Garlic butter roasted carrots are incredibly easy to make and burst with delicious flavor! They are baked until tender and then tossed through a rich garlic and herb butter sauce. To finish off, they are topped with crunchy walnuts and finely chopped carrot tops. These garlic butter roasted carrots will soon be your new favorite side dish!
Garlic butter roasted carrots
I love to share as many carrot recipes as I can as they are an incredibly versatile vegatable to cook with. They are also universally loved (most of the time) so will always go down a treat at dinner time or during a festive gathering. The carrots are peeled, tossed through olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper before being roasted until tender yet still slightly crunchy. Once they are removed from the oven and still hot, a rich homemade garlic butter is drizzled all over and tossed through. I have then finished off these roasted carrots with some walnuts and finely chopped carrot tops but you could also use fresh parsley if you prefer.
Oven roasted carrots
Roasting carrots or any bland vegetable completely transforms their flavor! It takes them from a boring and rather tasteless vegetable to something truly magical. Roasting carrots caramelises their natural sugars and makes them utterly irrisistable to eat. They are also a great vessel to adding lots of flavor to which is why I have shared so many different variations on roasted carrots. Follow my guideline below on how to acheive the best roasted carrots.
Hot oven: You want your oven at a high temperature to achieve a brown and caramelised outside with a soft and tender inside.
Olive oil: Do not skimp on the olive oil! It will create a lovely colour on your roasted carrots and also bring a beautiful flavor to the dish.
Use fresh carrots: Frozen carrots that have been thawed will not brown and caramelise. It’s best to use fresh carrots if you can.
What you need for garlic butter roasted carrots
Carrots: Any type of carrot variety will work such as regular large carrots, baby carrots or dutch carrots. I like to peel my carrots but you can leave them unpeeled to save on time! It won’t change the taste of the dish in any way.
Olive oil: This is an essential ingredient to getting those carrots beautifully golden brown when roasting.
Butter: We need lots of butter to make our homemade butter! Salted or unsalted butter will work here
Garlic: I always love to use my garlic confit where I can. If you don’t have a jar of this pre made in the fridge and simply don’t feel like taking this extra step, raw garlic will work just fine. Finely dice or mince 6 large garlic cloves to add into the garlic butter sauce.
Fresh parsley: I like to use lots of fresh herbs in a homemade garlic butter sauce. Chopped fresh parsley is also a great herb to sprinkle over the final dish.
Walnuts: Nuts are optional but they do bring with them a lovely crunch to the dish. You can use any nut you like such as hazelnuts, pistachio, almonds or pinenuts.
What to serve with garlic roasted carrots
Carrots really go with any type of protein such as lamb, chicken, fish or pork. They are a great side dish for your next roast dinner. To turn these roasted carrots into more of the main affair, whip some ricotta or greek yoghurt in a food processor and serve the carrots on top!
I would love to hear how you served these carrots!
If you have any questions or would like to leave a review, please do so here! I always love answering your food and recipe related questions and hearing your feedback on my recipes.
Images by Alanna Penn Photography.
Garlic butter roasted carrots
Ingredients
Carrots (choose one)
- 16 dutch carrots scrubbed, cleaned and tops trimmed
- 1.2 lbs regular carrots (600g) peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Kosher sea salt
- black pepper
Garlic confit butter
- 1 garlic bulb
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 8 tbsp butter 120g
- 1 tbsp parsley finely chopped
- Kosher sea salt
- black pepper
Garnish
- walnuts optional
- parlsey or carrot tops finely chopped
- 1/4 cup parmesan grated
Instructions
Garlic confit butter
- Preheat the oven to 250°F / 120°C
- Peel the garlic by breaking the cloves away and placing them into a heatproof bowl. Submerge in boiling hot water for 5 minutes and drain. The skin will become loose and easy to peel away.
- Place the garlic cloves into an ovenproof dish and fully submerge in olive oil. It's important the garlic is fully submerged in the olive oil so it does not burn. Bake for 2 hours or until the garlic has browned in colour and has become soft in texture. Remove the garlic cloves from the oil and store the oil in an airtight container or glass jar to use at a later date.
- Using the back of a spoon, mash the garlic cloves up until they have formed a paste.
- This amount of butter is more than needed for this recipe. The leftover butter can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Carrots
- Preheat the oven to 425°F / 200°C
- Place the carrots into a baking tray or sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands so the carrots are coated. Bake for 30 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
- Remove the carrots from the oven and while they are hot, pour over 2- 3 tablespoons of the garlic confit butter. Stir through the carrots.
- Plate up the carrots. Sprinkle over the walnuts, parsley or carrot top and parmesan if using. Serve immediately.
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