Hot Honey Carrots w Whipped Ricotta

serves 4

This dish has everything. Sweetness & heat from the hot honey. Creamy, coolness & acidity from the whipped ricotta. It’s perfectly balanced and feels elevated, but is so simple.

Ricotta whips up beautifully and quickly in the food processor with lemon, salt, and olive oil. This becomes the silky base for the perfectly roasted rainbow carrots. Finished with chives & an extra drizzle of hot honey, this side dish is impressive enough to be the main event.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

INGREDIENTS

Whipped Ricotta

  • 8 oz ricotta cheese (1 cup)

  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

  • ¼ tsp kosher salt

  • 1 tsp olive oil

Hot Honey Carrots

  • 2 lbs rainbow carrots (2-3 bunches), peeled

  • 2 tbsp olive oil

  • 1 tsp Diamond Crystal or ¾ tsp Morton kosher salt

  • 3 tbsp honey

  • ¾ tsp Calabrian chile paste

  • 1 tbsp chives, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

Make the Whipped Ricotta

  1. In a food processor, pulse together the ricotta, lemon, and salt to combine. With the motor running, stream in 1 tsp of olive oil and process until very smooth and airy, about 1 minute.

Roast the Carrots & Serve

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Place your carrots on a large, rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Toss with olive oil and salt. Spread out your carrots, ensuring they have plenty of room (use 2 sheet pans if they’re too close together). Roast for 20 minutes, flip the carrots, and roast for 15-20 minutes more.

  2. Meanwhile, make the hot honey. Mix the honey and Calabrian chile paste until combined.

  3. Remove the carrots from the oven and toss with hot honey to coat all sides (reserve 1-2 tsp of hot honey for serving at the end). Lower the oven to 400°F and roast 10 minutes more. Should be able to easily pierce the largest carrot with a knife.

  4. To serve, spread the whipped ricotta evenly on a large plate or serving dish. Top with roasted carrots. Drizzle on the reserved hot honey and garnish with chives.

RECIPE NOTES & TIPS

  • In a typical oven, the front, back, and sides are hotter than the middle. These are called hot spots and are why baking recipes often have you rotate the pans. We can use this to our advantage in roasting, by placing the largest carrots along the border of the pan and the smallest ones in the middle. This helps the carrots roast evenly despite different sizes.

  • When roasting vegetables, it’s important to spread them out. If the veggies are crowded together, they will steam instead of roast. So you won’t get that char and bit of texture that you want from roasting. If in doubt and if your oven space allows, I recommend using two sheet trays!

  • Instead of making the hot honey, you can also use store-bought, like Mike’s.

  • I like to leave part of the stem on my carrots for presentation and color. I simply clean the edges to remove the dirt. This is my personal preference, but feel free to remove the stem if you prefer.

  • If you have larger carrots, they’ll likely take longer to roast. Simply increase the baking time and tent the pan with foil if the carrots are getting too charred.