Glazed carrots are such a versatile and ever-present side dish, they appear on our dinner table any meal — from an average day to an Easter, Christmas or Thanksgiving celebration. They’re so good, they can almost compete with the turkey as the star of the show.
This particular glazed carrots recipe calls for only a few basic ingredients. Carrots, sugar, butter, salt and pepper — are all things that you’d expect to find in your pantry and fridge. The sweetened butter sauce make them a must-have for our family. And they offer a nice contrast to all the other savory options on the table.
If you’re wondering what other side dishes work great with glazed carrots, check out our green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole or vegetable casserole.
Glazed Carrot Ingredients You Will Need:
- bag of baby carrots, or any sliced up carrots
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/4 cup of light or dark brown sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
How to Cook Glazed Carrots
Cooking up glazed carrots is simple. I use baby carrots, but you can just cut up regular carrots into different shapes, like disks or sticks.
Put the carrots, brown sugar, and butter in a pan over the stovetop and put on medium heat. Stir the carrots occasionally to make sure that it doesn’t burn.
Once the liquid reduces, caramelizes, and becomes more of a glaze, season with salt and pepper to taste. They’re ready to serve when carrots are tender…but not overcooked! Dinner time!
Optional: For garnish, you can sprinkle in some chopped parsley, thyme, rosemary, or other herbs. They add a fresh pop of color as well as an extra kick of flavor. Sesame seeds gives a robust aroma as well.
Variations on Glazed Carrots
For glazed baby carrots that don’t need as much attention, use the oven or a crockpot. To roast these carrots in the oven, simply put the carrots in a casserole dish, add in carrots, butter, and brown sugar and bake at 350 degrees for an hour and a half.
For using the crockpot or slow cooker, simply mix all the ingredients together and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours. Once the carrots are cooked or baked right for both methods, season with salt and pepper. There’s so many different ways to make this easy dish, it makes it so simple to plan it ahead into your daily schedule.
You can also change the sweetener you use. Trade out the brown sugar for honey, agave syrup, or maple syrup glazed carrots. You can also replace it with any sweetener that’s better for you personally.
What to Serve with Glazed Carrots
The carrots are best served with a meaty, savory entree with some sort of carb option. Some of my favorite entrees to pair with glazed carrots are also the most classic holiday entrees.
Glazed ham, roasted turkey, pork or chicken, prime rib, and more…that’s how versatile this dish is. It doesn’t clash with anything. I also LOVE it served on the side with meatloaf. (So stinkin’ good.)
Meat, vegetables, now all we need is carbs. I would suggest anything that will do well soaking up both the extra butter syrup glaze and the meat juices.
This includes biscuits, dinner rolls, cornbread. Honestly, any bread will do. Mashed potatoes are also an option. The combination of these dishes makes for a perfectly classic American dinner. Enjoy!
Forget boiling and steaming and the other boring 🙂 ways of cooking carrots…glazed is the way to go from now on.
More Recipes You Will Love
Glazed Carrots Recipe
Ingredients
- bag of baby carrots or any sliced up carrots
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/4 cup of light or dark brown sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put carrots, brown sugar and butter in a pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally so they don't burn.
- Once the liquid reduces and becomes like a glaze, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve once they are tender.
This is our family’s favorite way to eat carrots!