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When you slice carrots, the slices tend to roll away. This previous question did mention this as part of a broader issue, but didn't focus on it enough to get answers that specifically address rolling. Sharp knives and a fluid rocking/orbital motion don't really help with this; the slices will still stick to the blade, then tend to roll when they fall.

So how do you keep sliced carrots (or any other small, round, and hard things) from rolling away as you slice them?

(I know cutting them in half works, but let's say I want to avoid that: round slices look nice.)

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Cascabel
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  • Simple answer: don't use cylindric slices. Imo they are too big anyway. Also, because of the shape of a carrot the pieces will unlikely having the same size when you slice it like this. Dices are better. If you want, use half-cylinders. – hek2mgl Mar 20 '17 at 12:28

9 Answers9

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One option is to cut the carrots slightly diagonally instead of perfectly square. The resulting pieces are not perfectly cylindrical, but they tend to tipping instead of rolling all over the cutting board. (Note that this method only works if the diameter of the carrot is substantially larger than the thickness of a piece.)

MaxD
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    This is also known as cutting "on the bias", and for whatever reason I find that bias-cut veg looks nicer than disks cut perfectly "flat". – logophobe Mar 17 '16 at 23:42
  • I double bias my cuts. By that I mean I also tilt the blade slightly so that the top of the knife is angled away from the carrot. That makes any slices that stick and slide up the blade fall off away from the rest of the carrot, and it sort of helps knock slices off the blade at the bottom. – Todd Wilcox Mar 18 '16 at 05:07
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    Another, imo more substantial advantage: This creates a larger overall surface areas and thus speeds up processing (cooking etc..) and enhances the taste. – TaW Mar 18 '16 at 15:15
  • @TaW Well, if you still want them to look close to circular, it's not really much surface area. If I wanted long oval slices, I wouldn't have the rolling problem :) – Cascabel Mar 18 '16 at 16:22
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If you take a slender slice off the carrot (down the length), then your carrot is no longer round, and it'll nicely sit on that now-flat side. (You can do this with a sharp knife, or with a few passes of the vegetable peeler). Visually, though, it's hardly noticeable especially after cooking.

derobert
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  • I know this will make the carrot sit in place, but does it actually stop them from rolling? – Cascabel Mar 17 '16 at 22:39
  • @Jefromi not 100% sure, I don't have problems with sliced carrots rolling away... So I guess it works for me. Or something else is different. – derobert Mar 17 '16 at 22:55
  • Okay, will try! There could be a knife technique thing that's different, though I'm not sure what it'd be... the main time they roll is after sticking to the blade, then getting pushed off by subsequent slices. Most of them just fall onto the board, but some inevitably fall onto something else then keep rolling away. – Cascabel Mar 17 '16 at 22:57
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    @Jefromi could be. Or might be something as simple as the counter isn't level. – derobert Mar 17 '16 at 23:00
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One thing I've done in the past is use the tendency to roll to my advantage, rather than fighting it.

I position a shallow dish to collect the carrots at the "bottom" of the cutting board (the edge furthest away from me), and prop the cutting board up slightly at the "top" end (where I stand). I use a kitchen towel, since that keeps things from sliding around. As I slice, the carrots that roll have a natural tendency to roll into the collection dish.

Another strategy: What I have been doing lately instead of propping up my cutting board on a kitchen towel, because I'm lazy, is to slice my carrots on a bias. They are still round slices, but they are slightly elliptical and don't roll as well.

user132278
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Easy-peasy:

  1. Use a mandoline: they'll fall mostly on their flat side
  2. For the difficult ones that do not fall under the category mostly: place the mandoline over a bowl.
Fabby
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I recently discovered that if you put the carrot inside a stalk of celery and slice it, it doesn't roll around. Usually i add celery to whatever disk has carrots anyway

edward de jong
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I use a reasonably large cutting board with a "drain" around it (the kind that would also be suitable for cutting meat and has a medium-thickness notch cut around the entire perimeter of the board). That way, when the inevitable freeroller happens, it rolls into the drain and stops.

Joe M
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I agree with many of the suggestions above. However, if your carrots are still rolling off the cutting board, consider putting one or more rolled towels around the edge of the cutting board to prevent the "rollers" from escaping their inevitable fate.

Ernie Eusebio
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  • Hello Ernie, and welcome to Seasoned Advice! This answer appears to be an exact duplicate of the one you gave here: [How should I keep the vegetables from flying off the board when I cut them?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/114050/89857) – Anastasia Zendaya Feb 01 '21 at 01:18
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Rotate the carrot a quarter turn and again cut at an angle.
This will prevent the slices from rolling off the chopping board.

user44369
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It may be because you have peeled them. Did you know the relative majority of nutrients is in the skin, it is the most important part of the carrot. When it comes down to it, you don't ever really have to peel carrots. The friction is greater with the skin still on they don't roll far. As long as you wash and scrub them well to remove dirt and any debris, unpeeled carrots are perfectly safe (and delicious) to eat. Here are five instances that prove it, stock, roasted, stewed, pureed, juiced. But of course cooking also destroys a lot of the goodness. I also have a cutting board guard to stop any strays. I like cinnammon with cooked carrots, but most of all I like them raw with peanut butter. I have left some out for the Easter bunny.

user44370
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