This recipe for honey roasted carrots and parsnips are the ideal side dish for your next roast dinner. These two roasted root vegetables have always been a winning combination together. The natural sweetness of the carrots and parsnips are enhanced by the honey, while the roasting process brings out their natural flavours and creates a slightly crispy texture.
The honey also adds a subtle caramelised flavour that complements the earthy taste of the vegetables. We add a touch of mustard for depth, making for a well-rounded and enjoyable dish.
For more delicious vegetable sides, try this recipe for triple cheese stuffed courgettes or this carrot and swede mash.
What's to love about this recipe
- Very quick and easy to prepare
- Swap out the herbs for your favourites
- The sweetness brings a good balance to a savoury meal like a Sunday roast
- Popular with kids
- You don't have to be too precise with slicing the veg into perfect batons, the more rustic they look, the better
Jump to:
Key ingredient notes and substitutions
Carrots and parsnips - If you don't like one of these two veggies, feel free to use the recipe for just carrots or just parsnips. Instead of 400g of each, use 800g of one.
Olive oil - You can replace the tablespoon olive oil with vegetable oil.
Honey - The star of the show. No need to splurge on expensive honey like Manuka, they cheapest shop bought version will work perfectly fine. You can replace the honey with maple syrup.
Dijon mustard - The mustard adds depth to the dish. You don't actually taste it, but it's there, in the background, doing it's thing.
Other flavourings - Salt, freshly ground black pepper and a few sprigs of rosemary or thyme.
Butter - Use either salted or unsalted and adjust the additional salt to your taste.
Flour - We add a touch of flour to the dish. Often times, once the honey and oil heats up in the oven it runs off the veg and pools in the bottom of the dish. The flour helps the sauce to 'stick' to the vegetables.
How to make this dish - Quick summary
- Clean and slice the vegetables.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the vegetables and toss together thoroughly.
- Tip the veg onto a baking sheet. Spread it out evenly in a single layer which will allow the veggies to cook evenly.
- Scatter over the thyme or rosemary.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked through and you have a few spots of caramelisation here and there.
- Transfer to a serving dish and serve piping hot.
Storage
Any leftover honey roasted carrots and parsnips will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave until piping hot. Just be aware that the vegetables won't be as firm as when they were first cooked and enjoyed straight from the oven.
You can freeze the dish, but it does go a bit soft when it's reheated after it's been frozen, so it's best had fresh. Remove from the freezer a few hours before consuming and reheat in the microwave until piping hot throughout.
What you can serve it with
- As a side to other vegetable dishes like Brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower cheese etc
- With any roast like beef, lamb, chicken, fish, pork and nut roast
Top tips
- Don't be too precious about cutting the veg into exact same sizes. It just needs to be roughly similar to ensure even cooking. People like different things, some like the smaller pieces that had a bit more cooking and caramelisation and others like the bigger, juicier pieces.
- You don't need to peel the veg, in fact I would encourage you not to as all the healthy goodness are in the skins. Just ensure you give them a good scrub with a brush. Older parsnips' skins can often look a little sad, they might need peeling.
- This is a rustic looking dish. Don't shy away from buying the 'wonky' vegetables that many supermarkets now seem to sell at a lower cost.
- The addition of the flour might make the sauce initially look a little grainy and bitty, but don't worry about this, it will all melt together in the oven. Just ensure the flour has been whisked into the sauce well before tossing it together with the veggies.
- The cooking time has been noted as 40-45 minutes. The veg will be cooked by 40 minutes. You can add the extra five minute for a bit more caramelisation. All ovens are different, so keep an eye on it.
- For that extra glossy look, use a pastry brush and lightly stipple the carrots and parsnips with some honey just before serving. Don't go overboard as you don't want to make the veg too sweet.
FAQ
Not to worry, just top and tail the parsnips and perhaps half or quarter the carrots lengthways. The veg only needs to be roughly the same size for even cooking.
No you don't. Because the vegetables are cut into batons they will be thin enough to cook entirely in the oven. Potatoes for instance, are larger and rounder, hence why we tend to parboil them before roasting.
Both these root vegetables are very similar in consistency, so both would cook at the same amount of time, providing they're both cut into roughly similar sized batons.
Recipe
The best honey roasted carrots and parsnips
Ingredients
- 400 grams carrots - sliced into thick batons
- 400 grams parsnips - sliced into thick batons
- 1 tablespoon olive oil and some extra for oiling the baking tray - or vegetable oil
- 2.5 tablespoons honey
- 0.5 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
- few good grinds of black pepper
- 30 grams butter - melted
- 2 teaspoons plain flour
- few sprigs thyme or rosemary - to taste, we use about 7 sprigs
Instructions
Do the prep
- Preheat the oven to 190C/374F/gas mark 5 and lightly oil a large baking tray
- Wash the carrots and parsnips. If you are not peeling the veg, make sure to give them a good scrub. Slice them into thick batons of roughly equal sizes so they cook evenly. Place them in a bowl.
- In a jug, whisk together the olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, melted butter and plain flour.
Construct the dish
- Pour the sauce over the vegetables in the bowl. Using your hands, toss the veg in the sauce ensuring every baton is coated.
- Tip the vegetables onto the baking tray. Space them out so there is room between each baton. It's important not to overcrowd the pan and keep the veg in a single layer.
- Distribute the sprigs of thyme or rosemary across the veg.
- Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through and you have a few caramelised spots here and there. Turn the batons over halfway through.
- Transfer to a bowl and serve piping hot. For the extra glossy look, use a pastry brush and stipple some honey onto the veg just before serving. Be sparing as you don't want the veg to become too sweet.
Notes
Nutrition
For food safety advice, including guidance on food allergies
Leave a Reply