Roasted Red Beets & Carrots with Creamy Garlic Dill Sauce

These Roasted Red Beets and Carrots might just steal the show from your main dish! Sweet, creamy, and garlicky, there's something for everyone - even your pickiest eater! Roasting the beets and carrots plays up their sweet flavor while muting that divisive earthy flavor beets tend to have. We finish the whole dish off with a creamy, garlicky sauce that pairs perfectly with the veggies.

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While we pair the roasted veggies with our delicious creamy garlic dill sauce, the dish is just as delicious without it for rushed evenings or for when you don't want another dish to wash.

Check out other roasted root vegetable recipes on our site, too, like roasted parsnips with arugula pistachio pesto or roasted maple curry carrots.

Heart Health Benefits of Roasted Red Beets and Carrots

The ingredients in this dish can help protect your heart in multiple ways. Dietary nitrates and other components in beets can help support blood pressure and reduce oxidative stress (1, 2). Cashews may help lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (3). Evidence also suggests some components of the dish can benefit endothelial function and positively influence cardiovascular risk overall (4, 5).

Macronutrients

This veggie side dish is low in protein, and a moderate source of total carbohydrates and total fat.

Our recipe is high in fiber, and a good source of monounsaturated fats, both essential nutrients for heart health.

Micronutrients and Bioactive Components

Thanks to the carrots, our roasted root veggie dish is an excellent source of vitamin A, mostly in the form of beta-carotene. It is also high in folate, and a good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium.

Additionally, there are many bioactive components in our recipe! Here are the key ones you can expect in roasted red beets and carrots:

• Monounsaturated fats - (in olive oil and cashews) type of fat molecule that can help lower LDL cholesterol, and provides nutrition to maintain and build you body's cells (4);
• Hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein - (in olive oil) polyphenols that may be preventative against high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack (5);
• Nitrates - (in beets) inorganic anion with demonstrated effects like reducing blood pressure, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and improving endothelial dysfunction (1);
• Betalains - (in beets) pigments with antioxidant activity that can reduce oxidative stress, inflammation, and dyslipidemia (2);
• β- and α-carotene - (in carrots) these carotenoids can help improve cardiovascular risk factors and increase circulating antioxidants (6, 7); and
• Allicin - (in garlic) organosulfur compound that, along with other garlic compounds, boasts antioxidant and antiplatelet effects. It may also improve oxidative stress and lower blood lipids (8).

Ingredients

Here is what you'll need for this recipe, along with some applicable substitutions and notes.

• Red beets - peeled or unpeeled. I leave them unpeeled. Scrub well!
• Carrots - peeled or unpeeled. I leave them unpeeled. Scrub well!
• Dill
• Lemon - or canned lemon juice
• Garlic clove - or 1 teaspoon of jarred minced garlic
• Olive oil - or whatever oil you like for roasting veggies
• Raw, unsalted cashews - roasted cashews will work too, but be sure they are unsalted
• Salt (not pictured)

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Here's how to make this delicious side dish!

1. Step 1: Cut the carrots into large matchstick pieces.

2. Step 2: Cut the beets into large matchstick pieces.

Equipment

To make the beets and carrots, you'll only need a cutting board and knife, and a baking sheet and liner (either silicone or parchment).

For the sauce you will want a small, but high speed, blender. A blender specialized for smoothies works well, like Ninja Fit Blender or NutriBullet, because they are small and build for handling smaller amounts.

Storage

Cool completely, and store this dish in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If there is sauce on the veggies, it will start to take on the color of the beets, but will still be safe to eat.

Roasted beets and carrots will freeze well for up to 6 months if there is no sauce on them. The sauce does not freeze well.

Food safety

Safety is our top priority in the kitchen! Always keep these tips in mind.

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands before touching food, and after touching raw meat, your hair, face, pets, etc.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for longer than 2 hours (or 1 hour if the weather is hot)
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.