Sweet, spicy, and stunning! These hot honey roasted rainbow carrots are roasted to perfection, bringing out the natural sweetness and vibrant colors of the carrots. Roasted with a chili-infused honey glaze, they're the perfect sweet and spicy side dish to brighten up any meal!
I confess that I haven't always liked cooked carrots. I remember them as mushy, flavorless and too sweet. But when my aunt told me that she uses my bread dipping seasoning, olive oil and honey on her cooked carrots, it really got me thinking about cooked carrots. And then I started making my own. And guess what? I don't just like roasted carrots, I love them. (In fact, I love them so much that I was eating them with my fingers while taking the photos for this blog post. A big no-no on so many levels, mostly for my camera's sake, but these are that good!) Roasting brings out some of the natural sweetness of carrots. And these are tossed with a small amount hot chili-infused honey. The hot honey adds a little more sweetness but with a sidekick of spice for a more balanced sweet and spicy flavor. So good!
Ingredients
- Fresh carrots
- Hot honey
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Green onions (optional)
- Bread dipping seasoning or Italian seasoning (optional)
- Fresh parsley (optional)
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions
- Vegan - to make this recipe vegan, you can substitute maple syrup and a dash of cayenne pepper for the hot honey.
- Hot honey - if you don't want to use spicy, hot honey, you can substitute regular honey.
- Bread dipping seasoning - you can substitute regular Italian seasoning for the bread dipping seasoning or also skip it all together. It's optional.
- Rainbow carrots - rainbow carrots are fun, but they taste almost exactly like regular carrots so you can substitute regular carrots for the rainbow carrots. You can also use baby rainbow or regular carrots, but I don't recommend doing that. Baby carrots are processed and don't have as much flavor as regular carrots. Peeling the carrots goes pretty quickly and full size carrots are usually cheaper pound for pound. Technically, you don't even have to peel the carrots, just wash them well.
Variations
- Full carrots - if you are having a nice dinner or just want to be fancy, you can leave the carrots whole. You'll only need to trim them so that they fit on a plate. Some of my carrots were really long, so a few needed the ends snipped off.
Storage
Store the hot honey roasted rainbow carrots in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Next Level Tips
- If you buy fresh carrots with the carrot tops still on, save the carrot tops for your salads! Save the tops of the green onions too. Check out my how to build a salad post where using fresh herbs is one of the ingredients! Carrot tops can also be used as a parsley substitute. They are more earthy and bitter, but they are perfect for including in salads.
- Definitely use fresh full carrots if you can, not baby carrots. Baby carrots are processed, are soaking in a water solution and are older than regular fresh carrots.
- Double or triple the recipe for dinner parties or holiday gatherings!
FAQ
No! You can definitely skip the peeling step. However, make sure to wash your carrots very well if you are not peeling off the outer layer.
Mike's Hot Honey is probably the most well known brand. I have used both Mike's Hot Honey and Nate's Hot Honey. Both work well. I've also been seeing hot honey showing up at farmer's markets lately. Any chili infused, spicy hot honey will work.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Hot Honey Roasted Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots peeled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ tablespoon hot honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ bunch green onions optional
- ½ teaspoon bread dipping seasoning optional
- 1 tablespoon parsley finely chopped optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Mix the olive oil, hot honey and salt in a small bowl until it's fully combined.
- Wash, peel and cut the carrots. I like to cut them into 3-4 inch long pieces or leave them full length. If the carrots are extra wide, cut them in half or quarters so that all the pieces are of somewhat similar size.
- If you are using green onions, wash and cut them into the same lengths as the carrots. Set them aside.
- Add the carrots to a large bowl. Drizzle the olive oil and hot honey mixture over the carrots and toss the carrots until all are fully coated. [If you are keeping the carrots full length, they are harder to toss. You can use your hands to fully coat the carrots.]
- Put the coated carrots on the baking sheet in a single layer.
- After the carrots are on the baking sheet, toss the green onions in the bowl with any leftover hot honey olive oil mixture and set aside. They will be added to the carrots halfway through the roasting time.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Halfway through, remove the carrots from the oven and flip them. If you are using green onions, add them now and sprinkle the bread dipping seasoning over the vegetables. Check at 20 minutes and remove for a firmer texture or roast an additional 5 minutes for a softer texture. Carrots will continue to soften a bit after removed from the oven. Serve hot.
Notes
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