Grilled Carrots
by Katie Webster
August 15, 2023 Jump To Recipe
If you’re wondering if you can grill carrots, I am here to say, most emphatically, you certainly can! Actually, I highly encourage it! Today I have a short video showing how to make grilled carrots plus I have some tips so they are tender all the way through, but not overly charred. Grilled carrots are great just plain with oil, salt and pepper, but I’ve elevated this recipe today with a few extra flavors- harissa, lemon and mint!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I shared this recipe on July 19th, 2019. I have updated some of the text to share it with you again today.
Table of contents
Why We Love Grilling Carrots
Every summer I promise myself that I will have the patience to let my the carrots in my garden grow to full size, the plan is that’ll I’ll keep them as a storing crop for winter. But then just as they are a little bigger than baby carrots, I can’t resist and I have to harvest a bunch of them to make my favorite grilled carrots recipe.
It is the perfect side dish to make in the warmer summer months. My favorite way to serve grilled carrots is to add on a little lemon juice and harissa seasoning, but there are so many other ways to jazz them up. And they are even great as is, fresh off the hot grill, lightly charred and tender all the way through.
Chef’s Tip: Grilling carrots is a great way to use tender smaller carrots, but this process also works with larger carrots too! The key is to cook them through until they are fork tender and lightly charred, but not burnt. I have several tips in my expert tips section on how to avoid burning the carrots when grilling.
More Favorite Carrot Side Dishes
Steps To Make Grilled Carrots
1. What Size Carrots To Use For Grilling:
This grilled carrots recipe works best with medium carrots. Two of the times I tested this I used smaller (organic) bagged grocery store carrots. I call them medium. They were about 3/4 of an inch in diameter at the widest spot. Some smaller some larger. This recipe, the amount of oil and the timing is optimized for carrots of that approximate size. Save your big wide carrots for another use, such as Carrot Ginger Soup or Moroccan Carrots.
2. If You Want To Grill Smaller Carrots:
If you can get really lovely small carrots, by all means use them. Just weigh out 2 pounds (without the greens.) You’ll also want to turn the carrots perpendicular to the grill grates so they don’t fall through!
3. Remove Greens and Peel the Carrots:
Remove the greens from your carrots when you bring them home. Read more about why and what to do with the greens here in the Ultimate Guide To Carrots. If you’ve read my tutorial on Chicken Stock, then you know that the peel of the carrots are bitter, so you’ll want to remove the peels. I use these peelers. They’re cheap and so sharp!
4. Oil the Carrots:
Before grilling, take a moment to coat the carrots in oil salt and pepper. The oil will really help develop the charring while grilling over direct heat. One tablespoon oil olive oil is plenty for medium carrots, but note that if you use smaller carrots, you will need a touch more oil in step 2. The reason is that there is more surface area (per pound) so you need more oil to coat them. Add up to two extra teaspoons of oil to make sure they are nicely coated with the oil.
5. They Won’t All Be Done At The Same Time
Because there will be a range of sizes of your carrots, you’ll want to make sure to pull the smallest ones off first and the large carrots off last. This is normal and why I have a range of cooking times (from 24 to 30 minutes total.) Note, you’ll want to use long tongs for this recipe. They are hard to move around with a spatula. These are the tongs I have used since culinary school. They are the best and totally affordable!
6. Add Flavor Once They Are Done
Once the carrots are grilled, top with flavorful ingredients. Today I used North African flavors: harissa paste, lemon and olive oil with fresh mint. But you could also use home made pesto thinned out with a little extra oil and lemon if you don’t want extra spice. Or you could go in another direction all together and drizzle on salad dressing. I think this creamy cumin seed yogurt dressing and chopped fresh oregano would be lovely!
How To Grill Carrots Without Burning Them
- The Challenge with Grilled Carrots: Typical grocery store carrots are larger than the carrots you see at the farmers market (or ones picked earlier in the growing season.) These fatter carrots can actually be problematic when grilled because the outside chars before the inside become tender. So I came up with a solution!
- Set up Grill for Indirect Heat: The number one key to great grilled carrots is to use indirect heat to your advantage. Indirect heat is when one side of the grill is hot, and the other is not. To set up your grill for indirect heat on a charcoal grill, rake the hot coals to one side before placing the grill grate on top. If you’re using a gas grill, preheat the grill first, then turn off one side of the grill just before adding the food. My gas grill has three burners, so I turned off one of them.
- First Char on The Hot Side: To give the carrots that great grilled, smoky and charred (not burnt and bitter) flavor, cook them on the hot side of the grill first. You’ll just want to rotate them every so often until they have some blackened spots here and there. Then move them onto the cool side of the grill, and close the lid. In essence you’ll be turning your grill into an oven, but they won’t be getting any darker from flames below. Tricky huh?! Remove the carrots as they are tender which will vary depending on the size of your carrots.
What To Serve With Grilled Carrots
- Grilled Carrots are great served hot or at room temperature.
- The natural sweetness of carrots goes with grilled meat such as Grilled Lemon Garlic Pork Tenderloin, or Grilled Lamb Kofta Kebabs.
- For cooler weather, this fall try my Moroccan Lamb Shank recipe. It would be amazing with the North African flavors here.
- You could also go meatless and serve these grilled carrots with Grilled Tofu marinated in My Favorite Garlic Marinade.
Other Ways To Season These Grilled Carrots
These grilled carrots are great even without the lemon harissa sauce I mentioned. But if you are looking for an alternative, here are some easy ideas:
- Try thinning a little Basil Pesto with olive oil and drizzling it over.
- Use a high quality aged balsamic vinegar and add on fresh herbs.
- Crumble on goat cheese and toasted nuts.
- The natural sugars in the carrots pair well with honey mustard. Make a blend of Dijon mustard and a little honey. Toss the hot carrots with the sweet glaze just before serving.
- Whisk a little sesame oil and soy sauce in a small dish and drizzle over them when they come off the grill. Top with scallion and toasted sesame seeds.
Storing Leftovers
These grilled carrots are amazing leftovers served cold. Transfer them to a resealable container and refrigerate up to four days.
Enjoy cold or reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute per serving (cover with parchment or a paper towel to reheat.
More Grilled Vegetable Recipes To Try This Summer
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Grilled Carrots Recipe
- Total Time: 45
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
The key to grilled carrots that are tender, and not burnt, is to cook them over indirect heat. Here is a foolproof recipe for grilled carrots topped with harissa paste, lemon and mint.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds small to medium carrots, peeled and ends trimmed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, divided
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons harissa paste
- 2 tablespoons Chopped fresh mint
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium- high heat. Turn off one burner on one side of the grill, or for charcoal fire, bank the coals to one side of the kettle.
- Toss carrots with 1 tablespoon oil, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper. Grill, directly over the heat, turning often until charred in spots, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the carrots to the side of the grill with indirect heat, cover and let cook until they are tender, 17 to 20 minutes longer. Remove to a platter.
- Stir the remaining tablespoon oil, lemon juice and harissa in a small bowl. Drizzle over the carrots. Top with mint and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Medium carrots average 2/3 or 3/4 of an inch thick. For smaller carrots use up to 2 teaspoons more olive oil in step 2.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: Mixed
Nutrition
- Serving Size: about 3 carrots
- Calories: 106
- Sugar: 7 g
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 g
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
These do not disappoint!!! Threw them on while I roasted a few chickens. So delicious! Love all your recipes. Keep up the great work!!
What a show stopping dish! This would be perfect for a dinner party. I’ve never tried grilling carrots before, but I love the roasted version. I’m going to try these for a Labor Day grill out. Thank you for sharing and your photos are beautiful, by the way!
Thanks so much for letting me know you like this idea! Enjoy!