Caramelized Carrot Pasta Sauce

This carrot sauce is no ordinary one. It is not a mere creamed carrot puree, but so much more. The carrots and the other root veggies are caramelized to bring out their hidden sweetness and then they are turned into a savory creamy carrot pasta sauce with lots of potential.

We do like our pasta, may they be quick & easy or rich & filling. Have you seen this delicious creamy hidden vegetable pasta sauce with 7 veggies? How about this asparagus lemon pepper pasta or this 15-min marinara sauce? If you like pasta recipes, here are a couple of tasty ones for you to browse through in our vegan sauce recipes gallery.

What is this carrot sauce?

It is not a mere spaghetti sauce with carrots. It is also not a creamed carrot puree. It is probably nothing like you have ever tried. But everyone who has ever tasted this sauce loves it. So we are pretty sure, you will love it too.

It is actually a caramelized root veggie-based pasta sauce with mustard, bay leaves, and sour cream. The main root veggie is being carrot of course. This sauce is rich, filling, and just a little bit sweet and savory at the same time. Why? What exactly are we talking about?

• Caramelized carrots, onion, celeriac, and parsnip
• Mixed with mustard, lemon juice, and sour cream
• Seasoned with only bay leaves

Can I tell you a secret? It is actually a family recipe that is very typical for Hungarian cuisine. It is actually called “Hunter’s Stew” or in Hungarian “Vadas Sauce”. It is usually served with dumplings and a roasted game or beef (here is a pretty accurate video to make it like that). But there are other untapped ways to eat this delicious sauce. And since we eat plant-based we turned it into a creamy spaghetti sauce with mushroom meatballs (see picture below). It was so worth it.

Ingredients

To make delicious pasta with this sweet and tangy carrot sauce, you’ll need only a handful of ingredients. Not necessarily the ones, you might use all the time, but they are still pretty common in most pantries. So here is the list. The exact amounts will be in the recipe card.

• Carrots -> Choose young carrots since they are sweeter actually than baby carrots. Since baby carrots are rounded pieces of broken-off carrots.
• Celeriac
• Parsnip
• Onion
• Cane sugar -> You need it to caramelize the root veggies.
• Vegetable broth
• Bay leaves -> They are essential. While I cannot grasp exactly what is it that bay leaves add to the dish, Bon Appetite did a pretty good job at it for me. “Bay leaves have a minty flavor (somewhere between spearmint and menthol) with subtle hints of black pepper and Christmas tree pine. They add a subtle bitterness that keeps heavy soups and stews from being so, well, heavy.”
• Mustard -> choose a gluten-free mustard brand if you need to.
• Lemon juice
• Sour cream – You need to compensate for the sweetness of the caramelized root veggies. Heavy cream, milk, or other alternatives will just power up the sweetness. Mustard, lemon juice, and sour cream on the other hand fit perfectly. They add a bit of tangy, sour, savory flavor that makes this sauce all refreshing instead of syrupy sweet.

How to make this carrot pasta sauce?

Prepare the ingredients

• Peel and chop the onion.
• Wash, peel, and chop carrots, celeriac, and parsnip.
• Squeeze the half lemon.

Caramelize the root veggies

1. Heat your stockpot or Dutch oven to medium heat. Add vegetable oil and cane sugar. Let it melt until it is a light brown caramel.
2. Add chopped onion and cook it for approx. 1-2 minutes.
3. Add chopped carrots, celeriac, and parsnip. Stir and caramelize them for 5-6 minutes.
4. Add veggie broth, lemon juice, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper. Cover it with a lid and cook veggies until they are soft. 

Blend them into a creamy sauce

5. Add all cooked veggies to a blender with the juices from the pan.
6. Add sour cream and mustard and blend until you get a creamy carrot pasta sauce.
7. Taste it and adjust the seasoning of salt and pepper if necessary.

Top tips to make a perfect sauce

• Chop vegetables evenly and small – All root veggies are hard, so they need a long time to get tender. The smaller you cut the veggies, the shorter will be the cooking time.
• Vitamix vs Regular Blender – You can certainly use a hand blender (aka immersion blender), a food processor, or a regular blender. They all make a creamy sauce. However, if you need this sauce to be extra smooth without a single little piece to find, we recommend using a high-powered blender like Vitamix*.

What to serve with it?

While you can enjoy this pasta with carrot sauce on its own, we definitely have some ideas you can try. 🙂 We served it with mushroom meatballs, but this sweet and tangy sauce pairs with many things.

• Spaghetti and meatballs like eggplant meatballs, chickpea meatballs, vegan meatballs, or IKEA veggie balls.
• Add pan-fried oyster mushrooms, sauteed button mushrooms, or vegan shredded chicken on top of your pasta.
• Drizzle it on top of cauliflower steak or tofu steak.
• Pour over sweet potato gnocchi.
• Pour over oven-roasted asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, or potato wedges.
• Instead of gravy, try this sauce over your mashed potatoes.

What else would you use this sauce for? Let us know in the comments.

FAQs and substitutions

Can you use other root veggies?

Carrots are a must, but you can substitute parsnip with maybe turnips in equal amounts. Choose young small/medium carrots as they are sweeter than large, thick ones. The sweetest ones in my opinion are those where you can see the fresh, soft, young carrot greens, which by the way are also edible.

On the other hand, baby carrots might not be as sweet as you would hope them to be. According to my father-in-law (who is a gardener), baby carrots are actually the small parts that break off large carrots and they are then polished to look smooth and well-shaped.

How to store it?

This sauce is perfect for batch cooking. You can easily store it in the fridge for 3-4 days without any problem. Store any leftovers per serving (in a jar, in a ziplock bag, or another container) in a freezer and thaw whenever you need them.

This Caramelized Carrot Pasta Sauce recipe is meat-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegan and vegetarian diets if you use dairy-free or vegan sour cream. This recipe is nut-free, soy-free, and gluten-free. It can also be WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) if you use water instead of oil when caramelizing the veggies.

More pasta recipes

You can browse through our vegan sauce recipes or check out these gnocchi sauces that can be used on any type of pasta or try one of these recipes below:

• Asparagus Lemon Pepper Pasta
• Hidden Vegetable Pasta Sauce
• Mushroom Pasta in “Paprikash Sauce”
• Spinach Pesto Pasta
• Harissa Tahini Pasta Sauce
• Spinach Pasta Sauce

UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in January 2021. It has been updated with more tips, info and what to serve with ideas and republished in May 2022.