How to Peel a Carrot

Using a Vegetable Peeler

Wash the carrots under cool running water. Brush them with a nylon-bristled brush to remove any dirt or impurities from the surface. Washing is a necessary step to remove all pesticides and any lingering dirt. Sometimes carrots look a bit dingy or funny. This will go away when you peel off the outer layer.

Place a bowl on your countertop. The bowl will catch the carrot peels as you remove them from the carrot. You could peel it over the trash, but that leads to a clumsier peel since you have no surface for the carrot to rest against. You could also just peel the carrot on a cutting board and then scrape the cuttings into the trash when you're done. Whichever.

Hold the carrot between the thumb and forefinger of your non-dominant hand. Then, turn your non-dominant hand over so that your palm is facing the ceiling (and your hand is underneath the carrot). The carrot should be tilted at a 45-degree angle over your bowl with the pointed tip pointing down into the bowl. The hardest part about this is doing it fast and not cutting yourself. If you keep your hand below the carrot, at least the latter half of that quandary is solved.

Place your vegetable peeler against the top of your carrot where the carrot is the thickest. If the peeler won't reach the top inch or so, that's fine – you'll take care of it in a bit. Most peelers actually have two blades that go both directions. Does yours? A vegetable peeler only removes thin slices of the skin if you press it against the carrot gently, preserving the layer beneath that contains many of the carrot’s phytonutrients.

Push the vegetable peeler down along the surface of the carrot to its tip. You will remove a thin layer of skin that should curl and fall into the bowl or onto the cutting board. That's your first slice – congratulations! Keep the carrot's tip resting on the cutting board, if you're using one. It'll be easier to keep the carrot in place and not move with the force you're applying if it's resting on a stable surface.

Now peel upward. What most people don't realize is that the standard vegetable peeler has two blades that make it possible to peel your carrot from both the bottom and the top, from peeling away from you and peeling toward you. So once you peel down, peel up. Then you go back and forth, back and forth. What's the point of this? If you're peeling a lot of carrots, you'll go much, much faster with this method. The best chefs are all about taste and efficiency.

Rotate the carrot slightly and repeat the process until all of the peel has been removed. As you're peeling up and down, up and down, gently rotate the carrot in your hand. When you reach the side that you started on, you're finished peeling the base. Easy as pie.

Flip it over and peel the top. Sometimes it's easier not to worry about the top at first, your hand is there and the last thing you want to do is cut your wrist. So once you're finished peeling the bulk of the carrot, flip it over and peel the base in the same method, but just covering the last inch or so that needs to be peeled. If you didn't peel the top at first, of course. Generally not doing so makes the first bit quicker, but then you do have to take the time now to complete it. Whether you do so or not is up to.

Place the carrot on a cutting board and chop off the top and the tip of the carrot with a paring knife. Most people don't use the very tips in their cooking. With those added to the pile, discard the peels in your garbage or put them in your compost pile. Rinse your carrots once they're peeled and continue to prepare them according to the instructions in your recipe.

Using a Paring Knife

Wash the carrot under cool running water. As mentioned in the previous method, all fruits and vegetables should be washed beforehand to remove any dirt or pesticide residue. A nylon-bristled brush will make this quick and easy.

Place the tip of the carrot on a cutting board. Hold the thick top of the carrot using your non-dominant hand. The carrot should be positioned at a 45-degree angle to the cutting board. Hold it in between your thumb and forefinger and then flip your hand over so your palm is facing the ceiling. Your hand is underneath the carrot, supporting it.

Place the blade of your paring knife at the top of the carrot and press down along the surface, scraping a thin layer of skin off the vegetable. If you don’t own a vegetable peeler, a paring knife will get the job done. Just be careful not to peel too much of the meat off the carrot. A gentle scrape of the top will do. Also be careful not to hurt yourself! Your non-dominant hand shouldn't come anywhere close to the blade's edge. Make sure your fingers are under and to the sides of the carrot, not risking getting cut.

Rotate the carrot and repeat the peeling process until all of the skin is removed. As you peel and peel, rotate the carrot to expose the raw skin that hasn't yet been peeled away. You should be able to shift it in your non-dominant hand without stopping the process. Sometimes it's easy to miss the very top of the carrot near where your wrist is. If this is the case, just flip it over and take care of the base by holding the tip and resuming your technique.

Place the carrot on your cutting board and use your paring knife to cut off the tip and the top of the carrot. Then, discard those along with the peels into your garbage or compost pile. Place the carrot on a separate plate and continue peeling until all of your carrots are peeled. Rinse each peeled carrot before use.