Oven Roasted Carrots

Oven Roasted Carrots 

Oven roasted carrots are easily one of my favorite side dishes because they pair with almost any main dish. 

They require very minimal prepping and are ready in just 45 minutes. They make an amazing weeknight side dish! 

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Oven Roasted Carrots Ingredients 

Carrots, 1 pound (whole, baby, rainbow, take your pick on the variation you enjoy) 

Olive oil, 3 tablespoons 

Garlic salt, 2 teaspoons 

Oven Roasted Carrots Directions 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

If you are using whole carrots, you’ll want to peel and chop them to be a consistent size. That size will also make your cooking time vary a bit. Smaller pieces take less baking time, larger ones take longer. Be sure they are consistent though, so everything cooks evenly. There is nothing worse than some pieces being overdone and some being under and crunchy. 

I typically use baby carrots because I don’t have to do any prep work for them, and they are all a consistent size already. But that is simply based on my preference of wanting a really easy side dish. Short cuts are ok! 

Place the carrots in a shallow baking dish, arranging so that none are stacked on top of each other. 

Drizzle with the olive oil and garlic salt. Toss to coat, making sure all carrots are coated evenly with the olive oil and salt. 

Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the carrots are fork tender. Fork tender meaning you can push a fork through the largest part of the carrot with minimal effort. If they fall apart, they are overdone. If there is resistance to the fork, they are undercooked. 

If you use whole carrots and chop them, I would start checking them for doneness at the 20 minute mark. As you make this recipe more often, you’ll figure out exactly what time it takes for you based on the way you cut them.  

Recipe Notes 

The best part of this oven roasted carrots recipe is it can be modified. Add in different spices or use a flavored oil instead of basic olive oil. 

Sprinkle some fresh chopped parsley and parmesan cheese right before serving. Pepper and rosemary are also very good additions to this recipe. 

This seems like such a basic side dish, but there are countless ways to change it up. 

How to Pick Your Carrots 

How do you know if it is a good carrot or not? 

You want carrots that are a rich and vibrant color, don’t look dry, and don’t have any splits or cracks in them. That means they’re older and drying out already. That means they won’t last as long once you get them home from the store, and will need to be used sooner. 

Why I Love This Recipe 

This is one of those “fix it and forget about it” kind of recipes. That makes things easy and allows me time to focus on the main dish portion of my meal, or just allows me a little time to relax while it is in the oven. My attention can be given to many other things. 

One of my favorite things about carrots, but especially about rainbow carrots, is that there is an inherent sweet potato-like quality to them when they are roasted in the oven. Cooking them this way brings out that natural sweetness, and the salt will also contrast that, creating an amazing depth of flavor in such a simple recipe. 

My husband’s favorite side dish recipe is parmesan roasted cauliflower, and mine are definitely these oven roasted carrots. Naturally these end up being our go-to recipes when we can’t decide on anything else. I often find I pair them with chicken recipes. 

Discussion 

Have you made these delicious oven roasted carrots yourself? What is your favorite go-to vegetable? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

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