Do you peel carrots before juicing? No, you don’t have to peel carrots before juicing them. You can absolutely run unpeeled carrots through your juicer. In fact, this is true of most root vegetables. Just be sure to wash your carrots before juicing them, even if they’re organic carrots. You’ll want to remove any dirt or debris that’s on the carrot skin before juicing it. If your carrot has lots of crevices, a small fruit/vegetable cleaning brush can help you get the job done.

Now, let’s take a look at juicers, the juicing process for carrots, and some very fun things you can do with your extracted juice.

Download Five Juice Recipes

Types of Juicers

There are two main types of juicers sold commercially: masticating juicers and centrifuge juicers. Many argue that a masticating juicer (sometimes called a slow juicer) is the best type of juicer however, if you’ve been to juice shops, you’ll see that they use centrifuge juicers. I own both, so let me tell you a bit about them.

A centrifuge juicer spins a blade incredibly fast. As the produce hits the blade, soft pulp is ejected to one side whilst juice comes out of the other side. The spinning blade is usually connected to a mesh strainer. You’ll increase the likelihood of clogs in the strainer’s holes if you use the juicer for an extended amount of time. To combat this, in between juices, pour a cup of water into the juicer. That can help clear the strainer’s holes.

Alternatively, a masticating juicer moves slower, but usually produces a higher yield. When we chew, that’s also called mastication. That type of juicer has mechanisms that somewhat behave how our mouthes do when they chew.

Both types of juicers can handle unpeeled ingredients, small-seeded fruits, leafy greens, hard ingredients (carrots, beets, etc.), and more. They both also do well juicing fruits with a hard core, such as pineapple. It’s not advised to juice whole fruits that contain large seeds, as they can damage the blades and mechanisms. If the fruit has large seeds, you’ll want to remove the seeds before juicing. If you’re planning to juice stone fruits (peach, nectarine, etc.), you’ll need to remove the stone (pit) first, no matter what type of juicer you’re using.

With both types of juicers, you’ll want to skip very soft fruit, such as banana. Rather than juice them, it purées them. Be sure to read over the manual of your juicer to fully understand what it can and cannot do well.

I’ll also add this: centrifuge juicers can handle citrus fruits pretty well whilst masticating juicers produce a lower yield. It’s not that they can’t juice the citrus fruits, it’s that they’re less efficient at juicing citrus fruits.

Simple Tips on Juicing Raw Carrots

Carrots pair with a wide array of fruits and vegetables which means you can create a range of juices that have different nutritional profiles. Nutrition is often a significant concern for those who have juicing as part of their daily routine, so make sure you seasonally rotate through what you pair your carrots with.

Carrots are a hard vegetable. If you’re using a centrifuge juicer, you’ll want to alternate between hard and soft items such as leafy greens. For example, you’ll want to juice several leaves of kale, then a few carrots, then back to the kale. This helps the softer items to move along properly.

Sample your juice, as not all carrots are created equally. This is also true if you’re new to juicing and aren’t adapted to the earthy taste of carrots. If you’d like a tastier juice, you can juice a few apples along with your carrots. You can also juice pineapple or oranges to give your carrot juice a flavor boost. When we juice carrots, my kids love the basic combo of carrot + apple + strawberry. In fact, I make these as popsicles and they couldn’t be happier on hot days.

Finally, don’t put off cleaning your juicer. A great way to quickly clean a juicer after using it is to pour a cup of water into the juicer whilst it’s on. This gets water into all of the parts and quickly cleans them. Then, disassemble your juicer and clean each part as normal. When you don’t clean the juicer right away, all of the produce bits dry and stick, then you really have to scrub them off.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the fun and unconventional things you can do with your carrot juice.

Enhance Your Carrot Cake

Homemade carrot juice can be a fun, nutrient-dense addition to your carrot cake. In your recipe, substitute some of the milk for carrot juice. My personal choice when doing this is to use 3 – 4 ounces of fresh homemade carrot juice in place of some (or all) of the milk in the recipe.

Make Delicious Popsicles

Homemade carrot juice, combined with other vegetable and fruit juices, is a great way to make a delicious homemade popsicle. If you’d like some nostalgic fun, you can purchase popsicle baggies online that are like Otter Pops and use those instead of a traditional popsicle mold. You can also purchase super fun silicone molds for popsicles (my kids love their penguin and pirate molds).

Another way to have fun with this is to use an instant popsicle maker. My kids LOVED this growing up. I’d often mix carrot juice with a little milk and maple syrup, blend up, and make instant popsicles for them.

Make Carrot Gummies

Since carrot juice tends to be a sweeter juice (as compared to something like beet juice), it works great in homemade gummies. I like to use this recipe as a base and swap the strawberry juice for fresh homemade carrot juice.

You can use lots of different silicone molds to make these gummy snacks, and they’re a hit with kids and adults. If you really want to get fancy, look into fruit/vegetable caviar and fruit/vegetable spaghetti. I’ve made both, and whilst it’s time consuming, it has a real WOW factor.

Use Your Fresh Juice in Pasta Sauces & Ragouts

Carrot juice is a low-calorie powerhouse that you can add to meat sauces, pasta sauces, stews, and more. It can also add a natural sweetness to your sauce without needing to add a form of sugar such as maple syrup.

One thing I like to do is juice carrots (several pounds), and freeze the juice in 8 ounce portions. Then, I can use only what I need for fun cooking and baking projects. Juicing and freezing like this is a great way to save extra time since you’ll only need to go through the entire juicing process (and cleaning process) once every so often.

Make Carrot Ice Cream

Making carrot ice cream will not only add additional nutrients to your dessert, but allow you to have a unique flavor experience. Most people don’t realize just how amazing carrot ice cream is. To make this, you’ll want to substitute some of the milk in your recipe for the extracted juice. This works with both dairy milk and dairy free milk ice cream recipes. This is extra fun if you have little kids at home as the bright orange carrot juice will give your ice cream a very fun look.

I like to start with a vanilla ice cream base and substitute half of the milk in the recipe. Everything else stays the same, and the outcome is delicious.

Related Article : Do I Need to Peel Ginger Before Juicing It

Carrot Juice Flavor Combinations

Whilst these aren’t precise juice recipes, I want to share some delicious flavor combinations for you to try at home.

• Carrot + Apple + Ginger
• Carrots + Berries (especially strawberries) + Apple
• Carrots + Pineapples + Ginger
• Mango + Carrot + Strawberry (has a cool tropical vibe)

Each of these combinations will deliver a range of health benefits, and for an extra boost, you can add some type of green leaf (spinach, parsley, etc.). Be careful when using strong flavors such as ginger. Whilst ingredients such as ginger have awesome health-promoting compounds, they can easily impact the overall flavor of your juice, and not in a good way. It’s always better to start with a little, sample, and then add more if you’d like the flavor to be more forward.

Download Five Delicious Juice Recipes

Answering Your Carrot Juicing Questions

Do I have to cut off the carrot top before juicing?

No, you don’t have to if you’d like to add a bit more nutrients to your juice. Depending on the type of juicer you’re using, you may not like the texture carrot tops add. If your juice is a little “grainy” for lack of a better word, run it through a fine mesh strainer before drinking it.

Is it necessary to wash carrots before juicing them?

Some like to give their carrots a good scrub before juicing whilst others like to leave the outer skin as is and drop them right into the juicer. When you purchase unwashed carrots, you’ll normally see soil residue on the skin of the carrot. Washing your carrots will remove this residue if you have concerns about bacteria etc. I’ll add this: if you aren’t purchasing organic carrots, absolutely wash them to help remove possible residue from unwanted chemicals.

Does carrot juice have a bitter taste?

No, carrot juice tends to be on the sweeter side when compared to other root vegetable juices. It’s also a very versatile juice and you can pair it with a range of other ingredients to create delicious blends at home.

Do I need to cut carrots into smaller pieces before juicing them?

No, you don’t need to, unless it’s too large for your juicer’s chute. Additionally, if you’re using a small juicer, you may need to cut the carrot into smaller pieces first. Your juicer’s manual should have more information on the sizes it can handle.

Are organic carrots better than conventional carrots?

Organic carrots are free from many unwanted chemicals and pesticides used in conventional farming. Often times the farming practices of an organic farm are going to be closer to what nature intended, or in some cases, regenerative farming practices. Ultimately, it will be a matter of personal preference and priorities. I know for my household, it’s organic only, but I’ve done a lot of research on the topic. I encourage you to do the same, then give them a try. If consuming organic carrots and other organic produce doesn’t make a difference in how you feel and function, it may not be the best investment for you.

If I end up peeling my carrots, what can I do with the carrot peels?

Vegetable peels and fruit peels are amazing for your compost bin! They can add a range of nutrients to your soil. If you’re unable to compost, depending on the peel, you may be able to use it as a garnish for salad and other side dish. You can also add your carrot  peels (and peels of certain fruits) to smoothies. I once opted to fry carrot skin peels and use them as a garnish and my kids loved them.

Do I need to cut thicker carrots before juicing them?

It’s really going to depend on the type of juicer you have, the size of its chute, and how powerful said juicer is. With my centrifuge juicer, I don’t cut down thicker carrots. With my masticating juicer however, I totally cut down everything that’s on the larger size. In fact, I once thought, oh, I don’t need to. The produce got stuck and I had to turn the machine off to wiggle it out.

Would pear juice pair well with carrot juice?

This would be such a delicious flavor combination! However, you’ll want to be mindful when juicing pears. If your pears are on the hard side, they’ll juice better, but the flavor may not be as good. If the pears are too soft, you’ll end up with a purée rather than a juice. It’s a fine line you have to walk.

If you’re open to the idea, you could make fresh carrot juice at home and purchase store-bought pear juice so you don’t have to worry about yield. There are a few brands that sell pear juice without additives, but it is pasteurized. If having raw juice is very important to you, skip this idea.

Honestly, I love this idea so much that now I want to make a carrot, cinnamon, pear ice cream. It would be SO good!!

Is it possible to juice tomatoes? I want to create something like a carrot tomato soup, but a juice.

Yes, you can juice tomatoes. You’ll want to start with tomatoes that are on the firm side, and I’d avoid Roma tomatoes (they tend to be less juicy). If you’re using a centrifuge style juicer, make sure it’s on the slowest setting. If I were making this, I’d start with tasty cherry tomatoes rather than a larger variety.

I’ll also add this: have so much fun with this concept. You could add a little parsley juice, spinach juice, and ginger juice to round out the flavors of this combination.

Do cooked carrots have the same nutritional value of the juice?

As a general rule of thumb, you won’t get identical health benefits from cooked produce versus raw produce. When we cook carrots, and any other fruit or vegetable, we’re altering the proteins and the available nutrients. However, this isn’t a bad thing. In most cases, when we cook produce, we’re making the nutrient content more bioavailable and easier to digest.

In addition to the beta carotene content we all know and love from carrots, they also have immunity-boosting properties and anti-inflammatory qualities. What’s really interesting about raw carrots is that they’re a valuable source of vitamin C, but some of that diminishes when the carrots are cooked. Yet, when we cook carrots, we break down their thick cell walls and the antioxidants become easier to absorb.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of raw versus cooked produce. Each fruit and vegetable will have a similar story to tell. Consuming it raw will give you X, but consuming it cooked will give you Y. If specific health benefits and vitamins are of concern to you, I’d suggest working with your medical team or a registered dietician. They can run labs, get an idea of what your body needs more of, then advise you on the best way to consume specific fruits and vegetables.

My carrot juice seems a bit bitter. Is there anything I can do to have a sweeter tasting juice?

The easiest way to have a sweeter tasting juice is to add a sweet fruit to your blend such as Fuji apples. If for some reason juicing fruit isn’t an option for you, you could juice a watery vegetable like cucumber to help dilute the carrot taste. It won’t necessary pull back on the bitterness, but it will be less forward since it’s been diluted. In a pinch, you can add a little maple syrup to your bitter carrot juice to help balance the flavor.

I’d also encourage you to go to your local farmer’s market. If your carrot juice is bitter, you could be working with less than stellar carrots. Try to find a vendor selling organic carrots, and ask to sample them before you purchase them. The carrots should taste good, with a hint of sweetness. If you sample a raw carrot and it’s bitter, the juice you make will also be bitter.

Do I need to do anything special to my carrots before juicing them?

No. There’s no special preparation process when juicing carrots. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Wash your carrots.
• Make sure you’ve removed dirt in the washing process.
• Optional: peel the carrots if there’s lots of dirt stuck in little crevices, or if you want to use the carrot peels for a special project.
• Optional: remove the carrot tops before juicing, but you can leave them on as well.
• Only cut your carrots down in size if they’re too big for your juicer’s chute, or if they’re so thick they may prevent the juicer from functioning properly.

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