The Best Glazed Carrots
If you think last minute side dishes don’t get any simpler than a green salad, meet our favorite glazed carrot recipe! With just three key ingredients, and ready in about 15 minutes, our delicious glazed carrot recipe is made for busy weeknights, harried holiday meals, and everything in between. A little sweet, a little savory, with irresistible caramelized edges, put this quick, easy brown sugar glazed carrot recipe on your menu, stat! Need more show-stopping, easy veggie side dish ideas? Try our favorite Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, simple Braised Leeks, or classic Green Beans Almondine.
Glazed Carrot Ingredients
While some glazed carrot recipes call for oven time, or pre-boiling the carrots, we’re all about keeping things simple as can be. And
Carrots: The secret to a simple recipe like glazed carrots is perfect ingredients. You’ll need about 10 carrots to make our recipe and take a moment at the grocery store to be a little picky! Grab uniform, brightly colored, firm and fresh carrots — the best you can find. If you crave a carrot recipe that’s a little more savory, try using those perfect carrots to make our simple Roasted Carrots or get fancy with our Za’atar Roasted Carrots with Feta and Pumpkin Seeds.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar—either light or dark brown sugar is fine—complements the sweetness of the carrots, and helps to give them their shiny glaze.
Butter: It always comes down to butter, doesn’t it? When a recipe has just three ingredients, that means two things. 1) the recipe will be easy. 2) don’t make any subs! So, use real-deal, salted butter—no substitutions, please.
- Salt and pepper. Because you’re using salted butter, you may not need much salt but we always, always add a little fresh black pepper to our glazed carrots to balance out all the sweetness.
How to Make Glazed Carrots
Peel the carrots and cut thick ones in half, lengthwise.
Melt the butter and stir in the carrots.
Cook the carrots in the butter. The natural sugars in the carrots will sweeten and caramelize a bit as they cook in the butter, making them into something resembling lightly caramelized carrots. Do not overcook them! 8 minutes is probably enough, but you might even start checking for doneness sooner, depending on the size of your carrots.
Glaze the carrots with brown sugar. Stir in the brown sugar while your pan is still over the heat, so that the brown sugar melts into the butter and creates a glaze thick enough to coat the cooked carrots.
Glazed carrots are served! Add a little salt and pepper to taste, and pop that beaut on the table.
Tips For Perfect Glazed Carrots & Why We Love Them
We’re NOT all about mushy, lifeless carrots, and we know you’re not either. Truly, a very quick sauté is all you need—your butter-and-brown sugar glazed carrots will be cooked, but not overcooked.
These glazed carrots taste just fine at room temperature, which is key for holiday meals especially. If you transfer them to a serving dish and they sit out for 10 or 15 minutes while you finish serving the rest of the meal, they’ll still taste lovely.
If you’re hosting a big holiday meal, space in the oven is usually really limited. Particularly at the last-minute on Thanksgiving, your oven will be brimming with lots of other Thanksgiving sides, browning the tops and keeping everything toasty. Fast, stove-top side dishes like glazed carrots can be such a life-saver!
More Quick, Easy Holiday Side Dishes
How’d They Turn Out? We’d Love To Know!
For more recipe inspiration, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest or order our cookbook. We love when you share your meals. Tag us on Instagram using #themodernproper, and we’d love to hear what you think of this recipe in the comments below. Happy cooking!
