If you've ever found yourself with a few too many carrots, and want to use them up, this Carrot and Onion Scarpaccia makes a great snack you can make ahead and eat all week! It's an easy Italian-style tart that will have you happy there were too many carrots in your fridge drawer!
If you've seen the viral Zucchini Scarpaccia but wanted to make it when zucchini aren't in season, then you need to try this version made with carrots. It's perfect as a delicious way to use up a bunch of slightly wobbly carrots from your fridge drawer, and tastes great at any time of year as a snack, side dish, or part of a light lunch.
If you love this recipe, check out my Zucchini Scarpaccia recipe. Or if you're after other great snack recipes to use up some carrots, try this Vegan "Smoked Salmon" Carrot Lox recipe. Or maybe you'd like a sweet treat instead, in which case my Vegan Carrot Cake is reliable and so delicious!
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🥕Ingredients
Here are the humble ingredients you need to make the carrot scarpaccia:
- Carrots: Fresh carrots are good but this recipe is also great to use up some slightly dodgy carrots that are a bit past their best.
- Red Onion: 2 or 3 red onions finely slices add to the sweet flavor of the tart.
- Rosemary: Fresh rosemary or the dried herbs. You could also use thyme.
- Chickpea Flour: also known as gram flour.
- Cornmeal/Polenta: Essential for the crunch and flavor. It also helps to prevent the scarpaccia from sticking.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: for both flavor and crispyness.
- Cumin and/or red pepper flakes: Carrots love a little spice and cumin provides warmth.
- A little water: to make the batter.
- Flakey Sea Salt: a pinch of salt or to taste.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
Use these step-by-step instructions to guide you through making this easy carrot and onion scarpaccia recipe.
1 and 2. Peel and finely slice the carrots as thinly as possible. I like to use a mandolin for speed! Thinly slice the onion and chop the rosemary.
3 and 4. Add the chickpea flour and corn meal together in a large mixing bowl, and mix in salt, olive oil and spices. Gently whisk in the water until it forms a thick but still slightly runny batter.
5. Tip the carrot, onion slices and rosemary into the batter and mix well. The veggies should be covered in batter fairly evenly.
6 and 7. Generously brush a non-stick sheet pan with olive oil, then sprinkle over cornmeal (polenta). This helps the mixture not stick to the pan and gives a crunchy base. Push down on the vegetables with the back of a spoon to flatten out the scarpaccia.
Put the scarpaccia in the oven at 180c/360f for 35-40 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. (I like mine extra crispy so leave it in for longer!)
Hint: Half way through the cooking time, remove the scarpaccia from the oven and use your spatula to press down on the vegetables again. They will have softened by this time and this helps the batter connect well with the veggies.
To Serve: Let the scarpaccia cool completely before cutting and serving. Use a spatula to slip under the scarpaccia to gently lever it out from the pan. It might break a bit around the edges, but that's part of the charm.
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
Here are some of the ways you can mix up your scarpaccia recipe to use up other fresh vegetables in your fridge.
- Butternut Squash -finely slice up butternut squash to use in place of the carrots.
- Ordinary Flour- use ordinary all purpose flour or whole wheat flour in place of the chickpea flour.
- Extra fresh herbs -add thyme or oregano to the carrot mixture.
- Other veggies: bell peppers, potatoes and sweet potatoes all work well mixed in with the veggies.
- Cheesy- add nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan cheese to the batter before baking.
🔪Equipment
You will need a sharp knife or mandolin (or you can use the slice function on your food processor) to make the thin slices of carrot. You will need a good non-stick baking sheet /cookie sheet, or if you don't have one, line a baking tray with parchment paper.
🫙Storage
The scarpaccia will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. It's delicious cold, at room temperature or you can heat it up in a frying pan or under the grill for a crispy treat.
Top tip
The name Scarpaccia means old shoe , or ugly shoe in Italian, as it looks flat and a little lumpy and crispy in texture but is also a little pliable and chewy. When you remove it from the oven let it cool completely before cutting. Use a spatula to slip under the scarpaccia to gently lever it out from the pan.
❓FAQ
Yes, this recipe is gluten free as it uses chickpea flour. You can also make it with regular all purpose flour.
More Snacks!
Looking for other snack ideas? Try these!
Breakfast ideas
Scarpaccia is delicious served at breakfast, why not check out these other ideas?
📖 Recipe
Carrot Scarpaccia: Easy Vegan Italian Tart
Equipment
- 1 mandolin or box grater
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2 ⅕ lb) carrot (you don't have to be too precise with the weight)
- 200 g (1 cups) red onion (2 onion)
- 125 g (1 cups) white flour (or Chickpea Flour)
- 50 g (⅓ cups) cornmeal (or polenta- plus a little extra for sprinkling.)
- 50 ml (3 tablespoon) olive oil
- 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon cumin (and/or red pepper flakes)
- 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt (or to taste)
- 100 ml water (more if needed )
Instructions
- Using a thin setting on a mandolin, or the slicer on the side of your box grater, finely slice the carrots (you can use a knife but it takes ages) and the onion.
- Finely chop some rosemary and preheat the oven to 200℃/392℉
- Add the chickpea flour and cornmeal to a bowl. Add in the rosemary, olive oil and salt and mix.125 g white flour, 50 g cornmeal, 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary, 1 teaspoon cumin , 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt, 50 ml olive oil
- Bit by bit add in the water until you have a thick but pourable batter.100 ml water
- Mix the carrot and onion into the batter. Mix well so all the vegetables have a thin layer of batter on them.1 kg carrot, 200 g red onion
- Generously brush olive oil all over a baking sheet, then sprinkle some polenta/corn meal over it. This prevents it from catching, plus makes a crunchy coating on the bottom.50 ml olive oil
- Spread the carrot batter mixture over the sheet. Press down hard with a spatula or put a sheet of parchement paper over the top and press down on that.
- The scarpaccia should be even and quite thin, plus you want good contact with the batter and vegetables.
- Brush with more olive oil, and sprinkle over some flakey sea salt.
- Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until crispy on the top and edges.
- You can cook for longer if you want the scarpaccia to be extra crispy!
- Leave to cool completely to help it firm up , then cut into squares in the tin, carefully lift out and eat!
- *TIP: It can be a little tricky to remove in one piece from the pan, use a spatula to slide underneath the scarpaccia once it is fully cool to lift it out. It doesn't matter if it comes out in pieces, that's part of the charm!
Notes
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- Gluten-Free - use chickpea flour in place of the regular white flour to make a simple batter for a gluten-free scarpaccia.
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- Other Fresh Herbs - use fresh basil, oregano or parsley as well as or instead of the rosemary.
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- Vegan Parmesan Cheese- Traditional scarpaccia sometimes adds parmesan cheese, add a sprinkle of nutritional yeast or some vegan parmesan to the batter.
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- Other veggies- very finely slice potatoes, a red bell pepper or carrots for yummy mixed vegetable scarpaccia.
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- A little spicy- add some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to the batter.
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- Garlicky- choose to add some finely sliced fresh garlic, or sprinkle a generous dash of garlic powder over.
Janice says
Instructions 4 and 6 both say 3 tbsp olive oil. Number 4 only mentions water. Should olive oil be added to the water?
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Hi sorry about the confusion, I've amended the recipe a bit to be clearer. : Add the chickpea flour and cornmeal to a bowl. Add in the rosemary, olive oil and salt and mix. Then, once they are all mixed, slowly add water until the batter is thick but pourable.