123 Ways to Use the Carrots You Grow in Your Garden

by Erin Marissa Russell

You grow carrots in your garden because you already know how delicious they are chopped into a crisp salad or sliced into sticks and dipped in creamy ranch dressing. Depending on just how many carrots your vegetable garden produces, you may find yourself with more on hand than your family usually consumes. So let’s look at the best ways to use up carrots in a recipe, if you have a few too many.

It can be tricky to stretch out of your comfort zone in the kitchen and try something new—and the last thing you want is to spend time and ingredients putting together a dish your family won’t eat. Lots of the recipes online have too many ingredients that most of us don’t have on hand, or the meal simply doesn’t turn out as delicious as it looked in the impeccably styled photos. That’s where we come in. We’ve curated this list of recommended recipes to help you find new, delicious ways to serve all the carrots in your bumper crop.

Grate Homegrown Carrots Into Bread and Other Savory Pastries

There’s nothing like buttery bread pulled steaming from the oven for its delectable taste and the way the aroma wafts through your entire house. Though carrot cake is a commonplace dish and you may have eaten carrots in a morning glory muffin, it’s unlikely you’ve considered the whole spectrum of ways you can serve carrots in bread, rolls, and other pastries. These recipes will show you ways to get carrots out of the pantry and onto the table as part of a savory dish. And don’t worry—you’ll see dessert recipes in a later section.

If you’re new to the wonderful world of breadmaking, rest assured that baking your own loaves will be easier than it seems. Yes, you’ll need several hours to dedicate to most yeast bread recipes, but most of that time is hands-off, such as when it’s time for your loaves to rise or bake. There are also alternatives to time-intensive yeast bread recipes that are much quicker and simpler. Read on for brilliant ways to add carrots to your next meal as part of savory pastries or delicious fresh-baked bread.

Brooklyn Supper’s Olive Oil Carrot Quick Bread with Candied Carrots

Food and Journeys’ Finnish Carrot Rolls

Food52’s Savory Carrot Bread

Honest Cooking’s Carrot and Spinach Muffins

Kitchen Heals Soul’s Carrot Focaccia

Miranda’s Notebook’s Carrot, Cheese, and Olive Bread

My Name is Yeh’s Steamed Carrot Buns

Sippity Sup’s Savory Carrot Cake with Feta and Cumin

Taste of Home’s Golden Carrot Buns

Brighten Your Morning With Carrots at Breakfast

You may have gone your entire life without dining on carrots at breakfast, but that doesn’t mean you have to continue missing out. Whether they’re sauteed and mixed with eggs for an omelet or folded into batter for pancakes, the recipes here will introduce you to some unexpected ideas that will get the carrots from your garden on the table first thing in the morning.

AllRecipes’ Carrot Latkes (Pancakes)

Bon Appetit’s Carrot Pancakes with Salted Yogurt

Breakfast Drama Queen’s Carrot and Zucchini Mini Fritattas

Cookie and Kate’s Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Pancakes

Food Network’s Healthy Blueberry Carrot Muffins

Genius Kitchen’s Carrot and Cheese Crustless Quiche

The Indolent Cook’s Rustic Carrot Onion Omelette

TheKitchn’s Morning Glory Overnight Oats

Inspiralized’s Carrot, Noodle, and Leek Fritatta

Occasionally Eggs’ Healthy Carrot Bread with Dates and Olive Oil

OU Kosher’s Havij Edjeh (Persian Carrot Omelet)

Shugary Sweets’ Carrot Cake Muffins

The Spruce Eats’ Carrot Cake Oatmeal

Vegetarian Times’ Carrot Ricotta Quiche

Roast Carrots in the Oven for a Tasty Side Dish

Carrots nestled alongside a succulent pot roast and cooked in the oven until they’re tender are one of the most well-known of all the ways to eat carrots. However, for a weekday side dish, skip the pot roast and put the spotlight on the carrots, either with a simple dash of salt and pepper or seasoned with a more complex spice blend. The resulting roasted carrots will be almost as delicious as the ones you’ve eaten before, that simmered all day nestled against pot roast, onions, and potatoes until they were velvety smooth and full of flavor. To make things even better, these roasted carrot recipes are much quicker to prepare than a traditional Sunday roast, so you can have them on the table in no time. Even if you think you’re well acquainted with roasted carrots before, peruse these recipes carefully—some of them are downright indulgent

Alex Guarnaschelli’s Blackened Carrots

The Almond Eater’s Feta Harissa Roasted Carrots

Barefoot Contessa’s Hot Honey Roasted Carrots with Goat Cheese

Betty Crocker’s Honey Balsamic Roasted Carrots

Bon Appetit’s Roasted Carrots with Dill

Creme de la Crumb’s Honey Brown Sugar Roasted Carrots

Food & Wine’s Roasted Carrots with Beet Puree, Goat Cheese, and Hazelnuts

Hispanic Kitchen’s Amazingly Good Roasted Honey Chili Carrots

Leigh Anne Wilkes’ Parmesan Roasted Carrots

Love & Lemons’ Roasted Carrots and Cilantro Yogurt

Minimalist Baker’s Curry Roasted Carrots with Peanut Sauce

The Recipe Critic’s Roasted Brown Butter Honey Garlic Carrots

Southern Living’s Roasted Carrots with Avocado and Feta Vinaigrette

TheKitchn’s Roasted Carrots with Orange

Woman’s Day’s Roasted Carrots with Citrus Vinaigrette

Serve the Carrots You Grow in Inventive Salads or Slaws

We assume you’ve already had your fill of green garden salads with carrots as one of the featured vegetables. That doesn’t mean that you should count salads out when you’re thinking of new ways to get carrots on your family’s dinner plates, though. We rounded up the most innovative and unique salad and slaw recipes with carrots to include here. Slaws can be served as an accent to brighten a main course, or a carrot slaw could be one component of a dish—tucked into tacos or piled atop a sandwich, for example. In the recipes below, we skipped the old standards in favor of more stylized, uncommon salad and slaw recipes that feature carrots, so you’re sure to find a fresh idea (or a few) that will spark some culinary inspiration.

101 Cookbooks’ Sunburst Carrot Salad

Bon Appetit’s Warm Carrot Salad with Spiced Pepita and Cashew Crunch

Cooking Light’s Sesame-Carrot Salad

Cooktoria’s Shredded Carrot Salad with Cranberries

Cotter Crunch’s Turmeric Roasted Chickpea Carrot Salad

David Lebovitz’s Salade de Carottes Rapees

Diethood’s Red Cabbage and Carrot Slaw

Eating Well’s Lemony Carrot Salad with Dill

Epicurious’ Carrot, Cilantro, and Chile Slaw

Feasting at Home’s Bombay Carrot Salad with Cashews and Raisins

Food & Wine’s Moroccan Carrot Salad with Spicy Lemon Dressing

Martha Stewart’s Asian Carrot Slaw

Natasha’s Kitchen’s Carrot, Apple, and Walnut Salad

Occasionally Eggs’ Spicy Roasted Carrots with Tahini Lentil Salad

Once Upon a Chef’s Carrot Salad with Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts, and Citrus Vinaigrette

Parade’s Carrot Salad with Tahini, Chickpeas, and Pistachios

Southern Living’s Carrot-Cauliflower Salad

TheKitchn’s Baby Beet and Carrot Salad with Yogurt Ranch Dressing

The Toasted Pine Nut’s Sesame Carrot Ribbon Salad

Washington Post’s Spicy Beet and Carrot Coleslaw

Williams Sonoma’s Carrot Slaw with Lemon-Honey Dressing

Add Carrots to a Pot of Warm, Comforting Soup

A quick whir in the blender (or some attention from the immersion blender, if you have one) can transform carrots into a velvety, silky soup that’s as pretty as it is flavorful. It’s time to take carrots to the next frontier, past the cubes and discs that float in pots of chicken noodle or vegetable soup. These recipes put carrots front and center where they can show off, with seasonings from global cuisines to demonstrate just how versatile this vegetable can be. With all these choices, you’re sure to find a carrot soup that suits your family’s taste.

A Beautiful Plate’s Vegan Garam Masala Carrot Soup

Bon Appetit’s Carrot-Coconut Soup

Cooking Light’s Tahini-Carrot Soup with Pistachios

Epicurious’ Chilled Carrot Soup with Cumin and Lime

Food & Wine’s Creamy Carrot Soup with Scallions and Poppy Seeds

Joy the Baker’s Carrot Apple Ginger Soup

Love & Lemons’ Carrot Soup with Carrot Top Pesto

Minimalist Baker’s Creamy Thai Carrot Soup with Basil

Pinch of Yum’s Spicy Instant Pot Carrot Soup

Rachael Ray’s Curried Carrot Soup

Rebecca Katz’s Moroccan Carrot Soup

Southern Living’s Carrot Soup with Brown Butter, Pecans, and Yogurt

Washington Post’s Carrot Soup with Toasted Spices and Pecans

Williams Sonoma’s Simple Carrot Soup

Spin Carrots in the Blender for Silky Smoothies

Don’t forget about smoothies when you’re looking for ways to serve all the carrots you grew this season. Though most of us wouldn’t reach for a smoothie made of carrot and nothing else, the carrot’s natural sweetness makes it a fitting companion for the flavors that usually make smoothies so delicious: banana, orange, apple, peach, and pineapple, for example. If you have a favorite smoothie recipe in rotation already, try just adding a carrot or two to the mix. For the skinny on how you can utilize carrots as part of a smoothie, visit the recipes below that look most enticing to you.

The Almond Eater’s Almond Carrot Cake Smoothie

The Chunky Chef’s Tropical Carrot Smoothie

Culinary Hill’s Mango Carrot Smoothie

Daytime Vegan’s Cucumber Carrot Smoothie

Delishably’s Carrot Banana Smoothie

Gimme Some Oven’s Carrot Cake Smoothie

Healthy Food Tribe’s Carrot and Spinach Green Smoothie with Apple and Ginger

Kitchen Gidget’s Orange Carrot Smoothie

Primavera Kitchen’s Peach Carrot Smoothie

Mexican Food Journal’s Apple, Beet, Carrot Smoothie

Minimalist Baker’s Carrot Ginger Turmeric Smoothie

Taste of Home’s Strawberry Carrot Smoothies

Indulge Your Sweet Tooth and Make a Carrot-Based Dessert

Carrots have a natural sugary sweetness even when they’re freshly picked, without any need for seasoning or prep work from the chef. Take advantage of that tendency toward sweetness and make the carrots you grew into a dessert worthy of being your meal’s grand finale. While you’re probably familiar with carrot cake, and you may have enjoyed grated carrots in a muffin or two, the recipes below won’t include those desserts everyone knows as ways to show the sweet side of carrots. From riffs on carrot cake (such as carrot-cake-inspired cookies and cheesecake) to surprising confections from around the world, one of the recipes we’ve linked below is sure to please your palate.

AllRecipes’ Baked Carrot Pudding

Amy’s Healthy Baking’s Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies

Bon Appetit’s Black Sesame Carrot Cake

Cooking Matters’ Pineapple Carrot Muffins

Crazy for Crust’s Carrot Cake Brownies

Erica’s Sweet Tooth’s Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Food & Wine’s Cocoa-Carrot Cake with Cocoa Crumble

Food Network’s Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake

Genius Kitchen’s Picadilly’s Carrot Souffle

Gordon Ramsay’s Carrot Cake Macaroons

Indian Healthy Recipes’ Carrot Halwa (Gajar Ka Halwa)

Inside BruCrew Life’s Carrot Cheesecake Muffins

Southern Living’s Pineapple Upside-Down Carrot Cake

Spoonful of Flavor’s Carrot Coffee Cake Muffins

Taste of Home’s Carrot Banana Bread

TheKitchn’s Italian Carrot Cake

These Recipes Will Help You Use All Those Homegrown Carrots

The recipes listed below didn’t really fit into any of the categories we’ve presented thus far, but they’re just too good to skip. We’d be doing you a disservice if we didn’t include them, even if they don’t fit neatly into the categories with the others. Consider the links below the “miscellaneous” section. Whether it’s an elegant carrot tart, a carrot-infused salad dressing, or osso buco made carrot-centric, the recipes listed here are can’t-miss ways to eat all those carrots you harvested this season.

100 Days of Real Food’s Carrot Fritters with Yogurt Sauce

A Cozy Kitchen’s Carrot Goat Cheese Mash Shepherd’s Pie

A Spicy Perspective’s Healthy Baked Carrot Chips (Video)

AllRecipes’ Chef John’s Bourbon Glazed Carrots

Bon Appetit’s Carrots and Greens with Dilly Bean Vinaigrette

Epicurious’ Burnt Carrots with Goat Cheese, Parsley, Arugula, and Crispy Garlic Chips

Fine Cooking’s Carrot Ginger Sauce

Food & Wine’s Carrot Macaroni and Cheese

Food Network Magazine’s Angel Hair Pasta with Walnut-Carrot Sauce

Kevin Is Cooking’s Authentic Mexican Pickled Carrot

Lena Abraham’s Maple Bacon Carrots (Video)

Love & Lemons’ Carrot and Tomato Tagliatelle

Martha Stewart’s Cheddar Carrot Balls

Mercedes Sandoval’s Carrot Fries

Natasha’s Kitchen’s Carrot and Cheese Spread

Richard Blais’ Carrot Osso Buco

Saveur’s Shaved Carrot Tart with Ricotta

Serious Eats’ Roasted Carrot and Ricotta Gnocchi with Herbed Butter

The Oregonian’s Carrot and Fennel Pot Pie

TheKitchn’s Ginger Carrot Salad Dressing

Valerie Bertinelli’s Roasted Carrot Hummus

Vegetarian Gastronomy’s Easy, 5-Ingredient Creamy Carrot Tomato Vegan Pasta Sauce

As you can see, there’s no reason to let boredom drive you into a repetitive cooking routine just to make sure you use up all the carrots you harvested from the garden. There’s a whole wide world of recipes out there—an all-you-can-eat buffet of out-of-the-ordinary ways to prepare carrots that will delight your family, friends, and dinner guests, or just to entice yourself to eat more of this tasty root vegetable.

Whatever you do, don’t let your garden’s precious bounty go to waste. If you’ve grown more carrots than your household can possibly eat, however tempting the dish might be, consider donating the surplus to your local food pantry or soup kitchen. The extra produce you’ve been throwing up your hands at will be welcomed with open arms by someone in need.