These glazed carrots are tender carrot coins simmered in a mixture of brown sugar and butter and topped with a sprinkling of parsley. An easy and inexpensive side dish that’s perfect for a holiday meal or an everyday dinner.
My kids love carrots, especially creamy carrot salad, honey roasted carrots and candied carrots. We also really enjoy simple glazed carrots which take just minutes to put together. This is one of my go-to side dishes!
Table of Contents
I always keep a bag of carrots in my fridge. They’re inexpensive, stay fresh for weeks, and you can do so many things with them! One of my favorite ways to prepare carrots is this easy glazed carrots recipe. All you need is 5 ingredients and about 15 minutes and they’ll be ready to serve. Offer your carrots alongside hearty main course dishes such as stuffed bell peppers or lemon pepper chicken.
Glazed Carrots Ingredients
- Carrots: I typically cut whole carrots into slices for this recipe. You can also cut your carrots into sticks, or use bagged baby carrots.
- Butter: Salted or unsalted butter will both work just fine.
- Brown Sugar: I typically use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar is also great if you prefer a more pronounced molasses flavor.
- Salt: A bit of salt helps to balance the sweetness of the brown sugar.
- Parsley: I like to add a sprinkle of fresh parsley for flavor and color, but this is an optional step.
How Do You Make Glazed Carrots?
Place your sliced carrots in a pan with water, then simmer them until they are just tender. Drain off the water, then add butter, brown sugar and salt to the pan. Cook the carrots for 4-5 minutes or until a glaze forms. Add the parsley if you’re using it, then serve immediately and enjoy.
Tips for the Perfect Dish
- Make sure your carrots are cut into uniformly sized pieces so that they cook at the same rate.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. You can reheat your leftover carrots on the stove over low heat for 5-7 minutes.
- You can cut and peel your carrots up to 3 days before you plan to make this recipe.
Quick Tip
Want a hands off approach to glazed carrots? Try my slow cooker glazed carrots.
Recipe FAQs
Carrots are a super healthy vegetable. Carrots are loaded with fiber, Vitamin K, beta-carotene, and antioxidants. These veggies are also thought to improve your vision, prevent certain types of cancer, slow down the aging process and they also help prevent infection.
The primary ingredients in glazed carrots are fresh carrots, butter, brown sugar, water and seasonings.
You can prepare your carrots up to 2 days before you plan to serve them. Reheat the leftovers in a skillet on the stove until warm, and add the parsley right before serving.
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Flavor Variations
This is a simple recipe that is easy to customize to suit your tastes.
- Sweetener: You can substitute honey or maple syrup for the brown sugar if needed.
- Vegetables: I sometimes add other root vegetables to this dish such as parsnips, thinly sliced sweet potatoes and even yellow beets.
- Toppings: Finish your carrots with a sprinkle of nuts such as chopped pecans or toasted sliced almonds.
- Add-Ins: Feel free to add other flavors such as a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, a squeeze of lemon juice or even a dash of vanilla extract.
Whether you choose to serve glazed carrots for a special holiday dinner or serve them alongside a simple roasted chicken on a busy weeknight, this dish is sure to be welcomed by all.
More Side Dish Ideas
- Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Stovetop Mac and Cheese
- Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
- Parmesan Zucchini
- Garlic Butter Mushrooms
Glazed Carrots Video
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Glazed Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Place the carrots in a large pan and add 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring the carrots to a simmer
- Cook for 8-10 minutes or until carrots are tender. Drain off any excess water.
- Add the butter, brown sugar and salt to the pan. Stir to coat the carrots.
- Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a sauce has formed.
- Sprinkle with parsley if desired, then serve.
Notes
- Make sure your carrots are cut into uniformly sized pieces so that they cook at the same rate.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. You can reheat your leftover carrots on the stove over low heat for 5-7 minutes.
Made this for Easter. Was great side dish. Not too sweet but nice flavor.
I’m confused by these directions. By oan, do you mean a pot, a roasting pan, a casserole dish, or a baking sheet? And do you cook them on a stovetop or in the oven? I’d love to try this today!
This is a stovetop recipe in a shallow metal pan with a handle designed to be used on the stove. Hope this helps!
Oh wow, what a super quick, easy and delicious side dish.
Such a simple, yet delicious way to prepare carrots! 🙂 Perfect side dish to add to the Easter dinner menu.
These glazed carrots were so delicious and I loved the sweet flavor to them! Perfect for Easter or anytime I want an easy and yummy side dish!
Glazed carrots are one of my favorites! I’ve never put brown sugar on mine before though…can’t wait to try it!
My family loves this simple side dish! These glazed carrots are a go-to at my house too! Thanks for sharing.
Made this tonight and it was so good!
This has been a big winner for 3 years since I started making freezer meals the last 3 years for my now 93 year old mom!
it’s easy to make which helps me! She gets the sweet taste she likes while eating a vegetable. Win-Win! I have added raisins and sometimes pineapple which tastes good. Thanks for this recipe!
I use baby carrots to save time.
can you make up day before and heat in oven?
Yes that’s fine!
Delicious and easy! I, too, followed the recipe exactly. Everyone loved the carrots and couldn’t wait for me to make them again!
Followed recipe exactly and they turned out wonderful. Thank you.
Awesome recipe! I don’t do sugar at all–diabetes. How much honey should I use? Thanks.
2 tablespoons of honey!
As a diabetes educator, I hate to tell you that there’s no difference in the glucose reaction from sugar or from honey.
As a diabetic.. there is a difference between regular sugar and honey.. regular sugar keeps your sugar levels up longer than honey does.
My go to recipe as I always have carrots and the whole family loves this recipe!
Foolproof recipe for delicious glazed carrots. Very easy to keep an eye on these while preparing other Christmas side dishes and they came out perfect!
I found that my carrots weren’t cooked enough with the amount of time specified. Not sure if I did something wrong or if I didn’t have the element high enough but once I did get them cooked they were amazing!!
The same with me. A simmer is not a full boil right? It took about twice as long to cook on a simmer with the lid on! What did I do wrong?
It should not be at a full boil. It does depend on the size of your carrots, sometimes if you start with larger carrots the slices end up bigger than average which can increase the cook time.
I only made one serving for myself last night. I always think I need a green vegetable at dinner, but only had carrots in the crisper, which I love and are just as nutritious. I added 1/4 t. each of powdered ginger and dry mustard for a little extra zing. Delicious and luxurious!
Thanks for this great idea!
Delicious!!!! Perfect side dish for those extra thanksgiving carrots.
I add chicken stock to the final glaze in place of water. Great recipe!
I used your recipe, instead of adding water, I used 1/4 cup of orange juice , cooked carrots in the oven. Loved the crunchy taste. My husband is a chef, he loved it. Simple recipe. Thank you
Did you use the same measurements for everything else? The recipe called for 1-5 cups of water and you only used a 1/4 cup? I want to make these for thanksgiving and I’m trying to find a good recipe. Tia!