How Long to Boil Carrots: Whole for Salad, Sliced and in Soup

Time is counted from the boil. It depends on how thick the carrots are: thin young ones cook faster, large winter ones take longer. Test with a knife, a fork or a toothpick: it should slide into the carrot easily.

For boiling whole, pick carrots of the same thickness so that they are done at the same time. The larger the carrot, the longer it takes, so a very thick one can be cut across into two or three pieces: it will cook faster.

Before boiling, scrub the carrots with a stiff brush so that no soil is left on the skin. Young carrots usually need only the lower end of the range, so start testing them with a knife from the 15th minute. Frozen carrots take as long as fresh ones and are not thawed first.

Test with a knife, a fork or a toothpick in the thickest part of the carrot.

• For salad. The knife goes in easily, but there is slight resistance in the centre: such a carrot holds its shape when diced.
• For a side dish. The knife passes through without effort and the pieces do not fall apart.
• For purée and baby food. The carrot mashes easily with a fork.

For salads carrots are boiled whole and unpeeled: they give up less flavour and sweetness to the water, stay firm and do not crumble when diced. Carrots boiled whole are easier to peel after cooking.

1. Scrub the carrots with a stiff brush. The tip and the top can stay on: they are easier to trim after boiling.
2. Take a pot in which the carrots lie in one or two layers and cover them completely with cold water: in hot water they cook faster but unevenly.
3. Cover the pot and bring the water to the boil over high heat, then turn the heat down.
4. Boil medium carrots for 25-30 minutes, large ones for 35-40 minutes.
5. Test with a knife: it goes in easily but the carrot does not fall apart. For salad it is better slightly underdone than overdone.
6. Drain and cover the carrots with cold water for a few minutes so that they cool faster.
7. Peel the cooled carrots and dice them for Olivier salad and vinaigrette, or grate them for layered herring salad.

Salad recipes: Olivier salad with sausage and pickles, Olivier salad with chicken, Olivier salad with two kinds of meat, vinaigrette with sauerkraut, vinaigrette with beans, herring under a fur coat, beet salad with prunes.

In the recipes on this site a bowl of Olivier salad or vinaigrette takes 1-2 medium carrots, and herring under a fur coat takes one. A medium carrot weighs 100-120 g.

• Olivier salad. Small cubes the size of a pea, like the other ingredients.
• Vinaigrette salad. Cubes of the same size as the beets and potatoes.
• Herring under a fur coat. The carrots are coarsely grated and spread as a separate layer.
• Warm salads and sides. Rounds, batons or strips.

Carrots and skin-on potatoes can share a pot. Medium potatoes are done 20-25 minutes after the boil, carrots in 25-40, so test the vegetables with a knife and take them out as they are ready. Boil beets separately: medium ones need 45-50 minutes, and they stain the water and the vegetables next to them.

Times for the other ingredients of festive salads are on separate pages: how long to boil potatoes, how long to boil beets, how long to boil eggs, how long to boil chicken, how long to boil beef for salad, how long to boil beef tongue.

• For salads. After. The skin of a boiled carrot scrapes off easily with a knife, and the carrot stays firm.
• For soups and sides. Before: carrots that are cut small or grated are peeled first.
• Young carrots. A good scrub is enough: their skin is thin.

Cut carrots go into water or stock that is already boiling and cook covered over medium heat for 6-15 minutes: the smaller the pieces, the shorter the time.

• In soup. Cubes and strips cook in 10-15 minutes, grated and finely cut carrots in 6-10 minutes. Carrots go in with the potatoes or a few minutes earlier. Carrots fried with onions are added at the end: they are already cooked and only need to heat through.
• As a side. Rounds 0.5-1 cm thick are boiled for 6-10 minutes in salted water, drained and tossed with butter.
• For purée. Cut the carrots into pieces and boil until completely soft, 10-15 minutes, then mash or blend.
• Frozen. Frozen carrots take as long as fresh ones. There is no need to thaw them first.
• Stewed. In the warm salad grated carrots and beets are not boiled but stewed under a lid for about 30 minutes: warm beet and carrot salad.
• Korean-style. For this snack carrots are not boiled: Korean-style carrots.

For salad the water can stay unsalted: the salt comes with the dressing and the pickles. For sides and purée, salt the water as for any vegetables.

In all these methods the carrots do not sit in a lot of water, so their flavour is fuller than that of carrots boiled in a pot.

• Steamed. Put the carrots in a steamer or a colander over boiling water so that they do not touch the water, and cover. Whole carrots are done in 25-35 minutes, cut ones in 8-15 minutes.
• Multicooker. Pour a little water into the bowl, put the carrots in the steaming basket and use the steam setting. Whole carrots need 20-30 minutes, cut ones about 10 minutes. The Redmond multicooker table gives 40 minutes for 500 g of carrots.
• Pressure cooker. According to the Instant Pot table, slices take 2-3 minutes at high pressure, whole carrots or large pieces 6-8 minutes. The time is counted once pressure is reached. Vegetables for vinaigrette salad can be cooked this way: vinaigrette in a multicooker pressure cooker.
• Microwave. Put the carrots in a microwave-safe dish, add a little water, cover and cook at full power: cut carrots for 3-8 minutes, whole ones for 10-15 minutes.
• Oven. Wrap the carrots in foil and bake for 30-40 minutes at 200 °C (400 °F), then let them cool in the foil. In salads these carrots replace boiled ones.

The NHS advises starting solid foods at around 6 months and lists soft cooked carrot, mashed or as sticks, among first foods. Peel the carrots, cut them into pieces and boil or steam until completely soft, 10-15 minutes, then mash with a fork or blend, adding a little of the cooking water if needed.

Do not add salt or sugar to a baby's food or to the cooking water. Hard raw carrot is not given to small children: it is a choking risk. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against home-prepared purées of carrots, beets and spinach for babies under 3 months, because these vegetables are high in nitrate. Check the timing and the foods with your paediatrician.

Figures per 100 g from USDA FoodData Central. Calories barely change with boiling, while some of the vitamin C and potassium goes into the water.

Vitamin A in carrots comes as beta-carotene, which the body converts into retinol. 100 g of boiled carrots has 852 µg of it as retinol equivalents, which is about an adult's daily requirement.

Raw carrots have more vitamin C, but beta-carotene is absorbed better from boiled ones. In a study with volunteers, 65% of the beta-carotene was absorbed from cooked puréed carrots and 41% from raw chopped carrots. Beta-carotene is fat-soluble, so dress boiled carrots with oil or sour cream.

In the updated international tables of glycemic index (Diabetes Care, 2008) boiled carrots have a GI of 39, which is low. The authors note separately that more reliable data are now available for carrots. Values for other foods are in the glycemic index table.

Refrigerate cooled boiled carrots within 2 hours. In a closed container they keep for 3-4 days according to the US Department of Agriculture; Food Standards Scotland advises eating leftovers within 2 days. Carrots for a salad can be boiled the day before and kept in the fridge unpeeled. Keep cut carrots in a closed container so that they do not dry out or pick up odours.

To freeze carrots for later, do not boil them until done but blanch them: small whole carrots for 5 minutes, diced or sliced ones for 2 minutes, then cool them at once in cold water, drain and pack into bags. These are the recommendations of the US National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Russian food-safety guidance (Rospotrebnadzor) limits an Olivier salad dressed with mayonnaise to 6 hours in the fridge at 2-6 °C and a dressed vinaigrette salad to 12 hours. So boil the vegetables in advance and dress the salad just before serving.

• Peeling and cutting before boiling for salad. The carrots give up their flavour to the water and crumble when diced.
• Boiling thin and thick carrots together. The thin ones overcook. Match the thickness or take them out as they are done.
• Overcooking. Soft carrots turn to mush in a salad. Test them with a knife from the 20th minute.
• Leaving them in the hot water. The carrots keep softening. Drain them as soon as they are done.
• Sharing a pot with beets. The carrots take on colour and overcook while the beets finish.
• Cutting them hot. Warm carrots squash under the knife. For neat cubes, let them cool completely first.