Honey Garlic Carrots - Easy Carrot Side Dish (2024)

Are you looking for a delicious weeknight side dish that’s both sweet and savory? Look no further than these honey garlic carrots! Perfect for busy weeknights or special occasions, this simple carrot recipe combines the best of both worlds to create a delicious side dish that will have your whole family asking for seconds!

An Easy Roast Carrots Recipe

Roast carrots are an easy addition to any meal, and when they’re coated in a honey garlic butter glaze they become an irresistible treat. While the recipe was designed as a side dish, I could eat an entire plate of these and call it a meal. They really are that good.

Like any weeknight side dish, this one comes together quickly – less than 10 minutes of prep time – and roasts in about 20 minutes to bring out that sweet and savory deliciousness. Better yet, you make the sauce and roast the carrots all in a single, oven safe pan, leaving less clean up for you.

When I’m not eating them on their own, my favorite way to serve these honey garlic butter roast carrots is with pulled pork sandwiches. The tender carrots are a great substitute for fries or tots, and their natural sweetness pairs wonderfully with the mustard based barbeque sauce.

What You’ll Need

• carrots
• butter
• honey, plus extra for drizzling
• garlic cloves, minced
• salt
• pepper
• small handful fresh parsley, finely chopped to garnish

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• Food scale – weigh the carrots before you peel them, you can do this at home but most grocery stores have a scale in the produce department. You don’t have to be exact.
• Measuring spoons
• Vegetable peeler
• Cutting board
• Chef’s knife
• Large oven proof skillet – I like cast iron.

How to Make: Honey Garlic Roasted Carrots

These sweet buttery carrots come together quickly and easily, all in a single oven proof skillet. If you don’t have an oven proof skillet, you can prepare the dish in regular skillet, then transfer the carrots to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for roasting.

• Grab your kitchen tools and prep your ingredients. Preheat your oven to 425º. Peel carrots, remove the tops and tails, then cut into large batons on a bias. Mince the garlic. Chop the parsley.
• Make the honey garlic butter sauce. Heat the skillet over medium heat, then melt butter. Once melted, add honey and garlic and cook for 1 – 2 minutes until fragrant.

• Glaze carrots. Add the carrots to the honey sauce and stir to coat them completely. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then stir again.
• Roast the carrots. Transfer the dish to the preheated oven and roast until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Glaze, garnish, serve. Once the carrots are done, drizzle them with a bit more sweet honey and sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Serve and enjoy!

Tips for Success

This easy recipe is pretty straight forward, but there is always room for extra tips and tricks. Here are a couple of my favorite.

• Cut the carrots into uniform sizes – When roasting the pieces are all going to cook at roughly the same speed. If you aim for all the pieces to be around the same size, they will roast more uniformly, achieving the same level of doneness at the same time.
• Watch them for burning – The honey glaze in this recipe can burn if you overcook it. If your carrots aren’t done enough for your liking at 20 minutes, stir the carrots so that the bottoms don’t burn then continue roasting until done.

Recipe Variations

This is a great recipe on it’s own, but what makes it better is when you make it your own. While it’s is hard to change up these carrots without changing the ingredients that give it it’s name, that shouldn’t stop you from paying around with the flavors of this recipe to make it uniquely yours.

• Swap your sugar – Technically, honey is a sugar. Its job is to add sweetness to the recipe and create a caramelized flavor when roasted. You can change up the flavors by changing the sugar to something like brown sugar, maple syrup, or whatever type of sugar you keep on hand.
• Alter your aromatics – In this recipe the garlic plays the role of aromatic, the aroma of it will great you before you even put the first bite in your mouth. A great swap here would be to trade all or part of the garlic for fresh ginger root. Ginger and carrot taste divine together!
• Diversify the herbs – (Nope, I couldn’t think of an “H” word.) Parsley and carrots are a great match, but you can also try other soft leafy herbs like basil, cilantro, or mint to change up the flavors and possibly make it pair better with whatever main dish you are already serving.

Serving Suggestions

We’ve already established that these carrots make an excellent side dish, which means they need excellent main dishes to sit next to on your plate.

For a quick weeknight meal I like to make these honey glazed carrots with roast chicken breast. You already have the oven going at 425º, which means you can cook a boneless skinless chicken breast in the same time it takes to roast the carrots. Add in some green beans and you are on your way to an easy sheet pan dinner. For this I would transfer the carrots to a sheet pan and arrange the carrots in a single layer next to the chicken breast.

They also shine when paired with roast pork or beef, perhaps for a Sunday roast or a holiday celebration, like Thanksgiving dinner.

How to Store and Reheat

Stored roasted carrots in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Take note: the butter will harden and look congealed once it cools completely. This does not mean it went bad, it just needs to be remelted.

Oven roasted carrots reheat best in a hot oven, however you can also heat them on the stovetop or in your airfryer. I find they get rubbery in the microwave, but if you don’t you can also reheat them in the microwave.

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More Easy Side Dish Recipes

• Baked Sweet Potato Slices
• Roasted Honey Glazed Carrots
• Screaming Skillet Green Beans
• Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts