Human studies have demonstrated that bioavailability of carotenes can be greatly increased by processing, but the difference between processing methods is not yet widely investigated. The objective of the current study was to assess the impact of thermal and mechanical processing of tomato and carrot on carotenoid bioaccessibility in vitro. It was demonstrated that a combination of extensive homogenization and heat treatment was required for an increased bioaccessibility. Both low and high temperature blanching of tomato significantly increased lycopene in vitro bioaccessibility of crushed tomato, from 5.1±0.2 to 9.2±1.8 and 9.7±0.6 mg kg-1 respectively. Heating of carrot pieces at 90°C for 60 min followed by homogenization resulted in a 1.6-fold increase in the relative -carotene bioaccessibility compared with raw, homogenized, carrot. However, heating of homogenized carrot at 90°C for up to 120 min did not significantly increase in vitro bioaccessibility of -carotene. Finally, addition of 5% olive oil during homogenization of carrot resulted in a 10-fold higher in vitro bioaccessibility of -carotene in the micellar fraction. The results show that a combination of thermal and mechanical treatments of tomato and carrot can have a substantial impact on carotene in vitro bioaccessibility. Also, carotenoid bioaccessibility may be markedly enhanced by addition of oil.