meal, but I find it is irresistible when topped with sliced freshly grilled lamb sausages...

If you're vegan, subbstitute vegetable broth for chicken broth. Delicious!

This recipe has taken good old comfortable red lentils to a new level with the hot spices and made it the biggest hit ever on the weekend lunch table. I did cheat a bit and start cooking the lentils in the stock while the carrots were roasting, thus saving at least a half hour preparation. I realize that the lentils missed some of the cooking time with the spices incorporated, but I can't imagine it making much difference. Good food.

Used small, multi-colored carrots & added some parsnips on hand to reach a 1.5 lb total. They were easily cut with a sharp knife and fork after roasting. Used veg broth. Don't get all the concern about spice: 1.5 teaspoons of chili powder & 1/8 t of red pepper for more than 8 cups of ragout is really very little. Based on comments, also added smoked paprika & a bit of cumin. Wish I hadn't: The carrots are fairly delicate in this mix & I feel like it masked their flavor.

Try these instead: thyme, rosemary, oregano, or a combination of any. Rosemary is especially good with carrots. Ancho and chipotle are not always "spicy," but... the cayenne! Yikes. I, too, cannot tolerate tomatoes, much to my dismay.

roast them or do both- i cut the thinner halves and dice them and roast the thicker tops= split in half. Roast will give the dish a robust flavor to balance the sweetness.

I used water instead of stock, baharat spice blend instead of the assorted peppers. Turned out great.

Chipotle chili powder adds a lovely smokey flavor, and ancho a nice heat and deeper color. If you don't have them, you'll miss an interesting layer of flavors, but it's probably still good without. Just wouldn't add more cayenne to make up for not having the others without adding carefully and tasting carefully as you go.

Completely blown away by how good this is.

Layers of flavor despite few ingredients. Easy to make. Definitely a keeper.

Dice the carrots before roasting.

Roasting the carrots and onions is a must if you’re looking for why this is a purely five star recipe. The physics of roasting changes what you know to be “carrots” and “onions” - if you skip this you won’t end up with what the rest of us are talking about. I added miso to my veggie broth. Wow - love this and thank you!

Delicious. Looking forward to leftovers too. We cut the carrots longitudinally and have them less of a roasting head start on the sliced onions. Served with sour cream and cilantro (and rye bread).

This dish is way more than a spicy carrot lentil ragout. I don’t even like roasted carrots (too sharp tasting for me), but this recipe is amazing and will be my regular rotation for workday lunches!

Tasted great, even with plain old generic chili powder. I added some chili crisp to compensate. For the broth I used vegetable Better than Bouillon base. Beautiful color and appetizing appearance. A dollop of yogurt helped both taste and appearance.

I've been making this recipe for almost 2 decades, since it was in the print magazine. It's one of the best dishes ever and one I am adamant about not tweaking--it's simply perfection. When I first read it, I thought no garlic? No cumin? no red pepper flakes? The one thing I do is to dice the carrots before roasting rather than after, but only because it's easier, not because it's better. Just divine. Perfect and comforting and a family favorite.

I'm not normally one to gravitate towards a roasted carrot type recipe, but my sister said this was a great recipe, so I tried it. She was right! I up the chipotle, ancho and cayenne to a heaping tsp on the chilis and a very generous pinch on the cayenne. Delicious!

Unbelievably delicious. Don't skip roasting the carrots. Do play with spices! I use Urfa chili and dried mint, not the ancho/chipotle/cayenne. The mint is really nice in it.

I used green lentils because I was out of red. Just cooked longer and it was great. Also didn’t have the two chili powders, so I subbed 3/4 tsp chili powder and 1/2 tsp harissa powder. Amazing flavor, and a great leftover for work lunches. 100

So good! Diced carrots and onions before roasting per the comments, but will try roasting carrots whole next time. Wasn’t too spicy. Served with white rice.

So delicious - roasting the carrots gives them extra oomph! I did the recipe as stated but next time I might chop everything smaller before roasting to save a step.

Wow. This was delish! I hadn't bought the full 1.5 pounds of carrots, so I searched for some additional vegetable matter in my fridge and pulled out some red pepper. I also added a shallot because I only had one onion, which seemed a bit skimpy. Otherwise, I made the recipe as written, except perhaps increasing the spice amounts. Everybody loved it.

This has become a staple in our house. Easy, tasty, nutritious. We also add a few baby potatoes to the mix.