Oven roasted baby carrots with fennel are flavored with a cilantro butter sauce. This is a very easy keto Thanksgiving side dish recipe. It’s ready in just 30 minutes and can be made ahead.
It’s been a minute since I last used fennel!
That is not a good thing because fennel is a very healthy vegetable.
Pairing them with carrots makes this dish a very good-for-you recipe.
Who says you can’t eat healthy at Thanksgiving?
Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the ingredients. It is to understand why these specific ingredients were chosen. To get the full recipe, go to the bottom of this post.
Organic Carrots – Carrots are packed with fiber, vitamins, and phosphorus. It’s such an easy vegetable to add to any recipe or make it the center. Baby carrots provide beta carotene also which can be converted to retinol which is the active form of Vitamin A. Source: Humana and Dr. Berg.
Fennel – Fennel tastes like celery on steroids, lol! It also has a little minty taste that makes it good for the heart and brain. It’s packed with fiber which makes it good for the gut. It also has anti-inflammatory properties because it is packed with Vitamin C and Quercetin. Source: BBC Good Food and Organic Facts.
Butter – To be clear, I used grass-fed organic butter. It is PACKED with Vitamin K2 which is crucial to bone health. The main job of K2 is to take calcium from the bloodstream and move it into the bones where it is needed the most. Read my ode to butter which is such a misunderstood ingredient.
Cilantro – I am so glad that cilantro doesn’t taste like soap to me. It’s an herb that can make a recipe taste great, as well as adding tons of nutrition to it. It’s known to have antioxidant properties, helps in getting rid of toxic metals and so much more. Source: Global Healing and Organic Facts.
Dill – It has powerful antioxidants and is a great source of minerals like manganese, iron, and copper. It’s barely noticeable in recipes, yet it packs quite a beneficial punch. So, feel free to add it to any recipe.
🌿 Organic tip: Wherever possible, use organic vegetables and ingredients. I know it’s expensive, but it pays off in the long run.
Make Ahead
- Cut the carrots in half and cut the fennel to the same size
- Roast the carrots, fennel, and carrots (400°F Carrots for 20 minutes, 10 minutes for fennel and garlic).
- Roast the carrots and garlic for 15 minutes
- Remove the tray and place the garlic on a separate plate
- Now, add the fennel to the baking tray, and keep the carrots in it
- Put the baking tray back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes
- While that is baking in the oven, crush the garlic
- Mix the ingredients for the sauce along with the crushed garlic
- Remove the veggies and mix them together.
- Place the veggies in a serving bowl and drizzle the butter sauce on it
An (affiliate link) oven safe grill is not important. I like it for the grill marks. You can use a sheet pan or silicone baking trays too.
🥕 Handy Tip: It is important to partially cook the carrots first before adding the fennel. Carrots take longer to cook and fennel cooks in minutes.
Why is this keto-friendly?
Every ingredient in this recipe is considered keto and low-carb friendly. Yes, that includes carrots and it includes fennel.
Both veggies are right on the limit of carb/fiber ratio. A 3oz of baby carrots have about 4g of net carbs. 87g or 1 cup of fennel has about 4g of net carbs.
Personally, I think the many health benefits of both veggies far outweigh any bad elements of them.
Also, I always like to eat a rainbow of colors when I eat veggies. Their color contributes to a variety of healthy ingredients, so, I don’t fret about the carbs. But, if you don’t like fennel, you can make regular maple glazed carrots or make this easy roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots.
🥕 Substitution tip: Can’t find baby carrots? You can use large carrots that you can cut into small sizes. Or, save time and buy pre-cut carrots.
Make ahead and storage
Roast the veggies beforehand, but mix the sauce at the time of serving. Set your oven temp to 400°F (204°C) and roast carrots for 20 minutes, and 10 minutes for fennel, and garlic. Let the veggies cool and then transfer to a glass container with a lid.
When you are ready to serve, put the pre-cooked carrots and fennel into a 250°F (121°C) preheated oven. Cook for 7 minutes. While they are cooking, prepare the sauce. Remove the veggies, drizzle the sauce, and serve.
Once the sauce has been added, the vegetables don’t freeze well. So, refrigerate them and use up within 1 week.
Answering Common Questions
Never throw away tops of veggies. Those tops have just as much nutrition, if not more. Put them into:
– Soups like potato soup
– Pesto recipes
– Homemade veggie broths
– A marinade recipe
– Compost piles
– Teas or compound butter recipes
I like to wrap them in a tea towel and then refrigerate. Usually, I like to use it up in 5 days.
1) Parsley (Make your own chimichurri and use that instead)
2) Fresh oregano – Make this simple oregano oil recipe and drizzle about a teaspoon of it on the cooked carrots. It will make the carrots taste great and even aid in better digestion.
3) Basil – Prefer using pesto? Make your own pesto from basil and use it to flavor this roasted carrot salad.
4) Mint – I made chermoula sauce a couple of weeks ago and used it to flavor the carrots. It turned out soooo good that I will make it frequently.
5) Rosemary – Fresh Rosemary is the perfect herb to flavor with fennel.
Use these herbs by themselves or in combination. Let me know your favorite way of using them.
The combination of the sweetness of carrots is such a perfect taste blend with the strong, pepperminty taste of fennel. Along with the garlic, butter, and cilantro, this recipe is like a party in your mouth.
Try these carrot recipes
- Maple glazed baby carrots
- Gluten-free vegetarian enchiladas
- Air fryer roasted vegetables
- Vegan mac and cheese
Sharing is caring
Don’t be shy, chime in below in the comments. Let me hear your opinion on this roasted carrots recipe. If you enjoyed this, please give it 5 stars and share it on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube
Roasted Baby Carrots
Ingredients
For roasting the veggies
- 8 oz organic baby carrots about 1/2 a packet
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil divided into half
- ¼ tsp pink salt divided into half
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ fennel bulb
For the sauce
- 2 Tbsp butter use organic, grass-fed butter
- ¼ cup cilantro finely chopped
- ¼ tsp dill
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ⅛ tsp pink salt optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F
- Cut the carrots into halves (diagonally)8 oz organic baby carrots
- Place the carrots in the glass bowl, add 1 Tbsp oil + ⅛ tsp salt2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, ¼ tsp pink salt
- Mix well and then, place on a baking tray of choice
- Put the garlic cloves in the same bowl and coat them with the oil3 cloves garlic
- Put the garlic in the same baking tray and place in the oven
- While the carrots are roasting, cut the fennel to the same size as the carrots.½ fennel bulb
- Roast the carrots and garlic for 15 minutes
- Remove the tray, place the garlic in a separate plate
- Add the fennel to the baking tray, keep the carrots in it
- Put the baking tray back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes
- While that is baking in the oven, crush the garlic
- Mix the ingredients for the sauce along with the crushed garlic
- Remove the veggies and mix them.
- Place the veggies in a serving bowl and drizzle the butter sauce on it
- Mix well and serve
Video
Notes
- ALWAYS use organic vegetables, if you can find them. Carrots and fennel can be easily found in the organic section of your grocery store. I know it’s expensive, but much cheaper in the long run.
- This recipe makes use of grass-fed butter. I use Kerrygold butter which is my favorite. You can always use vegan or non-grass-fed butter. Just don’t tell me that you did!
- You can make this recipe ahead of time. See below for how I made this ahead of time.
- If the baby carrots are too big, cut them into half. They will cook faster.
- Cut the fennel to about the same size as the baby carrots.
- The reason I roast them in 2 batches is because carrots take longer to cook then fennel.
- An oven safe grill is not important. It’s just what I like to use because I love the grill marks. You can use a sheet pan or silicone baking trays too.
- Do not freeze the roasted carrots, if there are leftovers. They don’t thaw well. Instead, refrigerate them and use within a week.
Thank you for such a amazing article
These roasted baby carrots are a simple and delicious recipe that is a great side dish for any meal.
Thank you, Lakita
I never thought to try mixing carrots and fennel but they work together really well! Especially with the cilantro dill sauce. So delicious!
Thank you, Veronika.
I love roasting carrots but never thought to pair them with fennel, which we use quite a lot actually. A delicious combo which I’m going to serve as a side at Christmas. BTW you mention baby potatoes earlier in the post (important tips) but I think that’s a typo?
Thank you, Jacqueline. Thanks for letting me know about the typo! I always have baby potatoes on my mind, lol. I fixed it to say baby carrot.
I always buy organic carrots as well. Thanks for the tip on using Kerrygold butter. I’ve never tried it so I appreciate the tip. 🙂
Thank you, Leslie. That’s what real butter tastes like, lol. Kerrygold reminded me of the butter I used to eat as a kid.
This is an easy, tasty, and healthy dish to make for tonight’s dinner.
Yum!
Thank you, Amy
I love fennel! I thought the combination with carrots was great and it creates a beautifully colorful dish. I can’t wait to serve this over the holidays!
Thank you, Marie.
I almost forgot how delicious fennel can be! The combination of the carrots, fennel, and, of course, garlic was the perfect pairing and I loved that touch of cilantro for extra flavor.
Thank you, Linda
The fennel and the cilantro butter sauce really elevated these simple roasted carrots. We really liked this recipe!
Thank you, Colleen
These carrots are amazing! The recipe was so simple to follow, and that cilantro butter sauce really gave it a little something extra. I’ll have to make these again for Thanksgiving.
Thank you, Amanda. So happy you liked it.
The cilantro butter sauce makes these incredible! I’m going to use this sauce on other vegetables too now, thank you!
Thank you, Jessica