Easy Caribbean carrot rice recipe

Carrot rice is a beloved Caribbean side dish that shows up in everyday meals. It is an easy one-pot meal that combines aromatic spices, tender rice, and sweet grated carrots. It can also become a full meal when adding ingredients to it.

It’s a one-pot dish made with tender rice, sweet grated carrots, and warming spices like turmeric and black pepper. It can be made in one pot, making it really easy to make for the whole family to enjoy.

This rice is a versatile dish and works well as a whole dish or a side dish for stew lamb or other meats.

Since we sometimes get tired of plain rice, I wanted to share with you this incredibly delicious dish and help you create carrot rice at home.

What is carrot rice?

This Caribbean rice dish is basically rice steamed with fresh carrots and shallots, and spices including turmeric and other seasonings. Carrot is often an underrated root vegetable, but it has a sweet flavor and works well with other savory flavors.

The rice is cooked in a mixture of oil, garlic, onions, and spices like tumeric (sometimes people also use cumin and coriander to heighten the flavor). Grated carrots are added to the rice mixture and cooked until tender.

Some variations may also include sweet peppers, pigeon peas, and coconut milk.

The finished dish is a vibrant orange color and has a sweet and slightly spicy flavor. It is often served as a side dish to curries, stews, or grilled meats.

Carrot rice is delicious and is a nutritious alternative to plain white rice and is a great way to incorporate more vegetables into your diet.

How to make Caribbean carrot rice

Ingredients needed

First of all, it is a good idea to ensure that you can get all of the ingredients together. Focusing on this first means that the cooking process will be simple. You will need:

• Parboiled rice – long-grain, partially boiled rice perfect for dishes with longer cook times
• Carrots – grated (about 2 medium carrots)
• Aromatics – shallots, scallions, onion, garlic
• Spices – turmeric, black pepper, salt
• Pepper – Scotch bonnet or jalapeño
• Oil – coconut oil adds a subtle flavor boost
• Water – just enough to cook the rice 

Instructions

Once your ingredients are ready, let’s start cooking!

1. Get yourself a large pot that is big enough to hold all of your ingredients and then add the oil and heat on medium heat. Start to saute the onion, the shallots, ½ of the scallions, and also the hot pepper. Stir to make sure nothing catches at the bottom.

2. Once they have softened you can add the raw rice to heat through by continuously stirring for a few minutes.

3. Now you can add carrots, and turmeric, and mix everything together to make sure that everything has combined.

4. Add water to the pot (hot water or room temperature), you will want to make sure that it hits the same level as the rice.

5. Finally, add the remaining scallions. You will then need to lower the heat and simmer till the rice is cooked through and the water has reduced.
6. Once the rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed, fluff it with a fork and serve.

Recipe notes and tips

When it comes to any recipe, it is always a good idea to understand what notes and tips you can use to help you fully utilize the recipe and have success each and every time.

If you want to make the most out of this delicious dish then here are some recipe notes and tips to help.

• Make sure you don’t put in too much water, as this can overcook the rice or leave too much liquid when the carrot rice is cooked through and ready to enjoy.
• Grating the carrot helps to cook it quickly. If you really do not have a grater then you can chop up the carrot, but try and keep it as small as possible. You may need to be wary of the cooking time if you cut the carrots rather than grate them.
• If you don’t like heat you can avoid putting the red hot pepper in this dish. Or reduce/increase the pepper quantity should you want to change the flavors.
• Double up the quantities as this makes a great dish to batch cook.

Flavor variations, add-ins and substitutions

Like with a lot of recipes, once you have tried them out a few times you can look to make some changes and vary the recipe to suit your tastes and preferences. So I wanted to share with you some of them that you might want to try.

• You could treat this as a fried rice dish instead. You will need to use pre-cooked (leftover rice) instead and then fry the ingredients together. Cook up the carrot and seasoning a little first before adding the rice.
• Add additional spices like coriander leaves (or the powder), bay leaf, shado beni.
• You can also try different varieties of rice instead of white rice. Brown rice, jasmine rice, or basmati rice are other great options.
• Why not add a protein to this? When it is fluffed up and ready you could add cooked chicken or prawns. Any meat would work well with these flavors.
• Add in some extra vegetables. Zucchini, mushrooms, sweet corn, and bell peppers will all work well with this very flavorsome dish.
• Roasted nuts can also add texture and crunch to this dish.

Serving suggestion

You can enjoy this carrot rice on its own — it’s flavorful enough to stand alone. It is also the perfect side dish for stew meat like lamb or can work well with some pan-fried fish or seafood. It is such a flexible and versatile dish to enjoy.

Storage

Let any leftovers cool completely before storing in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator. It will last in the refrigerator for up to five days. You can reheat it on the stove or in the microwave. To reheat, add a splash of water when microwaving to restore moisture

You can also freeze this dish.

More flavorful rice recipes

• Calypso rice
• Yellow rice
• Pumpkin rice
• Christmas rice

Tried this recipe? Let me know in the comments what you paired it with or how you made it your own!

Easy carrot rice recipe

Carrot rice is a flavorful Caribbean rice dish that combines aromatic spices, tender rice, and sweet grated carrots. It is a delicious and nutritious alternative to plain white rice and is a great way to incorporate more vegetables into your diet.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Caribbean

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

• 1 1/2 cups parboiled rice.
• 1 cup finely grated carrots 2 medium-sized carrots.
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric.
• ¼ cup chopped shallots.
• 3 scallions chopped.
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt and more if needed
• 1 hot pepper finely chopped without membrane and seeds
• 2 cups water
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil

Method

 

1. Wash and scrape the carrots, then grate them on the fine side of the grater and set aside.
2. On medium heat, heat the coconut oil till warmed through, add shallots, pepper, and half of the chopped scallions, and saute till opaque.
3. Add rice to the dish, and stir for a couple of minutes to get the rice toasted.
4. Add carrots, turmeric, and seasonings to the pot.
5. Then add water and give it a good mix.
6. Add the remaining scallions to the dish and cover.
7. Lower heat to simmer and simmer till rice is cooked and water is absorbed.
8. Fluff up rice once completed and taste for any additional salt if needed.

Tried this recipe?

Let us know how it was!