A Guide For Loving Carrots and Other Orange Veggies

Produce in vivid red hues might seem hard to come by, but interestingly enough, in our colorful produce tour, orange produce was even harder to track down. As it turns out, the options are pretty straightforward — oranges, carrots, and golden bell peppers — but that doesn't make them any less full of flavor. Find out what to do with them below.

Although I tend towards peeling and eating oranges on the spot, they do add bright, tangy flavor and a whole lot of juice to many dishes. Orange chicken is a succulent meal. Pair that with an orange and farro salad and you've got a meal full of citrus. To preserve the flavor of oranges, candy the peels and use them in baked goods. But obviously one of our favorite ways to enjoy this fruit is in mimosa form.

Carrots add a background sweetness to all kinds of dishes, like soups and stews. But if you want to keep them as the star of the show, try them simply steamed with olive oil and lemon juice. If you want to get a little bit fancy, try ribboned carrot salad. And last but certainly not least, you can't go wrong with pickling carrots and enjoying them for weeks.

We covered what to do with red bell peppers, but we think the orange ones deserve some attention, too. These are slightly less sweet than the red variety, but they still bring a lot of color and pepper flavor to dishes. Cook them into a ragout with plum tomatoes and serve them on top of a chicken breast for a healthy and scrumptious meal. Or you could just slice them up raw and dip them into a bowl of homemade hummus!

What are your favorite orange fruits and vegetables, and what do you do with them?