Roasted Carrots
This simple Roasted Carrot side dish is easy to prepare and requires just a few ingredients that you likely already have in your kitchen. The carrots are tossed in a honey, butter, garlic and coriander sauce and roasted until tender and slightly charred and caramelized around the edges. This easy Roasted Carrots recipe are Paleo, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal.
These easy Roasted Carrots are a great side dish to make when you need something last minute to serve with dinner. The tender carrots develop a wonderful rich slightly sweet flavor when roasted and the edges become caramelized and charred, so good! They are a great side dish to serve with chicken, steak, pork tenderloin or even pot roast or would be more than worthy of a place at your Thanksgiving table. This is such an easy method for cooking carrots with just a few simple ingredients but in my opinion it will quickly become your favorite way to prepare them. This is a carrot recipe that the whole family will love (including picky eaters!).
Why These Oven-Roasted Carrots Are So Good:
- So easy: This side dish takes just 20 minutes to make and is incredibly simple to prepare. You can even prep the carrots and sauce a few days in advance and then just put the dish in the oven to roast before eating.
- Wonderful flavour: I absolutely love the rich slightly sweet flavor that carrots develop when roasted. They become tender and caramelized on the edges when
- A great last minute side dish to add to a meal: These roasted carrots will quickly become a go to side dish if, like me, you always have a bag of carrots in the bottom of your fridge. Whenever I am struggling to think of an easy side dish to make with dinner, I turn to this recipe because I usually have all of the ingredients on hand.
- They are the perfect side dish for your Holiday dinner table, I have made them 3 years in a row and everyone always goes crazy for them.
- Just a few ingredients: carrots, honey, butter/ghee, garlic and a few spices are all you need to make this easy recipe, it’s so simple!
- Leftovers: The leftovers are delicious eaten warm or cold over the following 2 days. You can eat them as a side dish, toss them into a salad or even add them into a frittata.
Ingredients You Need To Make These Easy Roasted Carrots:
- Carrots: You can use any kind of carrots you prefer for this side dish. I like using large carrots and cutting them into even sized thick slices, but baby carrots or heirloom carrots would also work well.
- Butter or Ghee: If you are Paleo then stick to ghee, otherwise I would recommend going with butter for this recipe as I prefer its slightly milder flavour. To make this recipe vegan you could also use vegan butter.
- Garlic: there is definitely no shortage of garlic in this recipe. While 3 cloves might seem overpowering, once roasted it really mellows in flavour and becomes slightly sweet. I also like how the bits of minced garlic stick to the carrots after roasting.
- Honey: I find that a lot of roasted carrot recipes use too much honey and become overly sweet due to the fact that carrots already have a natural sweetness. I think this recipe has the perfect balance and is slightly sweet, without taking away from the overall savoury flavours of the dish. To make this recipe Vegan you could swap the honey for maple syrup.
- Coriander and Thyme: There is no need to add too many spices and herbs to this dish as you want the flavour of the carrots to really shine through. Ground coriander adds a nice richness and depth of flavour, and you can use either dried or fresh thyme.
- Chili Powder: Just 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder adds a subtle warmth to the dish, without making it spicy. I really think that the chili powder helps make the dish and should not be skipped.
- Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
How To Make The Best Roasted Carrots:
- Start by prepping the carrots. Wash the raw carrots, give them a good scrub and peel them if desired (or leave the peel on if you want them to look more “rustic”). Cut off the stems and cut the large whole carrots into even sized wedges. If you are using thinner carrots or baby carrots you can leave them whole.
- Make the sauce. In a saucepan combine the honey, butter or ghee, garlic, thyme, coriander and chili powder and bring the sauce to a very gentle simmer. Leave it to cook for a few minutes so that the dissolves into the sauce.
- Arrange the carrots in a single layer in a large baking dish or large baking sheet, pour the sauce overtop and give them a toss so that they are well coated in the sauce. Transfer to the hot oven to roast for 20 minutes. Once the roasted carrots are golden brown in colour and fork tender they are done.
Tips For Making These Easy Roasted Carrots:
- Be sure to use a large baking dish that allows the carrots to be spaced out evenly without overlapping. this will help to ensure that they caramelize and brown when roasting rather than steam.
- Don’t skip flipping the carrots half way through roasting, this really helps them to brown evenly on both sides and ensures they are well coated in the sticky sauce
- Keep an eye on the carrots while they broil to ensure that they don’t burn, the cooking time should take no longer than 3 minutes for them to brown.
- I find that cooking the carrots directly on the sheet pan creates the best caramelization, but if you want to make cleanup easier you can place parchment paper or aluminum foil on the sheet pan first.
Can I Make These Easy Roasted Carrots In Advance?
For the best results I recommend only roasting the carrots right before serving to ensure they don’t overcook and become mushy. The carrots can be washed and cut and stored in a large bowl or airtight container in the fridge up to 2 days in advance and you can make the sauce in a small sauce pan and store it in a container. 30 minutes before eating, arrange the carrots on a sheet pan and quickly microwave the sauce before pouring it over the carrots and roasting.
What About Leftovers
Leftovers will last for up to 4 ways stored in an airtight container in the fridge. I have found that the best way to reheat the roasted carrots is in the microwave or in the oven at a high temperature (such as 450 degrees Fahrenheit) for 8-10 minutes.
Here are a few more easy side dishes recipes that you might enjoy…
- Brussels Sprout, Bacon & Kale Gratin
- Roasted Fennel with Garlic & Herbs
- One Pan Green Beans & Bacon
- The Best Cauliflower Mash
- Caramelized Leek, Fennel & Onion Gratin
- Hasselback Butternut Squash
- Sheet Pan Roasted Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprout & Bacon
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Roasted Carrots Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound peeled carrots
- 3 tbsp melted butter or ghee
- 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425º Fahrenheit (220º Celsius).
- Peel the carrots and cut them in half lengthwise if they are thick. Cut each halved carrot into 2-3 inch pieces. Place the carrots in a baking dish large enough to lay them out evenly (not overlapping).
- In a saucepan melt the butter/ghee on medium heat. Stir in the honey, garlic, coriander, thyme, chili powder salt and pepper. Leave to gently simmer for 3 minutes before removing the pan from the heat.
- Pour the sauce over the carrots and gently toss them to ensure that they are all well coated. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Half way through roasting, remove the carrots and quickly stir them before returning to the oven and continuing to cook until fork tender.
- After 20 minutes turn the oven to broil and cook the carrots for a further 2-3 minutes to lightly brown the edges. Serve the carrots garnished with sprigs of thyme or chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Delicious! Super easy & soooo tasty. Will definitely make again & again. Actually made your best ever mashed cauliflower too, so it was a very Every Last Bite dinner!
How is butter not considered dairy??
Using ghee, all dairy and sugars are cooked out
These were delicious!
These carrots will now be a staple for any dinner party I have…or really any dinner at all! So incredibly flavorful and so easy. I chopped up the carrots the day before and just assembled the sauce the day of and roasted. Everyone at the dinner could not get enough of these carrots.
Sooooo good! I may or may not have licked the pan after making the sauce. I could eat that garlic-honey-butter concoction on a rock. On roasted carrots, it’s just to die for!