It wouldn’t be a holiday celebration without carrots on the table. Whether it’s Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, my family always serves carrots. But you don’t have to wait for a holiday to make these ridiculously easy, crisp-tender multi-colored carrots that are lightly caramelized and flavored with rosemary, thyme, and parsley. They’re a great weeknight side dish and a nice way to get some vegetables into kids (or adults) who are picky when it comes to vegetables because most everyone likes carrots. Since carrots have plenty of natural sugar, when you roast them at high heat they caramelize beautifully around the edges. I like mine pretty dark but not everyone does, so roast until you’ve hit your perfect amount of char.
Recipe Ingredients
To make the rainbow herb roasted carrots, you’ll need:
Carrots Olive oil Fresh herbs Salt and pepper Lemon juice
What Are the Best Herbs for Roasting Carrots?
Because carrots aren’t strongly flavored and have a subtle sweetness to them, they pair well with almost any fresh herb. For this particular rainbow carrot recipe, I used the following herbs:
Fresh rosemary Fresh thyme Fresh parsley
Feel free to mix and match the herbs to suit your personal taste preferences. And if you’re making this as an Easter, Christmas, or Thanksgiving side dish, don’t go out and buy any extra fresh herbs if you already have a couple on hand for other seasonal recipes! Use up what you have so nothing goes to waste after the big holiday.
How to Make Oven Roasted Rainbow Carrots
It doesn’t take much to transform colorful carrots into an elegant side dish! Follow these basic steps for roasting the tri-colored carrots:
Make-Ahead Instructions
You’ll need to wait to roast the carrots until the hour you plan on serving them. However, you can:
Peel and chop the carrots. Seal them in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use. Finely chop the fresh herbs. Place them in a small airtight container and refrigerate up to 48 hours beforehand.
Everything else will need to be prepped day-of!
Tips for Making This Recipe
Size: Be sure to chop the carrots into even-sized chunks so they roast at the same rate in the oven. If using organic carrots, you may not need to peel them — your choice! Fresh vs dried herbs: I don’t recommend using dried herbs in this carrot side dish. Dried herbs are more potent than fresh and don’t roast very well (they can become crunchy at high heats). Leftovers: I prefer these oven roasted carrots straight from the oven, but leftovers will keep up to 5 days in the fridge. Toss the roasted carrots on salads, into soups, or reheat and enjoy plain.
Recipe Video Tutorial
More Roasted Vegetable Side Dishes:
Honey-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey-Cinnamon Dip – The honey glaze and the creamy cinnamon dip make these potatoes irresistible!! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts — Think you don’t like brussels sprouts? The balsamic glaze on these will change your mind! BEST brussels sprouts ever! Fast, easy, and accidentally healthy! Parmesan and Herb Roasted Potatoes — Easiest potatoes ever and packed with so much flavor! Olive oil, herbs, and everything is better with CHEESE! A family favorite that everyone loves! Roasted Orange Glazed Carrots — A fast, EASY, and holiday-friendly side dish everyone will love!! The honey orange glaze adds such great FLAVOR and really jazzes up roasted carrots!! Cheesy Roasted Asparagus — Even picky eaters will LOVE asparagus when it’s roasted with onions and covered with melted CHEESE!! A fast and EASY side that’s perfect for busy weeknights!! Parmesan Roasted Broccoli — This is a super simple side dish that’s perfect for anything from busy weeknights to holiday celebrations.
