Modulating the carotenoid profile of crops and enhancing their content, especially of provitamin A carotenoids (PACs), has been a primary goal of plant metabolic engineering. However, the achieved increases are often counteracted by the instability of carotenoids. Moreover, changes in carortenoid metabolism may affect plants growth and development. In this talk, I will present our results on producing carotenoids outside plastids, metabolic engineering of saffron pigments that derives from carotenoids, and the effect of modulating carotenoid metabolism on rice growth and architecture. To explore the possibility of forming carotenoids in the cytosol and evaluate the activity of fungal carotenoid-biosynthesis enzymes in plant cells, we introduced the Neurospora crassa carotenoid pathway into in the cytosol of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, Arabidopsis seeds, and citrus callus cells. This fungal biosynthetic route involves only three enzymes that convert C5 isopentenyl building blocks formed from mevalonic acid into PACs, including β-carotene. This approach resulted in cytosolic accumulation of phytoene and γ- and β-carotene, besides fungal-specific, health-promoting carotenes with 13 conjugated double bonds, such as torulene. To enhance the amounts of formed carotenoids, we employed a truncated Arabidopsis hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase that enlarges the isopentenyl diphosphate pool. Engineered carotenes accumulate in cytosolic lipid droplets (CLDs), which increased their stability. The saffron pigments crocetin and crocins have a large application potential in food and cosmetics industry, as well as pharmaceuticals. To establish a sustainable source for the production of these pigments, we engineered Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 strains using different plant enzymes. The obtained results demonstrate the utility of this system and its advantages, compared with using other microorganisms or plants. In the last part of my talk, I will show how increasing the content of the apocarotenoid zaxinone can increase rice yield and reduce its need for fertilizers.