Roasted Rainbow Carrots are a classic dish that you’ll find at both fancy holiday events and on a simple weeknight dinner table! Having a go-to recipe in your back pocket makes whipping up a batch of perfectly roasted carrots whenever you’d like.
Colorful, beautiful, healthy food doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. Just keep it easy and let nature do all the work. And this recipe is the perfect example...
Roasting carrots caramelizes them and brings out their natural sweetness. This makes Rainbow Carrots a perfect, colorful side dish for almost any main course! A bit of freshly chopped parsley adds both a finishing touch of flavor and a beautiful garnish. Use this recipe all season long and enjoy the incredible flavor and wonderful health benefits!
What Are Rainbow Carrots?
Our favorite thing about oven-roasted rainbow carrots is the color that they add to the table! The shades of orange, yellow, red, and purple are a feast for your eyes and your stomach. All carrots are high in fiber potassium, and vitamins C and K, but each colorful carrot brings their own nutrition to your diet.
- Orange carrots are highest in vitamin A, which is great for eye health.
- Yellow carrots contain lutein, which is another nutrient that aids in eye health.
- Red carrots have lycopene, that same nutrient found in bright red tomatoes! These may be great for heart health.
- Purple carrots have anti-inflammatory properties due to anthocyanins. These work to boost your immune system (especially helpful in the winter months!).
Tips For Roasting Carrots
- Start by washing your carrots! As a root vegetable, carrots are prone to arriving in your kitchen with a bit of dirt still attached. Give them a good scrub! Use whole carrots--no baby carrots! We’ve found they just don’t taste great when cooked. As far as we are concerned baby carrots are meant to be eaten raw.
- Look for carrots that are roughly the same size so they cook evenly. You can always cut bigger carrots into smaller portions so they look uniform.
- Do you have to peel carrots before roasting? It’s up to your preference! As long as your rainbow carrots are washed thoroughly before cooking, you can leave the skins on. Peeling does give the carrots an overall sweeter flavor and a cleaner look.
- Make sure you place the carrots in a single layer on the baking sheet. The overlap will cause the carrots to steam and become mushier, which we definitely don’t want for this recipe!
Finishing Your Roasted Rainbow Carrots
Once the carrots are perfectly roasted you can dress them up! Here re a couple of topping and seasoning options, we love for sprinkling, drizzling, or dipping your roasted Rainbow Carrots:
- Avocado Cilantro Dressing
- Tahini Sauce
- Pesto Sauce
- Spicy Patatas Bravas Sauce
- Romesco
- Dukkah
- Roasted Hazelnuts
- Balsamic Glaze
- Seasonings: Sumac, Za’atar, curry, cumin, or Chili Lime seasoning
- Herbs: Fresh parsley or cilantro
More Carrot Recipes
- Chili Roasted Carrots with Avocado Cilantro Dressing
- Carrot Raisin Quinoa
- Veggie Loaded Tempeh Sheetpan Dinner with Tahini & Turmeric
- The Best Moroccan Carrot Salad
- Comforting Vegetable Soup
- Sweet Basmati Rice with Carrots & Raisins
DID YOU LIKE OUR ROASTED RAINBOW CARROT RECIPE?
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PrintRoasted Rainbow Carrots
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: about 15 carrots 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Roasted Rainbow Carrots are a classic dish that you’ll find at both fancy holiday events and on a simple weeknight dinner table! Having a go-to recipe in your back pocket makes whipping up a batch of perfectly roasted carrots whenever you’d like.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs whole rainbow carrots (yellow, purple, orange, red)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Wash the carrots thoroughly (we like to leave them unpeeled, but you can peel them if you prefer). Arrange them on the lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
- Shake the baking sheet, so the carrots roll in the olive oil, salt, and pepper and they get evenly coated
- Bake for 50-55 minutes until tender ( you should be able to cut the carrots with a fork, see note# 1)
Notes
- If the carrots you find at the market are pretty thin ,check the oven after 30 minutes, since they may require less cooking time.
Top the roasted carrots with:
- Avocado Cilantro Dressing
- Tahini Sauce
- Pesto Sauce
- Spicy Patatas Bravas Sauce
- Romesco
- Dukkah
- Roasted Hazelnuts
- Balsamic Glaze
- Seasonings: Sumac, Za’atar, curry, cumin, or Chili Lime seasoning
- Herbs: Fresh parsley or cilantro
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 55 mins
- Category: Sides
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 carrot
- Calories: 41
- Sugar: 2.9
- Sodium: 119
- Fat: 2
- Saturated Fat: .3
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.6
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 5.8
- Fiber: 1.7
- Protein: .6
- Cholesterol: 0
cindele says
Hey, I am a girly girl (except when I am cooking- you should see my outfits!!!)- want to know where to find these multi colored carrots...they are soooooooooooo beautiful. Love your photos!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vicky & Ruth says
Same here, I have my special cooking T-shirts stained with Turmeric and Paprika! We bought the rainbow carrots in Whole Foods. Vicky
Ms YTP says
I get them from whole foods. My best girlfriend came to visit and I grilled them on the GF and OMG! They we sooo good!
Vicky & Ruth says
They are one of our favorite things to grill and the colors make for a beautiful presentation!
Jacqueline Taylor says
My friend bought a too good to go bag from Aldi and it had several bags of deluxe rainbow carrots so I know you can buy them in there, she gifted me 2 bags which I'm going to roast up tomorrow as when I used them previously in a stew I found the colour run and spoilt the dish
Vicky and Ruth says
Thank you for the information. The color of the purple rainbow carrots tends to run into hot liquid. It's not spoiled, the color is off.
Prag says
Love the rainbow colours, looks appetizing.
Raquel says
Wow!!! Gorgeous pictures!! This honestly looks delicious! Great pic 🙂
Ramona Mills says
Howdy very cool site! And great recipes all around. Thanks for Sharing!