These Garlic Honey Carrots are GOLD! Carrots are roasted in the oven until caramelized and soft, smothered in a simple yet delicious honey glaze. It has a beautiful balance of sweet and savory flavors and is so delicious.
These garlic honey roasted carrots make a fantastic side dish to your dinner entree. We make it all the time because it is so easy to prepare, and tasty as can be!
Oven Roasted Honey Garlic Carrots
If you’re looking for easy and yummy veggie recipes, well you’ve come to the right place! Ready under 30 minutes and using only 5 ingredients, these garlic honey carrots is a scrumptious vegetable dish that is so full of flavor with the perfect texture.
The garlic honey glaze that coats these carrots is an explosion of amazing flavors, a combination of savory and sweet, thanks to the minced garlic and touch of honey. Each piece of carrot has a gorgeous caramelized outer crust and the insides are tender and moist.
If we are talking about some underrated veggies, I want to put carrots at the very top of the list. Carrots just don’t get the credit or love that they deserved!
Raw carrots already have a natural sweetness and great crunch. When they are cooked well, they truly shine and are very delicious and flavorful. And that is definitely the case for this honey glazed roasted carrots dish.
They make the perfect side dish for holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas (I see you, carrots lovers!). Pair it along other yummy holiday staples such as Fresh Green Bean Casserole, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes and Spatchcock Turkey, it is honestly such an easy and tasty vegetable side dish to make.
Don’t limit these honey roasted carrots to only holidays! Because this is such a quick veggie side dish to prepare (only 10 minutes to prep!), I serve this up on busy weeknight dinners as much as I do for the holidays and special occasions.
Besides this honey garlic carrots dish, I am also a huge fan of other flavorful yet stupid easy veggie sides such as Lemon Garlic Roasted Broccoli (a.k.a. BEST broccoli side ever), Easy Garlic Parmesan Asparagus, Caramelized Onions Green Beans, Sautéed Brussels Sprouts and Carrots. Don’t forget to check those out as well!
Wanting to roast carrots whole? Check out my Roasted Whole Carrots recipe!
Ingredients
This roasted honey garlic carrots requires only five ingredients! Yes FIVE!
- Carrots: I typically buy whole carrots, trim ends of carrots, and slice them. They are much cheaper whole and it’s fairly easy to peel and cut up carrots. However, if you want to do less work in the kitchen, baby carrots, or ready-sliced-carrots work really well too. Spring time (March, April and May) is typically the peak time for carrots, but they are definitely available year round.
- Honey: the sweet component of the glaze. The sweetness from honey is also responsible for caramelizing the carrots. Instead of honey, maple syrup can be used as well.
- Garlic: fresh garlic is the best for this, but in a pinch, you can use garlic powder.
- Butter: I used melted salted butter for this recipe. It does bring incredible flavor to our garlic honey carrots. You can use unsalted butter and just add more salt to the mixture. If cholesterol conscious, you can decrease to one tablespoon butter but it may decrease overall flavor.
- Salt: it really brings out and opens up the overall flavor, besides just adding saltiness to the carrots.
How to Roast Carrots in the Oven
I love making garlic honey carrots because they are so easy to make. Yet, taste so much better than the effort it required!
Here are step-by-step instructions to make Garlic Honey Carrots:
Step 1: Prepare Carrots
Whether you are using whole carrots, thin sliced carrots or baby carrots, you will want to wash them first. Then if needed, trim ends of carrots, peel, and cut the carrots into smaller 1-inch pieces.
If you want to avoid the peeling/cutting part, opt for baby carrots, or get ready sliced and peeled carrots from your grocery store. They take some work out of this.
Step 3: Toss and coat
Next, bring the sliced carrots into a large mixing bowl.
Then pour melted butter, salt, minced garlic and that sticky, gooey honey to the carrots.
Toss or stir to combine everything so that carrots are coated in that honey garlic sauce.
This recipe calls for just enough to get carrots sticky and flavorful without being overpowering.
Transfer carrots onto a greased baking sheet and spread them out so that they are not overlapping.
Avoid overcrowding, especially if you end up doubling or tripling the recipe.
Step 4: Bake
Bake carrots for ~20-25 minutes for at 425ºF to your desired level of softness. I like mine fork tender, but some may prefer them firmer.
The carrot tops will char slightly and caramelized, while the insides should be well-cooked and no longer crunchy.
Give it a test taste and bake it for longer if needed.
The beauty of making garlic honey carrots is that you really don’t have to do much work after you send the baking sheet into the oven. It’s working hard in there for you!
When it’s done, remove carrots from oven. Taste and add more salt to open up the flavors if necessary.
The overall flavor should be garlicky, savory with hints of sweetness and caramelization. It’s simple, with minimal active time required…but the end product tastes like a million bucks.
Honey garlic butter carrots are my go-to way to make carrots for as long as I can remember!
Storage and Reheating
Store any leftover in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
To reheat, drizzle a few drops of water on top and microwave until warm all the way through.
What do I serve with Honey Garlic Roasted Carrots
Here are some yummy protein that goes great with these oven roasted carrots!
- Panko Crusted Salmon
- Pineapple Baked Ham
- Pork Tenderloin with Gravy
- Restaurant Style Steak
- Air Fryer Marinated Chicken
- Baked Sea Bass
Tips and Tricks
A few tips and tricks for making these oven roasted honey garlic carrots:
- Line baking sheet: line with aluminum foil for easier cleanup (completely optional though but it helps make it easier!).
- Grease baking sheet: be sure to grease baking sheet or aluminum foil with nonstick cooking oil spray for easy removal of the carrots. This is important to prevent caramelized carrots from sticking to the pan!
- Short cuts: short on time? Use baby carrots instead of whole carrots – which means no peeling, trimming ends, and chopping of carrots!
- Size of sliced carrots: slice them into ~1-inch pieces and make sure they are fairly uniform in size. If it’s too large of a piece, it will take longer to cook.
- Don’t overlap carrots: Make sure oven rack is in the center of the oven, and arrange the carrots in a single layer without crowding the pan for even roasting and caramelization. Bake them in two separate baking sheets if you are doubling the recipe.
- Check at 20 minutes: Check for doneness at 20 minutes by piercing the carrots with a fork; they should be tender but not mushy. If they’re not quite done, put them in for another 2-3 minutes and check again. Adjust baking time based on your oven and carrot size.
- Customize your flavors: feel free to add your favorite seasonings or spices to the honey garlic mixture to make this recipe your own! Popular spices that work well with this include black pepper, cinnamon, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and cumin.
- Add salt to taste: at the end after baking, taste carrots and if the flavor is flat, sprinkle a little bit of salt to open up the flavors. Salt doesn’t just add saltiness to a dish, it brings out flavors!
Frequently Asked Questions
Dill, thyme, rosemary or parsley typically goes really well with carrots!
Yes! You will need to bake it for a little longer, or until carrots are soft. Check out my Roasted Whole Carrots for baking carrots whole.
Oven temperatures vary so you may need to adjust cooking times accordingly. Another reason could be that the carrots are in bigger slices so it will take longer to cook. I generally suggest slices carrots into 1-2 inches long pieces.
Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5-6 days. Heat them up in the microwave oven when ready to serve. They keep extremely well!
The carrots will caramelize and even burn slightly because of the honey in the mixture and the high heat of the oven. If you don’t like it that way, you’ll want to either reduce the amount of honey or bake it for a shorter period of time.
Yes, though I highly recommend baking for ease and uniform cooking.
To cook on stovetop, cook carrots in a large skillet at medium heat, again be sure to avoid overlapping carrots, and stir occasionally. Reduce the heat to cook more slowly if it looks like the outside of the carrots are caramelizing/burning too quickly before the insides are cooked.
ENJOYED THIS RECIPE? Tell us what you think by leaving a rating and review below! 🤍
Other Yummy Side Dishes
Here are some of my other favorites!
- Whole Roasted Butternut Squash
- Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Roasted Garlic Parmesan Potatoes
- Light Raisin Coleslaw
- Roasted Baby Potatoes
- Brown Sugar Pecan Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Lemon Orzo Spinach Salad
Garlic Honey Roasted Carrots
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs carrots
- 3 tbsp salted butter
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp salt plus more to taste
- 3-5 cloves garlic
- cooking oil spray
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 425 °F.
- Mince garlic. Wash, peel, and cut carrots into 1-2 inch pieces. Melt butter.
- Bring carrots into a large mixing bowl. Add butter, minced garlic and honey. Toss to combine.
- Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with cooking oil. Place carrots on it and spread them out. Avoid overcrowding or overlapping carrots. If carrots are overlapping on top of each other, consider cooking in two batches.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until carrots reach desired softness. Roast carrots for longer in the oven if you like it softer. Taste and sprinkle more salt if needed to open up/bring out the flavors.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition Information
This post was originally published on Aug 2019 and was republished on March 2025 with updated photographs and slight modification to the recipe instructions.
These carrots were extremely good! Better than I expected. I am so glad I found this recipe for our friendsgiving dinner. It was a perfect side dish. Several people commented on how great they were and wanted the recipe. Will definitely make again!
Thank you so much, Natalie! I love how simple and delicious this is!