Glazed Carrots are usually made on the stove but they are so much more amazing roasted!!! Tossed with brown sugar and butter then roasted so you get gorgeous caramelised edges with a caramel-like sauce, this a super quick and easy carrot side dish that’s so outrageously delicious, you could just have a bowl of this for dinner. (I did!)
If you’re out of oven space, try this stove top version – with the same caramelisation!
Glazed Carrots with caramelisation!
Maybe it’s because I live in Australia and not North America, but it never occurred to me to make glazed carrots without caramelised edges. Yet, when I had a scout around the internet before publishing this recipe, I was somewhat bemused to see that the standard recipe seems to be made on the stove without any caramelisation.
So really, they’re boiled carrots coated in a sugary syrup. (I’m being cheeky. 😂)
But when you roast them so you get caramelised edges? Yes!!
Carrots love to be roasted!
Roasting beats stove top everyday, even if they’re sautéed until golden. Roasting carrots intensifies the flavour and natural sweetness in a way you can’t achieve on the stove!
How to make Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
The key here is to roast in a hot oven so the brown sugar and butter turns into a glaze that coats the carrots beautifully before the carrots become overly soft and wrinkled. Plus, they roast faster – just 25 minutes!
Cut peeled carrots on the diagonal into 4cm / 1.75” lengths.
Same size – Halve thicker end so all the pieces are roughly the same size, to ensure they roast evenly.
Toss the carrots with the glaze ingredients – brown sugar (or honey or maple syrup), melted butter, oil, garlic salt and pepper. I use both oil AND butter here because butter provides better flavour but it burns at high temperatures. So by combining with oil, we get the best of both worlds!
Roast for 15 minutes – Place the carrots in a preheated 220°C/425°F (200°C fan-forced) oven and roast for 15 minutes. Then take it out of the oven and give the carrots a toss to coat in the glaze which will have melted on the tray.
Roast for a further 10 minutes until the edges of the carrots have caramelised.
Final toss – The glaze on the tray will have thickened more and becomes caramel-like so when you toss the carrots one last time, they coat the surface beautifully. Then all that’s left to do is transfer into a serving bowl!
Note on roasting time – 25 minutes total roasting time might sound short, but we’re using a hot oven so they roast faster. A hot oven works best so we can get caramelised edges without the carrot getting too soft and wrinkled.
What to serve with glazed carrots
Glazed carrots will pair beautifully with most non-Asian meals though I wouldn’t use them with mains with a sweet sauce – too much sugar. It would be ideal to pop in the oven at the same time as this Baked Chicken Breast or Roast Chicken, or this Roast Pork with Crispy Crackling.
Have it as your side for a quick one-pan Baked Chicken and Rice, Meatloaf, or make complete a meat-free meal by adding a side of Mushroom Rice.
Some more quick dinner ideas that will pair beautifully with these Glazed Carrots:
Crispy Garlic Chicken Thighs (reader favourite!)
It’s a also a classic for holiday dinner tables, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.
But honestly? These Glazed Carrots are SO GOOD you might do what I did yesterday – just have a big bowl of these as a meal! – Nagi x
Glazed Carrots FAQ
Any! Baby carrots, dutch carrots, standard carrots (pictured), multi coloured carrots. All types of carrots are suitable for this recipe – just cut larger carrots to size (see video or above steps).
Just 25 minutes in a hot oven – 220°C/425°F (200°C fan-forced). A hot oven works best so we can get caramelised edges without the carrot getting too soft and wrinkled.
Roasting honestly brings out the best flavour in carrots, but if you’re out of oven capacity, use this Stove Top Glazed Carrots recipe.
Well, these are Glazed Carrots so they are sweet! 🙂 This recipe calls for 1/4 cup of brown sugar for 1 kg / 2 lb of carrots. But it can be reduced down to 1 tbsp whilst still ending up with a beautiful glaze – I do this depending on what I’m serving as the main.
YES! The best way is to get them out of the oven when they are tender-crisp, not super soft. They will keep in the fridge for 2 to 5 days, then reheat in the microwave and give the carrots a good toss to coat in the glaze before serving. Be sure to use a rubber spatula to get every bit of glaze off the tray!
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 kg / 2 lb carrots , peeled (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup (40g) brown sugar , loosely packed (Note 2)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 tbsp butter (30g) , melted (or olive oil)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- Parsley , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan-forced).
- Cut carrot on the diagonal into 4cm / 1.75” lengths. Halve thicker end so they are all roughly the same width.
- Toss in a bowl with sugar, butter, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. Pour onto tray, spread out.
- Roast 15 minutes. Toss, then roast a further 10 minutes until soft and caramelised on the edges with plenty of glaze left on the tray.
- Final toss then serve – Give the carrots a final toss in the glaze on the tray then transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with parsley if using. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Spot Dozer!
(He’s the gold one on the left 🥰)
Absolutely wonderful! Added a touch of cayenne and they were perfect.
Made these for a crowd for Christmas. Prepped 4kg of carrots the day before (it was a LOT of carrots!) I mixed through everything except the butter and sugar, and added those just before cooking. They were a bit crowded in the trays out of necessity, so took longer to cook (maybe a hour?) and didn’t really caramelise but the flavour was fabulous!
Roasting 5 stars; flavor 5 stars.
Not enough glaze for 2 lbs of carrots. Half that amount of carrots would be stellar
Holy Moly! These are amazing! They have such great flavor and super easy to boot. Everyone wanted the recipe. This went great with your easy slow roasted leg of lamb recipe that’s the *chef’s kiss delicious!
Is I make them ahead, could I reheat in the oven? I want to make them for 20 people.
Hi. Can you roast frozen carrots (bought direct from supermarket)? If so for how long? Thanks.
Roasted veggies are the only way. I want to try this with some hot honey I have.
Delicious!! They impressed the guests 🙂
Why are there no recipes which don’t need glazing. This was very frustrating
If I was using 2kg of carrots
would it just be a double-up
of the other ingredients.
Stuart
Hi Nagi, does peeling the carrots make a big difference? I’m looking to do these for a crowd and would love to cut down that step if I can!
Also, could I cook the day before and reheat in trays in the oven covered in foil or would they go a bit soggy? Thanks!
I love all the recipes. Thank you for sharing 😊
Amazing and everybody loved them even non Vege eaters
Yummy and easy!
Will this be the same if I use baby carrots?
Absolutely scrumptious! I halved the spices since I had 1 lb of carrots. This was perfect not too sweet at all and a savory essence!
This was fantastic! Very easy and inexpensive to make. The only modification I made was that I only used 1# of baby carrots with all the good stuff on it. YUM!
These carrots were brilliant – absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Great recipe. Easy to play with ingredients as wanted. My only note is if using baby carrots they seem to need less time and lower temperature because after sitting for 20 minutes they wrinkle up very much and are not very pretty.
Carrots took longer than 25 minutes. Carrots were cut in coin shape.