Oven Roasted Carrots

Oven Roasted Carrots make an amazing vegetable side dish that is the perfect balance of sweet and savory. They are a great side dish for just about any dinner! The best part is that they come together with just 3 ingredients in under 30 minutes and they turn out crisp-tender and delicious!

One of our favorite dinners at the Mom’s Dinner kitchens are these roasted carrots, roasted garlic mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and grilled steaks! This is an amazing menu any time of year.

Ingredients

Just like Roasted Asparagus, you only need three ingredients to make this side dish : carrots, olive oil and kosher salt! Couldn’t be easier!

Carrot Sizes

Carrots can come in drastically different sizes! I have seen carrots that are two inches around, I have also seen carrots that are like toothpicks! This recipe was written for a medium sized carrot, about 8-10 carrots per pound (shown below is one pound of carrots).

This makes a difference for cooking time. However if you have thicker carrot you can always split them in half lengthwise before cutting into pieces.

If you have kids in your house you probably also have BABY CARROTS in your fridge. Those can be swapped out for whole carrots if you want to use up what you have!

Peeling and Cutting Whole Carrots

Before you roast your carrots you will want to peel, trim and slice into pieces.

There are two ways to peel your carrots:

1. The traditional way is with a vegetable peeler. That is what I use and it works great.
2. There is also a fancy way (I learned from Thomas Keller) you can use a clean “green scrub pad” and scrub away the very outer layer of the carrot.

To trim your carrot you will just cut away and discard the stem end, you can also trim away the root end if you want, but isn’t necessary.

To slice the carrots into pieces you will cut it into 1-2 inch chunks. I like to cut it on the bias (at an angle). This creates fancier carrots, perfect for a Holiday dinner! The thinner ends also cook a little faster and can get a nice caramelization.

Garnish

Your roasted carrots will be beautiful as is, but if you want a little garnish here are some options:

• salted butter!
• fresh chopped parsley
• fresh chopped dill
• drizzle of real maple syrup for a sweeter carrot
• drizzle of honey
• pomegranate arils (great for the holidays)

Fancy Drizzle

For an extra fancy garnish great for the holidays you can melt together:

• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 chopped garlic clove

Toss the carrots in the mixture. Finish with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley.

Half Recipe or Double Recipe

If you are having a smaller dinner or there are just two or three of you, you can absolutely half this recipe. It will still cook for the same amount of time.

If you choose to double the recipe and cook 4-5 lbs. of carrots, you will also want to use two very large rimmed baking sheets. You may also need to increase the cooking time to 30-35 minutes. Half way through the cooking time when you toss the carrots you will also want to swap the position of the pans in the oven (bc the top of the oven can tend to be hotter).

Great Dishes To Pair with Roasted Carrots

Roasted Carrots go with just about any dinner that needs a veggie side dish. We like to pair them with Pork Tenderloin or Pork Loin, Braised Tri Tip, Meatloaf, Roasted Chicken, Swedish Meatballs, or Steak Bites, just to name a few!

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