Easy Roasted Carrots Recipe

Roasted carrots are a super easy and simple crowd-pleasing side dish that you can prep in just a few minutes.

We all know that roasting improves almost any vegetable, and that absolutely holds true for carrots.

Give your carrots 30 to 40 minutes in the oven, tossed with a little butter, salt, and pepper, and they will come out tender, buttery, and perfect every time.

Overhead photo of roasted carrots in a serving bowl. - 1

Overhead photo of roasted carrots in a serving bowl. - 2

Ingredient Notes

Ingredients for roasted carrots on a counter. - 3

Ingredients for roasted carrots on a counter. - 4

Carrots: Try to chop your carrots into pieces roughly the same size so they cook evenly. For very large carrots, slice the thick upper part in half lengthwise before cutting into chunks.
Salted butter: I love the buttery flavor of carrots roasted in melted butter, but you can use the same amount of olive oil if you’d prefer.

How to Make Roasted Carrots

Collage photo of roasted carrots being prepared. - 5

Collage photo of roasted carrots being prepared. - 6

Prep carrots: Toss peeled and sliced carrots with melted butter, salt, and pepper. I like to do this in a bowl for more even coverage, but you can mix everything directly on your baking sheet if you don’t want another dish to wash.
Spread carrots out: Arrange carrots on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Too close and they’ll steam rather than brown, so make sure the slices are space out and have some room.
Roast: Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, tossing the carrots once halfway through, until carrots are caramelized around the edges and fork tender.
Adjust seasoning: Add additional salt and pepper if needed, serve and enjoy!

Should roasted carrots be peeled?

Probably. You don’t have to peel carrots–the skins are totally edible, you just have to scrub your carrots well before cooking.

But for best results, I always recommend peeling your carrots. Carrot peels will shrivel as they cook, giving the carrots a somewhat unappealing wrinkly look. They can also become tough, and some people find them bitter once cooked.

Peeling carrots means you don’t have to spend as long scrubbing the skins clean, and you don’t have to worry about any texture or flavor issues from the skin.

What to serve with roasted carrots?

Roasted carrots go extremely well with cozy comfort foods. Some of my favorite recipes to pair with them are:

Shepherd’s Pie
Roasted Tri-tip
Chili
Lemon chicken thighs

Can I roast carrots ahead of time?

Roasted carrots are best hot out of the oven, but if you’re meal prepping for the week and want to include roasted carrots on the menu, you can. They’ll just be slightly softer after refrigerating and reheating.

Can I roast carrots at the same time as my main dish?

Yes, if you’re cooking something like roasted chicken , you can cook your main and side at the same time. However, you will probably need to extend the baking time if you are cooking them at a lower temperature than this recipe calls for, and the carrots may not brown as much.

Roast the carrots on a rack below the main dish and extend the baking time as needed for the carrots to become tender.

More Easy Vegetable Sides

Carrots in the Microwave
Roasted Broccoli
Oven-roasted Zucchini
Corn on the Cob in the Microwave
Roasted Green Beans

Recipe Notes

Store leftover carrots in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Equipment

Rimmed baking sheet

Ingredients

▢ 2 pounds carrots
▢ 2 tablespoons (28g) salted butter melted
▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Peel and trim the tops from your carrots and slice them into 2-inch chunks. For larger carrots, slice the thick upper part in half lengthwise before cutting into pieces.
Toss carrots with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, tossing the carrots once halfway through, until carrots are caramelized around the edges and fork tender.
Add additional salt and pepper if needed, serve and enjoy!

Notes

This easy streusel topping is crumbly, crunchy, sweet, and perfect for topping muffins and quick breads.

A good streusel recipe immediately improves anything you sprinkle it over.

It adds texture, crunch, and a buttery sweetness that can take a boring old muffin or loaf of quick bread and make it feel like a total treat.

Streusel topping over pumpkin bread. - 12

Streusel topping over pumpkin bread. - 13

Today I’m sharing my favorite streusel recipe with you. I’ve used it on a few recipes here in the past, on pumpkin bread , donuts , and muffins , but it’s so good I figured it was time to give it a stand-alone recipe.

The Ideal Streusel Recipe

Where some streusel recipes use melted butter, this recipe uses softened room temperature butter, which creates more tender crumbles that almost melt in your mouth.

They’re the perfect combo of crunchy/crumbly and buttery/sweet, and you’ll probably be tempted to add a little streusel to every muffin that comes out of your kitchen for the rest of forever.

Tool and Ingredient Notes

A medium to large bowl: When making the streusel, use a slightly larger bowl than you think you’ll need. It helps to have extra room when mixing so you don’t have to worry about getting flour and sugar all over.
Cool room temperature butter: Your butter should be softened to cool room temperature. If your kitchen is warm, keep a close eye on the butter and don’t let it get too soft or it will be difficult to work with. You should just be able to press an indentation into it with a little force. It should not be greasy or at all melty. The recipe is written using unsalted butter, but if all you have is salted, simply omit the extra salt called for in the recipe.

How to Make Streusel Topping

Collage photo of streusel topping being made. - 16

Collage photo of streusel topping being made. - 17

Mix ingredients: Combine all your ingredients and use a fork or clean hands (I always use my hands) to mix until crumbles form and no dry flour remains in the bowl.
Refrigerate or freeze: Chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator or 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer. Cold streusel maintains its shape better when it hits the heat of the oven.

Collage photo of streusel being added to pumpkin bread and being baked. - 18

Collage photo of streusel being added to pumpkin bread and being baked. - 19

Bake: Prep the batter for your muffins or favorite quick bread recipe and transfer to the baking pan. If this is your first time making this particular recipe with streusel, be sure to fill the tin no more than ⅔ full. If the pan is overfull and rises too high too quickly, it can cause some of the streusel to overflow, which is never fun.

Once your batter is ready, drop streusel over the top in crumbles, gently breaking up pieces if they are too large or squeezing small sandy bits together to form larger pieces.

Bake according to batter recipe instructions. If at any time the streusel begins to get too dark in the oven, you can tent it with foil to protect it from burning.

Variations

Cinnamon sugar streusel: Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the full batch of streusel, ¼ to the half batch.
Pumpkin spice streusel: Add ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the full batch of streusel, ¼ to the half batch

Recipes to top with Streusel

Pumpkin Bread
Banana Bread
Small-batch Banana Muffins
Small-batch Blueberry Muffins

How much streusel does this make?

A full batch will make enough streusel to generously top a dozen muffins or a loaf baked in a standard 1-pound loaf pan.

The half batch will cover 6 to 8 muffins and makes a little too much for a mini loaf pan, so if you’re using it on one of my mini breads, you’ll have a little extra leftover.

If you would like to top a pie or an 8×8 or 9×9-inch dish, double the recipe.

I have leftover streusel. What can I do with it?

Freeze it! Leftover streusel can be frozen for up to two months. When you’re ready to use it, no need to defrost, sprinkle the frozen streusel over whatever you’re making and bake.

How long can you keep streusel in the fridge?

You can keep streusel in the fridge, tightly covered for up to 4 days.

What is streusel topping made of?

Streusel topping is made with flour, sugar, butter, and sometimes nuts, oats, and additional spices.

Streusel topping being dropped over pumpkin bread batter. - 20

Streusel topping being dropped over pumpkin bread batter. - 21

Troubleshooting

My streusel is too sandy/the pieces are too small. / My streusel is just one big clump.

This is a really easy fix. After refrigeration, if your streusel is too sandy, simply pick up a small handful and squeeze it like clay until it clumps into larger pieces.

If your streusel clusters are too large, gently break them apart into smaller pieces.

How do I keep streusel from burning in the oven?

If your streusel is burning, tent a piece of foil over the top. This will protect it from the heat of the oven and keep the streusel from burning/getting too dark.