Roasted Carrots and Cauliflower a super easy sheet pan roasted vegetable recipe with only 5 ingredients and ready in 40 minutes. Perfect as a side dish or a topping for salads and bowls!
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Love roasted carrots? Love roasted cauliflower? Roast them together! Cauliflower and carrots are a great roasted vegetable combination, especially when topped with a generous sprinkling of sliced garlic and herbs.
If you’re still on the fence about this combo, here’s why you should make it:
- It’s easy. Only five ingredients and 40 minutes baking on a sheet pan. It doesn’t get easier than that!
- It’s flexible. This simple recipe can be made as is, or dressed up with fresh herbs and spices.
- It’s tasty. Simple doesn’t have to mean boring; this recipe pops with flavor from only a few key ingredients.
Ready to learn how to make this oven roasted zucchini and carrots recipe? Let’s do it!
🥕 How to roast cauliflower and carrots together (step-by-step photos)
1️⃣ Step One: Preheat oven and prep vegetables
First, preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C). While the oven is heating, wash the cauliflower and carrots and remove the stems.
Separate the cauliflower florets so they’re in bite-size pieces and cut the carrots into diagonal slices that are about the same size as the cauliflower.
2️⃣ Step Two: Add vegetables to the roasting pan
Next, add the cut vegetables to a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and, using your hands or a spatula, toss them until they’re completely coated with oil.
Sprinkle the vegetables with sliced fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and either fresh or dried herbs (optional, but recommended; see herb and spice recommendations below).
3️⃣ Step Three: Roast until vegetables soften and begin to brown
Finally, roast the vegetables in the oven until they begin to soften and become brown around the edges. This takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven.
About halfway through cooking, toss the vegetables so they brown on all sides, we did this about every 10 minutes.
Remove the sheet pan from the oven and serve immediately as a side dish, or you can let the carrots and cauliflower combination cool and use it to top salads and bowls.
❓ Recipe questions + quick tips
Any type of carrots will be delicious roasted. We prefer to roast larger carrots like Tendersweet and Touchon carrots, but when we want a good variety of colors we choose Kaleidoscope carrots.
As long as you wash carrots well, you do not need to peel them before roasting. In fact, unpeeled carrots are delicious because the outer layer browns when baked and provides deeper flavor through a process called the maillard reaction when the natural sugar in carrots is heated.
Any type of cauliflower is delicious roasted. Get creative with a combination of white, purple, or even orange cauliflower.
We used fresh oregano in these recipe photos because it is what we had on hand, but fresh or dried basil, thyme, or rosemary would also be delicious.
🌿 Herb + spice flavor ideas
This recipe is simply prepared with just olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. However, the herb and spice flavor possibilities are endless! Here are a few to try out in your roasted vegetable recipe:
- Rosemary, shallots, and garlic: roast cauliflower and carrots with sliced shallot and garlic, then sprinkle with fresh rosemary when finished
- Garlic, red onion, and fresh herbs: top roasted vegetables with garlic and sliced red onion, then top with fresh herbs like oregano
- Turmeric, paprika, and cayenne pepper: make it spicy with a sprinkle of turmeric powder, paprika, and a dash of cayenne
- Make it crunchy with nuts or seeds: add a bit of crunch by topping with sliced almonds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds
♻️ Sustainable kitchen + cooking tips
We’re all about sustainability here at Fork in the Road, so here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of your ingredients.
Take advantage of carrot and cauliflower season! The best time to make recipes using carrots and cauliflower is during the height of their growing season, which just so happens to overlap for most of the year (with the exception of July and August, when cauliflower is not typically in season). To find out when they’re in season in your area, search Seasonal Food Guide’s seasonality calendar.
Use carrot and cauliflower stem scraps to reduce food waste! Don’t toss those stems after cutting — add them to a carrot green food scrap vegetable broth to flavor stocks for soups and to use as a liquid for cooking grains like rice and barley.
Don’t throw away carrot greens! Did you buy carrots with their leaves? Great! Reuse carrot tops in sauces like pesto or in a carrot leaves chimichurri, or cook the carrot greens to eat on their own as a side dish (yes, they’re edible!).
👩🍳 More roasted carrot + cauliflower recipes
Check out our other easy roasted cauliflower and carrot recipes:
- Roasted Green Beans and Carrots
- Roasted Carrots and Bell Peppers
- Roasted Carrots and Brussels Sprouts
- Roasted Rainbow Cauliflower
- Roasted Broccoli and Carrots
- Baked Carrots and Sweet Potatoes
- Baked Turnips and Carrots
- Oven-Baked Parsnips and Carrots
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Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots
- 1 pound cauliflower, about 1 head
- 2 whole garlic cloves, sliced thin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Optional: 1 teaspoon dried or fresh herbs like basil, oregano, or thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 C)
- Prep vegetables: Wash carrots and cauliflower and remove stems. Separate cauliflower florets into bite-size pieces and cut carrots diagonally into pieces that are similar in size to the cauliflower (for easier eating).
- Roast vegetables: Arrange the vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, tossing to completely cover with oil and sprinkle with sliced garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs. Place sheet pan in the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to roast on all sides.
- Serve vegetables: Remove pan from oven, arrange vegetables on a plate and serve as a side dish or as a salad topping.
Recipe Notes
- Tools Needed: sheet pan, knife set, cutting board
- Prep Ahead: Wash and cut vegetables ahead of time to reduce prep time before cooking. If serving cold on salads or bowls, you can make this recipe up to three days ahead of time.
- Leftovers and Storage: Vegetables should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. For best taste and texture, do not freeze and reheat.
- Nutrition notes: Nutrition information is estimated for only ingredients in the recipe, not the additional spice options given. This simple roasted carrots and cauliflower recipe is a good source of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium.
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