If there’s one thing that I love to treat myself to and indulge in once in awhile, it’s fried veggies! Even when I was a little girl, I had a secret LOVE for deep-fried mushrooms and onion rings! To me, they were something special! A treat we mostly had when we ate out. Which was a rare and special occasion in itself!

Battered and fried veggies are still a special treat to this day! Maybe it’s because we rarely have them? Or because they’re soooo darned good!! Either way, I love them just as much now as I did as a kid! Be it at a restaurant, a county fair, or right in my own kitchen, even the smell of them frying is intoxicating!

Since I had some oil that I had used for something else, and it was still quite clean, I searched through the fridge to see what else I could fry to get more use out of that oil.

I stared at a half of a bag of baby carrots, debating, wondering – – then thought, oh heck – – why not?? You can fry about any other vegetable, so why not sweet baby carrots? Right?!

It was a darn good decision. And they’re now my new found love! My new favorite out of ALL veggies to be fried! They were absolutely AMAZING. I reheated the oil and whipped up a simple beer batter, and tried one to test.

I wasn’t sure if they would cook inside enough before getting over done on the outside. I crossed my fingers that I wasn’t going to have to par-boil them first.

Not that I’m lazy or anything like that. I just wanted them now. Not 20 minutes from now. Not an hour from now. I was hungry, and didn’t want to have to stop what I was doing, turn off the oil, drag out a pot, heat the water, boil them, cool them, pat them dry and then reheat the oil yet again. Know what I mean? 😉 😀

Welp, so happy to report, not only were they shockingly delicious, but that they came out PERFECTLY done and you don’t have to boil them first! Yay!

The first one was SO GOOD I could hardly wait to fry up the rest!!

This was going to be a royal treat!

I whipped up a simple dipping sauce using ingredients that I had on hand, and I was one VERY happy girl!

If you’ve never tried frying carrots, I highly recommend that you do, and soon!!  They’d be a great side dish to sandwiches, burgers or pizza, a fun movie munchie, or a wonderful Super Bowl treat!  😀

So don’t wait! These are done in a flash, there’s almost no prep, and they cook in no time at all! A wonderful frugal treat that the whole family will enjoy, and something I’d be more than confident to serve to guests!

Take care all, and I’ll see ya soon! ~Kelly

Yield: 2-3 servings

Beer-Battered Sweet Baby Carrots with Honey-Mustard Ranch Dipping Sauce

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Ingredients

• 1 (6 oz.) bag *real baby carrots
• oil for frying

For Batter:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup beer
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper

For Dipping Sauce:

• 1/4 cup bottled Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 tsp. honey, I like Sue Bee
• 1/4 tsp. regular table mustard

Instructions

In small to medium-sized bowl, whisk together batter ingredients until smooth, but can still have tiny lumps.

In large deep frying pan, heat 1 1/2 - 2" of oil for frying until about 365º degrees. You don't want it overly hot.

Carefully well-coat and drop carrots, in batches, into oil. Carrots should rise to top immediately if oil is hot enough. Fry and stir with a spoon for even browning on all sides for 10 minutes.

Batter will be a deep golden brown color and carrots will be done inside after 10 minutes. Less, and the carrots will not be done and the batter on the outside will be mushy. So make sure you cook these the full 10 minutes.

Remove with a strainer to a paper towel lined rack placed over a baking sheet to rest. Continue until all are done. (You may not have quite enough batter for 6 oz. of carrots. I ended up with about 4 left.)

In small bowl, add Ranch Salad Dressing, drizzle in honey and add mustard. Stir well making sure the honey is mixed in.

Serve carrots hot with the dipping sauce.

Notes

*Make sure that you are buying real sweet baby carrots and not "baby cut carrots". Stores and companies can be very deceiving about this. Don't pay high prices for regular carrots!