My brown sugar carrots recipe is made in one skillet and bathed in a sticky-sweet brown sugar glaze!
This recipe is easy enough for a weeknight meal but special enough to stand up next to your favorite Easter side dishes and Easter recipes. No bland vegetable sides here — the sweetness of the brown sugar brings out the natural sweetness in the carrots, making it the dessert of side dishes!
You’ll serve these carrots alongside things like sauteed asparagus or roasted asparagus, roasted broccoli, or my favorite, scalloped corn!
Doesn’t that just scream CELEBRATION to you? Let’s cook!
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What I Love About This Recipe
This is a great way to get some of your 5 servings of fruits and veggies! The whole family loves them and the entire batch of these carrots is always devoured.
- Family favorite
- The dessert of all veggie side dishes
- Great for celebrations
- Goes with everything!
How To Make Brown Sugar Carrots Recipe
I promised you a one-pot brown sugar carrots recipe, and I’ll deliver!
In a big skillet, heat your oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the carrots and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook the carrots, stirring often, until they just start to soften.
Next, add your brown sugar and reduce the heat. Add water, only if needed, about a tablespoon at a time, if the brown sugar starts to burn.
Continue to cook until the carrots are tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the butter and fresh herbs. Transfer the carrots to a serving bowl and ENJOY!
Glazed Carrots Recipe Notes
This recipe is simple, but that doesn’t mean the ingredients and details are boring! Here are some of my favorite tips and tricks.
Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots Ingredient Notes
It’s carrots, sugar, and butter — what could go wrong? Nothing, if I have anything to say about it!
- Colorful Carrots: I typically use your standard orange carrots for this dish, but don’t be afraid to grab the colorful carrots too! Purple or white carrots would look amazing in this dish and taste just as good.
- Sugar: Want your dish even sweeter? Use dark brown sugar for its higher molasses content. Want your dish less sweet? Use light brown sugar and only do a few tablespoons instead of 1/4 a cup.
- Herbs: What fresh herbs should you add at the end to get a really KAPOW flavor with your carrots? I love basil, thyme, and oregano, but you can shake things up with whatever you have in your herb garden!
Tools to Make
There’s one main tool you’ll need for this recipe, and that is:
- A big skillet to cook and glaze your carrots.
I suggest investing in a nice, heavy-duty skillet if you don’t already have one. You can find great brands everywhere!
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
You can keep your cooked carrots in the fridge for up to five days. Any longer, and they start to get questionable on the safety front, so don’t risk it. This recipe is so easy to make you can always whip up more!
Can You Freeze Them?
Yes! Believe it or not, you can freeze your these carrots for up to a year! I love storing a bunch of these in portioned containers to have on hand for dinner sides.
To reheat, thaw or microwave until thawed, then resuscitate on the stovetop. What makes this dish so yummy is that crystallized sugar glaze, so you definitely want some of that!
Caramelized Carrots Make Ahead Tips
This recipe whips together so quickly and it’s very dependent on each step, so there isn’t much you can do in the way of prepping it ahead of time — other than freezing it, as mentioned above!
But you can have fresh, chopped carrots on hand. Raw cut carrots will last up to three weeks in your fridge!
Serving Recommendations
This brown sugar carrots recipe goes well with everything. Yes, absolutely everything! Nice crockpot pork tenderloin, crockpot pulled pork, grilled chicken marinade, a chicken tortilla casserole — yum!
My favorite dishes to serve this with are the ones that bring a big punch of savory flavors to the table to offset the sweetness of the carrots, but sometimes you just want a fully decadent meal. Follow your cravings!
Recipe Variations
How can we spice things up with this recipe? How about:
- We can toss in some more veggies and make roasted potatoes and carrots!
- Ramp up the sweet factor by adding raisins and getting the classic carrot raisin salad — this would be great with your leftover carrots!
- Pop the whole dish in the oven and make up roasted carrots with brown sugar glaze!
- Or swap the sweetener from brown sugar to honey and make honey glazed carrots instead!
Brown Sugar Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 (16-ounce) bag whole carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- few tablespoons water-if needed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
Instructions
- In a skillet large enough to hold the carrots, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to smoke lightly, add the carrots and season with salt and black pepper. Stir the carrots to coat with the oil and seasonings. Continue to cook the carrots on medium-high, stirring them often, for 3-4 minutes
- Add brown sugar to the pan and reduce heat to medium-low. Add water, only if needed, about a tablespoon at a time, if the brown sugar begins to burn. Continue to cook until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. When carrots are tender when pierced with a fork, add the butter and rosemary. Transfer the carrots to a serving bowl and ENJOY!
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More Vegetable Sides Recipes
Want other veggie sides that taste even better than dessert? Look no further!
Conclusion
At tonight’s dinner, when you pull out this brown sugar carrots recipe, I guarantee you won’t hear any family members complain about eating their veggies! You’ll just hear the heartwarming silence of happy eating.
What did your family think of this recipe? Let me know in the comments!
Yummy! These are a family favorite! Can’t wait to make this recipe again soon! So excited!
Thank you so much, Beth! I’m so happy your family loves this! 🙂
My kids love this recipe!! One of their favorite way to eat carrots!
Thank you, Toni! 🙂
We loved these Brown Sugar Carrots! They were absolutely amazing!! Loved every bite!!
Thank you so much for your positive feedback, Beti! 🙂
My family would love these!! The perfect side dish!! YUM!
Thank you, Katerina! Enjoy 🙂
What a tasty side dish! Perfect for my picky kids
Thank you, Vikki!! 🙂 My kids love this!
These Brown Sugar Carrots look so fun and tasty!
Thank you, Erin! Enjoy 🙂
This is my favorite way to prepare carrots, every bite was so tasty!
I’m so happy you enjoyed these, Amanda! It’s my favorite way as well! <3
This one of our go-to side dishes! The kids really love it and it’s super easy to pull together!
Thank you, Suzy! I’m so happy the kids love veggies!
my kids can now eat veggies
yumm, that does look delicious! especially that glaze.