Roasted carrots are divine. They get super sweet as the natural sugars caramelize in the oven, but when you add a honey balsamic glaze it just takes them to the next level! These Roasted Carrots with Honey Balsamic Glaze are sweet, tangy, and rich, all at the same time. And the best part? This Roasted Carrots recipe is incredibly simple. So you can have these heavenly carrots with a honey balsamic glaze as a side dish with dinner any day of the week, or save them for a special occasion like Thanksgiving, Easter, or even a date night in. Either way, they’re simple and delicious, and you won’t regret it.
Garnished with parsley for color.
Ingredients for Roasted Carrots with Honey Balsamic Glaze
This super delicious side dish is incredibly easy. Here’s what you’ll need to make these roasted carrots:
- Carrots: You can use basic generic carrots (the best price option), pre-peeled baby carrots (the easiest), or fancy carrots that have the tops still attached for the best presentation (trim the tops before roasting to prevent burning).
- Olive Oil: The carrots are coated in olive oil before roasting so they stay moist, which helps the natural sugars caramelize properly.
- Honey: Honey balances the acidic flavor of the balsamic vinegar in the glaze and creates the thick, shiny texture of the glaze.
- Balsamic Vinegar: Balsamic vinegar adds a deliciously deep and tangy flavor to the glaze.
- Butter: The richness of butter balances the acidity of the vinegar and helps create a nice sheen in the glaze.
- Salt & Pepper: The carrots are seasoned simply with salt and pepper to prevent the flavors from getting too muddy. We really want the carrots to shine!
What to Serve with Roasted Carrots
I love these carrots with a really herby main dish, like Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin, or Herb Roasted Chicken Breast. The sweet and tangy roasted carrots will make a nice contrast to the more subtle, deep herbal flavors. And don’t forget a big ol’ pile of creamy mashed potatoes! The tangy balsamic glaze also pairs really well with something like Classic Homemade Meatloaf. These fancy-pants carrots also make a beautiful addition to any Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter dinner.
Do You Need to Peel Carrots?
Peeling carrots is entirely optional, but carrots do grow underground so it’s important to clean them well either way. Some people find carrot skin to be slightly bitter, so if you’re sensitive to bitter flavor you may prefer them peeled. Otherwise, you can simply scrub them well with a vegetable brush and leave the skin on for a more rustic look.
Not into balsamic glaze? Try our classic Easy Roasted Carrots Recipe.
Roasted Carrots with Honey Balsamic Glaze
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 lbs. carrots ($1.69)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp pepper ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp honey ($0.24)
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar ($0.55)
- 1 Tbsp butter ($0.14)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash and/or peel the carrots, then cut them into one-inch pieces.
- Place the carrots on a parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add ¼ salt, ¼ tsp pepper, and toss the carrots until coated. Transfer the carrots to the oven and roast for 30 minutes, stirring once half-way through.
- While the carrots are roasting, prepare the honey balsamic glaze. Add the honey and balsamic vinegar to a small sauce pot and stir to combine. Simmer the glaze over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until it has reduced and thickened slightly. Remove the pot from the heat, then add the butter. Stir until the butter has melted into the glaze. Set the glaze aside.
- When the carrots are finished roasting, drizzle the honey balsamic glaze over top and toss to coat. Serve warm!
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Nutrition
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How to Make Roasted Carrots with Honey Balsamic Glaze – Step By Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash or peel two pounds of carrots and slice them into 1-inch pieces. Place the carrots on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper, and toss until the carrots are coated in oil, salt, and pepper. Roast the carrots for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring once halfway through.
While the carrots are still in the oven, prepare the balsamic glaze. Combine ¼ cup balsamic vinegar and 2 Tbsp honey in a small pot and simmer over medium-low for about 10 minutes or until it has thickened slightly.
Once the balsamic and honey mixture has reduced and thickened slightly, turn the burner off and add 1 Tbsp butter. Stir until the butter has melted into the glaze. Set the honey balsamic glaze aside.
When the carrots are finished roasting, remove them from the oven and pour the honey balsamic glaze over top.
Toss the carrots to coat in the honey balsamic glaze. You can do this in a bowl if you prefer so that you don’t lose any of the delicious glaze.
Serve the delicious roasted carrots warm! You can garnish with freshly chopped parsley if desired.
I love balsalmic vinegar! This sounds delicious. I definitely plan to make these.
As someones who reeeeally dislikes carrots when they’ve just been cooked I must say – these are *absolutely* excellent. Your recipe magically turned carrots into one of my favourite vegetables!
BTW, I combined them with your herb-mustard pork loin, which was a brilliant pairing as the mustard’s sharpness and the glaze’s sweetness balanced each other out rather perfectly…
I’ll have to try this tonight. I do almost exactly the same thing with parsnips except:
maple syrup instead of honey
water instead of the balsamic vinegar (though that’s a good idea)
throw some rosemary in with the olive oil, then bake
I also just found your site – a FB friend shared one of your recipes. Been browsing for awhile and have copied several myself. Thank you. It’s an excellent site.
Tanya – You’re right! I thought I had bought a 2 lb. bag but I went back and zoomed in on my pics and it was a ONE pound bag!! I’m going to change the recipe to reflect that. There is definitely enough glaze to cover up to 2 lbs. if needed, so I’m going to change it to 1-2 lbs. of carrots. Thanks for catching that!
This recipe sounds wonderful! I just found your site and love. love, your frugal recipes!!
I LOVE that these taste so great and are so inexpensive to make! Such a handy thing in today’s economy!! Thanks.
Blessings, ~Mrs. R
Made this tonight and even my picky eater went for seconds. :)Thanks for posting the recipe.
Carrots in general are not my favorite, but prepared the right way they can be yummy. Definitely going to give this a try!
This looks super yummy, and I am not a big fan of carrots. I have to ask though, where are you getting your carrots? I just bought a pound of carrots to make a carrot cake, and I paid $0.99 for them. I just picked mine up at the grocery store, but if I need to swing by the bulk/warehouse store for deal like that, I will.
OMG, I am going to have to make these asap!! I am drooling all over the keyboard! Thanks!!!!
I think this looks wonderful – I can’t imagine that 2 teaspoons of honey and 1 teaspoon of butter per pound of carrots will really cause any major dietary downfalls. It’s simple and may actually get my 4 year old to eat carrots!
pandora665@yahoo.com
I made these tonight and they were so good. I think next time I’m going to bake them for five minutes with the glaze on.
Wow, these carrots look fantastic! Can’t wait to try out this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
made these tonight…delicious! This glaze would be good on so many things.
nice way to fatten otherwise healthy cooked carrots
Yeah! So much better with fat!
Agreed!
yummy. gonna make these!!!