Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots

These Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots are sticky and sweet with a perfect mild heat! They take just 10 minutes to cook for a quick, irresistible weeknight roasted veggie side dish recipe featuring carrots, hot sauce, and honey.

This will be my 5th year growing vegetables in my own yard. I feel like I’ve finally made the move up from novice to slightly advanced beginner.

Garlic, lettuce, and carrots are not only some of the easiest vegetables to grow, but also some of the most used in my kitchen.

Growing vegetables at home is a really great way to save money, reduce waste and greenhouse gases (packaging and transportation), and ultimately, make a better connection with the food you eat.

Lettuce, in particular, is one of the quickest and easiest vegetables to grow at home and can be grown easily in containers. Carrots are very easy to grow as well, but since they grow underground, you’ll need a slightly deeper container and more dirt.

Last year, I happened upon the Little Finger Carrot variety. These carrots were originally bred for canning and grow much smaller than carrots you’d buy from the store. They grew SO WELL in my garden, I’ll probably grow them every year from now on.

All this to say – I have a lot of these little finger carrots in the ground right now. I wanted to develop a way to eat them besides just raw on my salads. After a date with The Flavor Bible (affiliate link!), these Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots came to life!

What are the ingredients in these Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots?

The ingredients in these carrots are so simple – if you’ve got carrots, you probably already have the rest of the ingredients on hand. Here’s what I used for this recipe:

• carrots – I used four medium to large carrots for this recipe. You can also use baby carrots, about 3-4 cups. As long as they’re no more than 1/2 inch thick, any cut style will work!
• honey – Use your favorite type of honey or whatever you have on hand. I used a pure wildflower honey for mine and it was perfect.
• avocado oil – Generally, I use avocado oil for most of my cooking, especially air fryer cooking, because of the high smoke point and neutral flavor.
• hot sauce – Both Cholula and Tabasco sauce are good options. Any pepper based hot sauce will work. I think Cholula is on the milder side, so be careful if you’re using something hotter.
• garlic powder & sea salt – These seasonings are vital and help tone down and balance the sweetness from the honey. I love the hint of garlic as well.
• red chili pepper flakes – For additional spice, I like to add in some red chili pepper flakes. This is optional and flexible, feel free to add more if you like it hotter!

How do you make these Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots?

These carrots are incredibly easy to make, and even faster if you use pre-cut or baby carrots.

First, add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl, including the carrots, honey, avocado oil, hot sauce, garlic powder, salt and red chili pepper flakes. Stir until the carrots are completely coated in the hot honey sauce mixture.

There will be some extra sauce gathered in the bottom, but we’ll be using that again later, so make sure to save it.

Next, spoon the coated carrots into the air fryer basket, leaving most of the additional sauce in the bowl. Try not to dump the carrots in or all the sauce will go with it!

Use your spoon or some tongs to move the carrots into as much of a single layer as possible for even cooking. Air fry the carrots at 380F for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. The carrots are done when they appear slightly wrinkled and edges are beginning to char.

You can also check for doneness with a fork – if you can easily pierce a carrot with the fork, they should be done!

The final step before serving – add the cooked carrots back into the original mixing bowl with the remaining sauce. Give it a nice stir to again coat the carrots in the hot honey sauce we made earlier.

Serve the hot honey carrots from this bowl or place in a serving dish. In my photos, I used some carrot top greens as my garnish, but of course this is totally optional.

Can I use baby carrots instead of cutting large carrots?

Yes! Feel free to use any cut or style of carrot as long as it’s no more than 1/2 an inch thick or so.

If the baby carrots are on the thicker side, you may need to add 2-3 minutes of cook time.

How spicy is this recipe?

This recipe is mildly spicy, though I know those terms can be subjective. I can eat these carrots without showing any signs on my face of eating something spicy. It’s more of a mild background heat that compliments the honey glaze flavor.

Can I omit the spicy ingredients?

If you absolutely don’t want spice of any kind, you can omit the hot sauce and chili pepper flakes. In this cause, you’d have Air Fryer Honey Glazed Carrots, which are also very delicious!

Testing notes for these Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots:

While testing this recipe, here are a couple things I noticed:

• I tested cooking these carrots at 400F and found that they started charring a little too early for my taste. Instead, 380F seemed like the perfect amount of cook time and char. Keep in mind your air fryer might be different, so definitely adjust if you feel like you need to!
• You can double the recipe, you may need to add 3-4 minutes to cook time if the carrots are not in a single layer in the basket.
• Be sure to cut the carrots to about the same size or they will not cook evenly (baby carrots can come in handy for this!).

No air fryer? Here are oven instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400F and follow the recipe through Step 1. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat and spread the coated carrots in a single layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until fork-tender and charring on the edges.

As you might have noticed, the air fryer is a bit faster than the oven for this recipe 🙂

How do you meal prep this recipe?

There are a couple ways to save time by preparing all or part of this recipe ahead:

1. Carrot prep: The best way to save time with this recipe is to pre cut your carrots so all you have to do is throw everything into a bowl, mix and then air fryer. You can also save time here by using baby carrots!
2. Prep & cook for leftovers: I have added these cold leftover carrots to my green salads and they add a nice hint of flavor and different texture than the rest of the salad. You can completely prep and cook this recipe start to finish, then save in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

What should you serve with these Air Fryer Hot Honey Glazed Carrots?

Serve as a side with any type of chicken, fish, pork or veggie focused dinner. You can also add these to a salad directly from the fridge or eat by themselves as a snack. They are pretty versatile!

What kind of air fryer do you use?

The air fryer I have currently, and the one that is pictured in this post is the Cosori XL 5.8 qt Air Fryer (affiliate link!).

If you’re going to invest in an air fryer to cook things for two or more people, you should opt for a larger size like this one, in my opinion!

I previously had a slightly smaller Philips Air Fryer with a metal grate basket which I liked, but I prefer the larger Cosori model with the nonstick coated basket instead.

Is this recipe freezer-friendly?

No, I would not recommend freezing these carrots – they will not have a pleasant texture when thawed.

How to store prepared glazed carrots:

Store leftovers in an airtight container and enjoy within 4 days.

How to reheat prepared glazed carrots:

You can enjoy these carrots cold from the fridge, or reheat in the air fryer at 350F for 4-5 minutes until hot and sizzling.