Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots are a sweet carrot side dish made with butter, brown sugar, and honey. The glaze is easy to make and is a delicious way to serve vegetables with any main dish. Whether you’re celebrating a holiday like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or you’re just making dinner for the family, these glazed carrots will be enjoyed!
BROWN SUGAR GLAZED CARROTS
This recipe will show you how to cook baby carrots on the stovetop but I’ve also included directions in case you need to microwave the carrots too!
If you want to make a glazed carrots recipe that uses a different cooking method, try Slow Cooker Carrots or Oven Roasted Glazed Carrots. You can check out all of our cooked carrots recipes for more ideas.
I’ve served these candied carrots with so many meals. They’re one of my go-tos during the holiday season. I usually make them and my easy parmesan garlic corn for two simple side dishes!
BROWN SUGAR CARROTS
When I’m making carrots, I prefer to use baby carrots. It saves on prep time. You can make this recipe with whole carrots too. If you do use whole carrots, you will need to wash and peel them. I like to use a Y shaped Peeler because I think it’s easier to peel with! If you haven’t tried one, I highly recommend it!
If you use whole carrots you’ll want to slice them or chop them into similar sized pieces so they cook evenly.
But to save time, baby carrots help save a few minutes! Sometimes a few minutes makes all the difference!
To make brown sugar-glazed carrots you need a few ingredients in addition to the carrots. But the ingredient list is so easy that you might have most of it in your kitchen already!
- Baby Carrots
- Butter
- Light Brown Sugar
- Honey
- Allspice or Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Water
These ingredients all pair together to create a delicious, sweet glaze that is reminiscent of the holidays but works for everyday meals too!
HOW TO MAKE GLAZED CARROTS RECIPE
To get started, prepare your carrots if you need to. If you’re using baby carrots you can also cut them in half to make them smaller and easier to cook. But you can leave them whole as well.
Heat a skillet medium-high heat and add the butter, brown sugar, honey, Allspice, and water to the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Once the glaze has heated up, add the carrots to your skillet. Stir well to get the carrots well coated then let them cook for about 8-10 minutes. Stir them occasionally and check them for desired tenderness.
Once they’re tender, continue to cook until the liquid is reduced and the glaze thickens. This takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes, in my experience. It can be a bit more depending on your stove and ingredients. You want to give the liquid time to reduce down to get the best glaze!
HOW TO COOK CARROTS IN THE MICROWAVE
If you want to make glazed carrots in one of the quickest recipes possible, steaming carrots in the microwave saves a lot of time.
Put your carrots in a microwave-safe dish. Add 1 tablespoon of water and cover. Cook for 4-5 minutes until your carrots reach the desired tenderness.
While the carrots are cooking, heat the remaining ingredients in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Once they’re cooked, add the carrots to the pan with the glaze and cook for 1 minute, stirring to coat the carrots with the glaze.
Using this method you’ll have an easy carrot side dish in about 5 minutes!
Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 lb baby carrots
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp Allspice
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Heat a skillet on medium-high heat. Add the butter, brown sugar, honey, Allspice, and water to the pan.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Add the carrots and mix to coat. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once carrots are tender, continue to heat until glaze thickens (5-10 minutes).
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Lisa E. says
These were just “ok”. I made them for Easter dinner and was disappointed that they weren’t more “glazed’. I think adding 1/2C of water to the glaze ingredients made the glaze way too thin. I won’t be making them again.
Em says
I agree!
Tessa says
Why not just make them without the water. That should solve your problem!
Chris says
This was excellent! You have to be patient & simmer the carrots & liquid until they cook down a bit. We loved them.
Diane Taylor says
I loved them tbey were the best glazed carrots i ever had
Shari says
What a great approach for a new method to cook carrots! I added my own twist with a 1/2 cup chicken broth ( for the water) and maple syrup (for the honey). Lots of compliments!!! Thanks for sharing your versatile recipe Diane!!!
Jamie says
I am slightly disappointed. I think the water took away from the glazed/candied taste and made the glaze way too thin. I let them cook and simmer for a long time and it never got thick. Next time I will omit the water or use WAY less!
mary says
I cooked them on the stove top and because they were to watery I put them in the oven for25 minutes on 400 and it thickened .
Jenn says
7-8 minutes?? My carrots were hard as a rock. I basically doubled the mixture. I then turned temp way down. Then covered. Eventually got them where they needed to be. But this recipe did NOT work.
Mrs B says
The glaze is great but carrots were not cooked in 7-8 minutes
Mary says
Delicious! This the only way I make carrots now!
Payton says
These were so freaking good!
I started with only 1/4 cup of water to let the glaze thicken faster then added the rest of the water gradually.
Still took longer than 7-8 min to cook and I allowed the carrots to cook a few min covered but it was so worth the wait <3
FloridaMomOf3 says
The glaze is delicious! As a side note though you do not need water for the glaze as carrots have their own water (alot of water).
Theresa j says
I steam my carrots first till there where I like ,then fry them a little in butter.They are fantastic after the whole thing is done. Definitely not 7 or 8 minutes, unless you like rock hard carrots! Lol
Kathy Jones says
These were excellent. I doubled the recipe and used orange juice instead of water and cooked them low and slow I kept turning. the carrots in the glaze.
Yes, it did take longer than 7-8 minutes. It is just my husband and I for Thanksgiving this year and no doubt he will be happy.
Hammer says
Best dam glazed carrots I’ve ever made and tasted!! Will be making these for Christmas for sure!!! Thanks for posting this recipe!!! 😋 😋 😋
Jacqueline McCluskey says
These are so good!! For anyone saying there’s too much water, you have to let everything reduce to a glaze. It’ takes a while, but it’s so worth it!
4 pics one word says
Love these carrots! They are so simple and delicious! I love the brown sugar glaze – it’s perfect!