The first one of the fresh August produce recipes coming your way is this Roasted Whole Carrots recipe. My version here is an adaptation from the Roasted Carrot Hummus recipe I shared last year. In that recipe, I roasted carrots and garlic, mixed them with tahini, chickpeas, and dill in the food processor to turn it into a delicious hummus recipe. Topped off with feta, walnuts and more dill, it was one of the most popular recipes of last summer. This baked carrot recipe is the same exact recipe, except you don’t need the get your food processor out. Instead, you roast carrots in the oven, make a simple tahini dressing, drizzle them with the dressing and top them off with chickpeas, feta cheese, and walnuts. So it is like roasted carrot hummus recipe deconstructed. If you are like me, love reusing same ingredients to create different recipes, I am pretty sure you will like this recipe. But before I talk about how I made this multi colored carrot recipe, I want to talk about and share some of my tips on how I roast my carrots. As you can see in the photos, I used multi colored carrots (some people call them “fancy carrots”) that are currently in abundance at our farmer’s market. However, the methods I use here would work for baby carrots or other supermarket carrots as well.
How To Prepare Carrots for Roasting – Should you peel carrots
If you are buying your carrots directly from the farmer, chances are that they will come with their green parts. Don’t throw them away. Most people make carrot-top pesto (like Gwyneth did here) and use it as dressing in pasta, salads, or simply to drizzle onto roasted vegetables. Once you cut the tops, wash your carrots under cold water and gently scrub them using a brush to remove any soil or debris as much as possible. Unpeeled carrots are safe to cook and eat. On the other hand, the following statement that I found from Cook’s Illustrated Magazine’s website states that they taste better when they are peeled. To test whether or not peeling carrots will make a noticable difference on taste, they did a blind test between peeled and unpeeled carrots and found out the following: “Although a few tasters found the unpeeled raw carrots to be earthier tasting than their stripped siblings, most were distracted by their “dusty exterior” and “bitter finish.” The results were even more clear-cut when the carrots were cooked. Tasters unanimously preferred the peel-free carrots in the glazed and roasted samples. In both cases, the skins on the unpeeled carrots became wrinkled, tough, and gritty. Their flavor was “again earthier, but not in a good way” and they weren’t particularly appealing looking. On the other hand, the peeled versions remained bright orange, tender, and sweet.” To sum it up, it is up to you whether or not to peel your carrots. I personally like to spend a few extra minutes to peel them, but again it is a personal choice and you can’t go wrong either way.
How To Roast Carrots
In my opinion, the best way to cook carrots is to roast them in the oven. To do so, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (204 Degrees C), place them on a sheet pan in one layer, drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, give them a mix, and roast for 20-25 minutes, tossing them once halfway through the roasting. As you can see in the pictures, I roasted my carrots as a whole. However, if your carrots are larger, feel free to cut them in 2-inch pieces. This method works for baby carrots as well.
How Long To Roast Carrots at 400 – Carrot Roasting Time
It usually takes 20-25 minutes for carrots to roast in a 400 F degree (204 Celsius) oven. The important thing here is to make sure that they are spread throughout the sheet pan in one layer. To check if they are fully roasted, pierce one carrot using the tip of a knife. If it goes in and out easily, it should be good to go. If not, let it roast for a few more minutes and test it again.
Cooking Carrots on the Stove
Alternatively, you can roast carrots on the stove top. I am sharing this because I think if you are planning to serve this during the holidays, when the oven is on high demand, slow roasted carrots in the oven might not be the best option. Instead, you might want to cook your whole carrots on the stove top. To do so, heat olive oil on a large skillet (cast iron would work nicely) in medium-high heat. Add in the carrots. If your skillet is large enough you can cook carrots as a whole. If not, feel free to cut them into smaller bite sizes. Cook them, turning a few times until they turn lightly golden. This takes about 5 minutes. Add one or two tablespoons of butter and continue to cook until they are tender, for another 5 minutes or so. Sprinkle them with parsley (or any other herbs you like) and serve.
My Current Favorite Multicolored Cooked Carrots Recipe:
Now let’s talk about my current favorite version of roasted whole carrots. While you can certainly serve oven roasted carrots just by themselves, here I turned them into a simple yet elegant side dish with just a few additionally steps. The process has 3 folds: The whole dish comes together in less than 30 minutes and takes the otherwise ordinary roasted whole carrots recipe to what I’d like to call, the best carrots recipe. Though I am aware that I might sound biased, I have served this in many occasions and have gotten nothing but raving reviews. So if you want to up your oven roasted carrots game to the next level, I will humbly suggest that you give this recipe a try.
Other carrot recipes you might like:
Carrot SmoothieCarrot Coconut CupcakesCarrot HummusNeed more inspiration? Be sure to check out all our Vegetable Side Dishes
What goes good with roasted carrots
This baked whole carrots recipe is one of my go-to side dishes to serve with chicken and beef recipes. Here are a few examples to inspire you:
Ina Garten’s Pot RoastBaked ZitiMediterranean Lemon Chicken
This How To Cook Whole Carrots recipe post was originally published in July 2018. It has been updated with additional helpful information and with no changes to the recipe in August 2020.
