This method helps you get the most nutrition in every bite.
Reviewed by Dietitian Casey Wing, RD, CD
Key Points
- Cooking carrots with healthy fats boosts beta-carotene accessibility, enhancing vitamin A absorption.
- Heat softens carrots’ cell walls, making beta-carotene more accessible for your body to absorb.
- Pairing carrots with plant-based oils, like olive oil, maximizes their fat-soluble vitamin benefits.
Vitamin A plays an essential role in overall health, supporting everything from immune function and vision to growth and development. While foods like dairy products, eggs and fish provide preformed vitamin A, colorful vegetables such as carrots contain beta-carotene, a plant compound that the body converts into vitamin A during digestion. Vitamin A is also one of four fat-soluble vitamins, meaning that in order for your body to get the most bang per bite, how you prepare foods with beta-carotene can influence how much of that nutrient your body is able to use.
Although raw carrots are certainly nutritious, culinary nutrition experts say roasting them with a source of healthy fat may help unlock even more of their vitamin A potential. “Cooking helps make beta-carotene more accessible, while the healthy fat helps your body absorb it more effectively,” says Amber Pankonin, M.S., RDN, LMNT, CEC. Ahead, experts explain why cooked carrots have an edge, alongside simple ways to maximize the nutrition in your everyday routine.
Why Cooking Carrots with Fat Supports Vitamin A Absorption
Cooking Makes Nutrients More Available
Raw carrots are still a nutritious choice, so don’t expect a dietitian to tell you to stop eating them. However, if your goal is to maximize vitamin A absorption, cooking may give you an advantage. According to Abbie Gellman, M.S., RD, CDN, cooking helps break down the carrot’s tough cellular structure, making it easier for our bodies to absorb the nutrients, especially when paired with some sort of fat.
Research supports this too. Studies have found that heat treatment can significantly increase the availability of beta-carotene in carrots, with levels increasing by about 25% after steaming and as much as 79% after baking. As the vegetable’s cell walls soften during cooking, Pankonin explains, the beta-carotene becomes easier for the body to access and absorb.
Healthy Fats Increase Absorption
Beta-carotene as a precursor to vitamin A needs a source of dietary fat for the body to utilize it most efficiently. As a result, any cooking method that naturally involves using a healthy source of fat, like baking, oven-roasting or sautéing, is going to be a win-win for enhancing fat-soluble nutrient absorption.
“Eating carrots with a source of healthy fat can help your body use more of that beta-carotene effectively,” says Pankonin. “Since vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, eating carrots with some fat can further improve absorption. Roasting carrots with olive oil or canola oil is a simple way to get the best of both worlds.”
In other words, a drizzle of plant-based oil does more than enhance flavor and texture; it can help your body unlock more of the nutritional benefits carrots have to offer.
Other Ways to Maximize Nutrition in Your Kitchen
One of the simplest ways to get more nutritional value from your meals is to pair foods that work well together. While “nutrition synergy” may sound like a complex scientific concept, putting it into practice can be surprisingly easy. Small, intentional pairings can help your body absorb key nutrients more effectively while creating satisfying, flavorful dishes. Here are Pankonin and Gellman’s recommendations to help you get more out of every bite.
- Pair healthy fats with foods that contain fat-soluble vitamins. Plant-based oils, like olive, canola and soy, are excellent additions to a dressing that pairs wonderfully with a salad. This smart pairing, Pankonin notes, helps your body absorb more vitamin K and other beneficial plant compounds found in leafy greens.
- Use cooking methods that help preserve nutrients. “Steaming, microwaving and quick sautéing can help retain vitamins that may be lost during prolonged boiling or exposure to high heat,” says Pankonin. Stir-frying is a great way to retain nutrients that also utilizes a healthy fat, further enhancing fat-soluble vitamin absorption.
- Pair vitamin C with plant-based non-heme iron to help iron absorption. Citrus fruits, peppers and strawberries are some foods that come to mind when you think of vitamin C. Pair these with your leafy greens, breakfast cereals and other plant-based iron sources to get the most out of your meals.
- Consider spice pairings. Add black pepper when using turmeric in a recipe, suggests Gellman. The piperine in the black pepper helps us better absorb the curcumin in the turmeric, which can help reduce inflammation and improve cholesterol.
Our Expert Take
Carrots are a nutrition powerhouse, providing about 50% of your daily vitamin A needs in just a ½-cup serving of the raw form. But, there’s an easy way to get even more from this vibrant vegetable, and it simply requires you to cook it. Using methods like stir-frying, roasting or steaming carrots and then pairing them with a healthy fat, like a plant-based oil, can help unlock more of their nutritional benefits.
While cooking softens the plant’s cell walls, making beta-carotene, the antioxidant that the body converts into vitamin A, more available for absorption, the addition of fat helps as well. Since vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, your body needs dietary fat to absorb and use it efficiently. Together, these simple steps can help you maximize the nutrition in every bite.