Honey-Roasted Rainbow Carrots

These colorful, flavorful, gluten-free Honey-Roasted Rainbow Carrots turn plain ol’ baby carrots from so-so to sensational. Your kids will eat them happily!

If your family is bored with raw carrots and dip or steamed carrots with a drizzle of melted butter, shake things up by tossing baby carrots—use the new rainbow variety if you can find them—with honey, extra virgin olive oil, coriander, cumin, and kosher salt and then pop ’em in the oven to roast.

I first started seeing one-pound bags of rainbow carrots at the market this fall and then a few weeks ago, these little beauties appeared: rainbow baby carrots. They’re naturally sweet and impossible to resist. Roasting them brings out even more of their sweetness.

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The inspiration for my new carrot creation comes from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi. U.K. chef, Ottolenghi has written this cookbook as well as three others—Ottolenghi, Plenty, and Jerusalem.

He is currently my chef crush, which I admit proudly!

I’m obsessed with Ottolengi for many reasons, but here are my top five:

(1) When it comes to using spices and fresh herbs, he doesn’t hold back, so his recipes are bursting with big flavors. He challenges your taste buds with every dish.

(2) He loves vegetables (Plenty and Plenty More are vegetarian cookbooks) and has done a marvelous job taking them from an afterthought on the side of the plate to the star of the center.

(3) His recipes work!

(4) Ottolenghi is from Israel though he’s currently U.K. based, so many of his recipes hail from the Middle East. Going out of my culinary comfort zone with each of his recipes has been fun.

(5) The recipes in his cookbooks often call for ingredients I haven’t used before or sometimes even heard of, which motivates me to shop at stores I don’t usually frequent. Let’s just say I’m glad I have a Penzeys spice market near my house.

The combo of flavors in this recipe—honey, evoo, coriander, cumin, thyme—comes together beautifully. I made this recipe for Thanksgiving and even my mom, who typically uses salt and pepper and not much more, loved them.

5.0 from 3 reviews

Honey-Roasted Rainbow Carrots

 

Author: Liz

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 3 to 4

• Serving size: about ½ cup
• Calories: 90

• Fat: 3g
• Carbohydrates: 17g
• Sodium: 250mg
• Fiber: 4g
• Protein: 1g

Recipe type: Side Dish

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Colorful rainbow carrots make this veggie side dish impossible to resist, and using baby carrots turns it into a five-minute recipe! If you can't find rainbow carrots at the market, use regular carrots.

Ingredients

• One 1-pound bag rainbow baby carrots, (fatter carrots sliced in half lengthwise)
• 1 tablespoon honey, melted
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• A few pinches of pepper
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
2. Place the carrots, honey, olive oil, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and the thyme sprigs as desired in a bowl and stir until the carrots are evenly coated.
3. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake until soft and sweet, 25 to 30 minutes, tossing halfway through.

Notes

Each serving has 15% vitamin C and an astounding 430% vitamin A. Your immune system will thank you! * This recipe is gluten free.

3.5.3226

Who is your chef crush? What’s your favorite new vegetable creation? Have you seen rainbow baby carrots at your local market?

Happy Cooking!