Roasted Rainbow Carrots

These gorgeous roasted rainbow carrots are a delicious and elegant side dish recipe. They are a perfect side dish for a holiday dinner, but easy enough to pull together for a weeknight dinner.

Rainbow carrots are multicolored carrots that come in a mix of vibrant colors, including purple, yellow, white, and regular orange carrots. They're in season year-round, but often easiest to find in grocery stores in fall and spring.

This colorful side dish tastes as good as it looks!

This delicious side dish looks great on the dinner table and will entice even picky eaters to try a new food.

It's enough of a showstopper that you can make it for holiday meals, but it's simple enough to make for an easy weeknight meal.

Root vegetables taste great when they're roasted at high heat - it brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables while making them tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. Check out our guide on roasting vegetables for more information.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• More Roasted Vegetable Sides
• Substitutions & Variations
• Storage
• Tips for Making this Recipe
• Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make these colorful carrots.

• Fresh Rainbow Carrots
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• Honey
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Fresh Oregano or Thyme
• Optional - additional chopped fresh herbs for topping

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Scrub the carrots under running water till fully cleaned.

Toss carrots with olive oil, salt, and pepper and lay in a single layer on a parchment lined sheet pan.

Bake for 15 mins in the oven.

Remove the carrots from the oven and drizzle with honey, balsamic vinegar, and thyme. Toss to coat.

Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove the carrots from the oven and serve immediately.

Top with optional chopped herbs like fresh parsley, fresh dill, or fresh thyme.

More Roasted Vegetable Sides

If you love the flavors of a roasted, caramelized vegetable, you've got to try some of our other favorites!

• Roasted Turnips - earthy and substantial, these delicious turnips are well-spiced and roasted to perfection.
• Roasted Radishes - roasting radishes with a few seasonings brings out the natural sweetness and savory flavors of these delicate root vegetables.
• Oven Roasted Root Vegetables - a fantastic and simple side dish that's perfect for a special occasion.
• Roasted Purple Cauliflower - beautiful purple cauliflower, topped with herbs and spices.
• Honey Roasted Baby Carrots - a fantastic way to prepare baby carrots that's simple and super tasty.
• Smashed Brussels Sprouts - my favorite way to make Brussels sprouts! They're topped with parmesan and roasted till crispy.

Substitutions & Variations

Want to make some changes to this recipe? Here are a few ingredient swaps you can make to these multicolored carrots.

• Carrots - if you can't find rainbow carrots, you can absolutely use regular carrots for this recipe. They roast exactly the same way!
• Sweetener - you can swap the honey for maple syrup or agave if you'd prefer.
• Optional toppings - feel free to add orange zest, lemon zest, crumbled feta cheese, some toasted pine nuts, or chopped fresh rosemary as toppings.

Storage

The roasted carrots will keep for up to four days in the refrigerator when stored in an airtight container.

Tips for Making this Recipe

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Cooking Tips - Cooking time may vary depending on the size of the carrot. If some of your carrots are very large and others small, you may want to pull the small ones off the tray and let the larger ones roast for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Test them to make sure they are fork-tender before removing them from the oven.

Recommended Tools - I recommend using parchment paper that's the same size as your baking sheets - this is the ready-to-use parchment paper I like and here are the sheet pans I use.

Dietary Changes - If you'd like to make this recipe vegan, swap the honey for maple syrup.

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