These Rosemary Roasted Carrots are simple, healthy, and delicious. Fresh carrots are tossed with olive oil and rosemary, and roasted to perfection. Yum!
Recipes by me, photos by Rikki Snyder.
These delicious roasted carrots make a healthy, simple side dish that's pretty enough to serve for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!
Even though I have a food blog, I have to confess that I get overwhelmed when cooking a few things at once. Does that happen to you too, or is it just me?
It seems like the more I have going on in the kitchen, the more likely things are to end up charred and inedible. So when developing recipes for a vegetarian Thanksgiving, I wanted a good mix of dishes that were a little more involved and dishes that required very little time, effort, or thought. These Rosemary Roasted Carrots are one of the latter!
I also decided to add some simple roasted vegetable recipes to our Thanksgiving line-up because I wanted to have some lighter, healthier options in the midst of the stuffing and dessert and mashed potatoes.
Tips, Tricks, & Variations
Use heirloom or rainbow carrots for this recipe if you can find them. While any carrots will work, the beautiful colors will really make this holiday side dish feel special.
If you like things a little spicy, you can add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes, in addition to the rosemary. That's how my husband likes them!
This basic roasted carrot recipe can be used as a base for your own creation too - just experiment with your own favorite spices and herbs. Try whatever is in season near you!
For more holiday recipe ideas, be sure to check out our Vegan Thanksgiving and Vegan Christmas cookbooks.
And you love these rosemary roasted carrots, be sure to check out these other delicious recipes:
Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 bunches of small carrots about 24, peeled
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp rosemary minced
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Toss the carrots with olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with rosemary, salt & pepper.
- Bake 20–25 minutes or until tender.
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
This would be amazing on Christmas. Thank you, thank you!
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
These are so beautiful! I would eat these Bugs Bunny style.
(I totally get overwhelmed in the kitchen. I've got three I'm doing today. I think three. I HOPE three, I want to be done today)
Kiersten says
I used to do that on Sundays--I'd do 3-4 recipes. And I had to stop because I would get so frazzled. I hope yours go well today!
CJ at Food Stories says
Just making my way through all the sites that are participating in Carolyn's World Diabetes Day awareness campaign & wanted to say hello & thx (I'm a type 2, btw) 🙂
Kiersten says
Thank you for stopping by! All the posts look so fantastic, don't they? It's such a good way to show that you can eat healthy and not have to sacrifice flavor!
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
omg I love this one!! I always look forward to your posts! 🙂
Kiersten says
Thank you! 🙂
Rachel (Two Healthy Plates) says
how beautiful! I love the multicolored carrots - i need to find some of those!
Kiersten says
I'm growing them myself in my garden! But I always get excited when I see them at the store or farmers market too. 🙂
Dara says
What beautiful carrots! I love rosemary. This is such a lovely and simple recipe.
Amanda says
Simply gorgeous!
Shirley says
The different colors are so beautiful! And I love carrots with leafy tops. They look fancier and taste fresher and sweeter. The more I do have going on in the kitchen, the likelier I am to scorch something or forget a step. Unless I plan the whole thing out and simplify it.
When my friend visited earlier this year, she watched me take eggplant out of the oven and immediately put in bread slices to toast for crostini. "How do you do that?" she asked. "Slice bread?" I asked. No, lol, she was referring to the organization. I told her it came with practice. But the truth is, also with planning each part of the cooking and not overfilling your menu. Your carrots would fit that kind of planning perfectly!
Kiersten says
Yeah, usually when I attempt a few involved dishes at the same time, it ends up with me wandering around with a knife muttering, "I'm in the weeds! I'm in the weeds!" And that's when Chris knows he needs to get into the kitchen ASAP to help me out. It is not good!
I am getting better about planning and setting up mise en places and such. It's not that I'm not organized, but I over-estimate my ability to multitask!
Shirley says
Especially when you're up against the clock. Sometimes I try to finish something before work, and I get frantic. And when I have guests they always end up in the kitchen to watch and chat, sometimes offer help. And it's honestly distracting and I lose track of what I'm doing, so I shoo them all out.
My sister thought Amy Adams acted like a brat in Julie & Julia, but I totally got her! 🙂 Especially the part where she drops whatever she was cooking and has the meltdown.
Kare @ Kitchen Treaty says
Hey! I repinned these earlier today without even knowing they're from you. I even gasped a little when I saw the photo - it is unbelievably gorgeous. You and Rikki do amazing things together! (Looks delicious, too).
Loving the diabetes awareness event. My mom's type 1 diabetic. It's a horrible disease.
Kiersten says
Thank you! I totally love working with Rikki. It's not just that she's an incredible photographer, but she really gets my food.
My grandpa has Type 2 diabetes and it's currently uncontrolled. I really appreciate the event Carolyn put together. People do seem to think diabetes is no big deal...
Sommer@ASpicyPerspective says
Oooo, PRETTY! I love roasted veggies of all varieties. Great shots!!
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
HEAVENLY! Fantastic photos...I am going to our local market tomorrow, hopefully I can get some quality root veggies too.
Kiersten says
I was so excited that Rikki was able to find the rainbow carrots for her photos--they are so pretty, aren't they? I'm trying to grow some in my garden this fall too!
Emily says
Those carrots are gorgeous! I think it's great to incorporate a simple recipe when you're already preparing a large meal. I might add these to the Christmas lineup (we're going out for Thanksgiving).
Kiersten says
Thank you! These would definitely be perfect for Christmas too. 🙂
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Beautiful styling and gorgeous carrots! Love it!
Jeanette says
Gorgeous photos! I love the natural beautiful of fresh vegetables - great recipe for the holidays!
Rikki says
Yes! I can 100% testify that all of these Thanksgiving dishes were the perfect mix of easy & advanced. Making them all at the same time was surprisingly easy. How did you do that? You are amazing, Kiersten! (PS. I shared some of these delicious dishes with friends after shooting and they all LOVED them!).
Kiersten says
I tried my best! Because I imagined you cooking everything and then trying to shoot it all and I figured it would kind of be a disaster if I did a bunch of really labor-intensive recipes. You would probably hate me. 😉 I can barely manage cooking and photographing one dish, so I am still in awe that you pulled off 8 of them!
marla says
These rainbow carrots are soooo beautiful!
Brian @ A Thought For Food says
I think we all get a bit overwhelmed when we have to cook a bunch of different dishes. These carrots look rockin!
Catherine H. says
I'm visiting all the sites that linked up to Carolyn's blog. Thanks for participating in this event! My sister is a Type I and I may have had gestational diabetes myself, so I am passionate about eating low-carb and high fat and getting the word out to the many others whose lives would be so much better by eating this way.
Kiersten says
Thank you for stopping by! I'm so glad to support a good cause and help Carolyn promote her event. 🙂
Kim - Liv Life says
Oh my, I'm loving your photos!! Who knew carrots could be so lovely?? I'm with you on getting a bit stressed over doing all the dishes at once...
This one is so lovely, and it will look beautiful on the table. It's also family friendly... everyone loves carrots!!
Kiersten says
I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets stressed about cooking more than one thing at the same time! 🙂 I don't know how my grandma does it every Thanksgiving...
Jessi says
I die! A million times. So beautiful, so simple, so down home essential yummy-ness!
diabeticFoodie says
Now those are some gorgeous carrots! I remember the first time I found purple carrots at the farmers' market - I was SO surprised that they were orange inside. My husband loves rosemary, so I'll definitely be trying this recipe.
Kiersten says
I am a fan of anything novel and different, so I'm a little bit obsessed with rainbow carrots. 🙂 I hope you like the recipe if you make it!
Cassie | Bake Your Day says
These are absolutely stunning, Kiersten, I can only imagine how amazing they taste. I adore rosemary and I love that you used so many colors of carrots!
Courtney Rae Jones says
Such a pretty dish 🙂
I am definitely like you. I LOVE cooking, but the second I have guests over and I'm committed to cooking multiple things at once - I get so frazzled! I'm a bad hostess. *haha*
Kiersten says
Yeah, I am totally prone to being frazzled. And then people are waiting 3 hours for dinner to be done...
Brenda Williams says
These are beautiful...are they out of your garden? Thank you for posting about diabetes. I am a Type 2 diabetic and take medicine to keep my blood sugar under control. My Granddaughter is a Type 1 Juvenile diabetic and has to wear an insulin pump. Another thing people do not understand is the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Her Type 1 Juvenile diabetes has her in and out of the ER, because for no reason it will shoot up. My Type 2 diabetes just makes me grumpy or gives me a headache if it is too high. Diabetes is a lifestyle that takes a lot of monitoring and carefully watching what you eat.
Kiersten says
Nope, I'm still waiting for my carrots to grow. Nothing is doing very well this fall!
My grandpa's diabetes is currently uncontrolled. It's a very scary disease and people forget that because it's so common. I remember when your granddaughter was hospitalized last year--I hope she's been doing better!
Mary @ Fit and Fed says
Beautiful rainbow carrots, a real spectrum of color. I miss them now that our farmer's market is closed for the winter. Good luck growing them in your own garden! I can get overwhelmed in the kitchen, too, doing various tasks ahead helps, as does reading the whole recipe carefully if I'm using one (I still fail on that one sometimes, too). I feel better about such things after reading that our brains are not really made for multi-tasking, in general no one really does well at it.
Kiersten says
My husband never reads recipes all the way through when he's cooking and I always tease him about it, but lately I've been doing the same thing. You're right, multitasking might be a necessity in this world, but that's not a good thing!
Mary @ Fit and Fed says
I've lost teasing rights on several issues that way, by doing the exact same thing myself.