Make ahead honey roasted carrots are perfect for your Easter feast! Buttery, sweet, and pretty to look at. Roast them ahead and re-heat for an easy and delicious side dish.
It is finally starting to warm up around here and that means one thing: spring!!
This year, Kai is really into all the holidays. He has taken note of which ones involve chocolate or treats of any kind. So I’m half excited and half dreading the Easter-chocolate-drama this year.
In my quest to add some more easy holiday side dishes to the blog (you can check out the Instant Pot Wild Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms & Pine Nuts and also this Creamy Parmesan Instant Pot Mashed Cauliflower), today I’m sharing the quintessential Easter side dish: roasted carrots.
And like most of my recipes, these roasted carrots can be prepared ahead!
Don’t forget to pin this recipe to save it for later!
There is not much that can beat the flavors of honey roasted carrots: they are buttery, sweet, and savory. Not to mention incredibly hands off to prepare and easy to re-heat if you need to!
Even Kai enjoyed his carrots (I mean…there’s honey involved!).
How to roast carrots
Roasting carrots brings out their sweetness and gives them a buttery flavor.
For larger carrots, it would be best to chop them into uniform shapes, or even slice them in half lengthwise, but for these beautiful farmer’s market carrots, all I did was scrub them clean and chop off the stems.
I kept it simple because they are so tasty on their own! I simply brushed each side of the carrots with a mixture of olive oil and honey, then sprinkled with salt and pepper.
You can get creative with the seasonings with some dried thyme leaves, rosemary, garlic, harissa paste, balsamic vinegar…honestly there are a million ways you can make this honey roasted carrots recipe your own.
Can these honey roasted carrots be made ahead?
YES. How awesome is that?!
- bake them up as directed in the recipe card
- cool and store for up to 24 hours (after that they aren’t as good)
- reheat in a covered pan for 20-30 minutes. Brush on some extra honey during the last 10 minutes for bonus points!
Tips for the BEST make ahead honey roasted carrots:
- make sure to use a large, good quality sheet pan (I use these ones!) and don’t over crowd it with carrots
- keep an eye on them, since carrot sizes vary greatly, your carrots could cook quicker than mine did
- looking for more make ahead holiday side dishes? Check out this Instant Pot Wild Rice Pilaf and this Creamy Parmesan Instant Pot Mashed Cauliflower
Make Ahead Honey Roasted Carrots
Ingredients
- 2 lb carrots stems removed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425°F.
- Stir together the olive oil and honey. Arrange carrots on two large sheet pans and brush with the olive oil/honey mixture. Season with salt & pepper.
- Roast for 20 minutes, then flip the carrots over using tongs. Return to the oven for another 15-25 minutes, until edges begin to caramelize and carrots are cooked through.
- Brush with reserved honey/olive oil during the last few minutes of cooking.
To make ahead:
- Allow to cool and refrigerate up to 24 hours.
- Brush with more olive oil & honey, then re-heat (covered) at 350°F for 20-30 minutes, until heated through.
Elayne Pedley
Going to experiment with these later today. Hoping to get a stellar side dish to go with Honey Baked ham, Barefoot Contessa’s mac and cheese, salad, rolls. Whenever I roast veggies, they smoke terribly and my smoke alarm goes off. This can’t happen with guests at Christmas! So I’m hoping to do the roasting earlier in the day, and successfully reheat later in the oven with the mac and cheese and ham for 30 minutes. Will try it with rainbow carrots, and maybe add some chopped pecans. What do you think? Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Denise
Hi Elayne, apologies for my late reply! I hope you enjoyed the carrots!
Shannon
I did carrots for Thanksgiving. I used maple syrup instead of honey. Still very tasty and everyone gobbled them up. I was actually surprised.
Denise
Hi Shannon! I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for reporting back 🙂
Kristin
Hi! Looks amazing! I’d like to reheat these in a serving dish. Would you reheat them covered or uncovered? Thanks!
Denise
Hi Kristin, my apologies, I actually re-heated them covered. I have updated the recipe card. Sorry for the confusion!
Marsha
I bought rainbow baby carrots – I’m just thinking that I’ll just have to cook them a little shorter time – any thoughts??
Denise
Hi Marsha, I would think you’d need to bake them for less time but I’m not sure how long. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works out for you!
Danielle
Do you peel the carrots first?
Denise
I didn’t peel mine because they were the farmer’s market type that don’t have a thick skin. You could do it either way!
Regina
These are GORGEOUS looking carrots! I love that this is a make-ahead recipe. Those are a life saver for holiday dinners especially
Denise
Thank you, Regina! <3
Kim Beaulieu
I freaking love roasted carrots, especially rainbow carrots!! This looks amazing.
Denise
Thanks so much, Kim! I love them too <3