Candied Carrots

Candied Carrots is an easy and delicious stovetop carrot recipe, featuring sweetened caramelized sliced carrots that is cooked until soft and tender. From a flavor standpoint, they are infused with and soaked in brown sugar and honey so they are sweet as candy!

We love making this brown sugar honey glazed candied carrots as a side dish for the holidays such as Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ready under 15 minutes, they come together in no time and are so much tastier than using canned carrots.

If you love candied carrots, don’t forget to also check out Roasted Whole Carrots, Garlic Honey Carrots Carrot Ribbon Salad. These are very popular carrot side dishes, especially for the holidays!

Brown sugar Honey Candied Carrots

This candied carrot recipe is one of my favorite simple ways to make carrots. If you like your carrots soft and tender and infused with sweetness, this is for you!

We recipe tested this recipe multiple times to perfect it and we are excited to share the amazing final product…and all the details from our trial and error (you’re welcome!). It’s a simple recipe, but there’s a bit of an art to get it just right.

Carrots are cooked on the stovetop in a large skillet or pot. They are cooked in a brown sugar and honey mixture until they are soft (but not soggy). As the carrots cook, the liquid reduces into a sweet glaze that coats the carrots.

While it cooks, brown sugar and honey are infused into the carrots to further enhance its natural sweetness, making them sweet as candy and truly irresistible.

And the best part is, the prep for our candied carrots recipe is super minimal! Simply slice up some carrots, or open a bag of baby carrots (if you really don’t want to do the extra chopping), and then let them cook in a simple brown sugar glaze.

For Easter, I’m planning to pair these glazed carrots with my Pineapple Baked Ham, along with sides of mashed potatoes and deviled eggs. You really cannot go wrong with the classics!

I love cooking these candied carrots cooked on the stove top because it makes cooking them much faster, and is way tastier and better for you than can version of candied carrots.

Here’s why you need to make these candied carrots:

• Ready under 15 minutes – prep and cook time included…it doesn’t getting faster than that!
• Cooks on the stovetop – no preheating the oven, no complicated cooking methods.
• Uses 4 simple ingredients – simple, pantry-friendly ingredients that you probably already have at hand!
• SO DELICIOUS – I often catch myself standing by the kitchen counter munching on them like candy before dinner…that’s how good it is!

Ingredients

One of the best things about candied carrots is that it calls for only a hand full of simple ingredients. Here’s everything you need to make these brown sugar glazed carrots:

• Carrots – You can slice up whole carrots, or use baby carrots. Baby carrots are usually peeled and ready to go, bringing prep time down to a minimum. I like to slice these baby carrots into 2 lengthwise depending on your preferred thinness. Or just use them in as they are. Slicing the carrots into skinnier pieces will reduce cook time.
• Brown sugar – this is what will give our carrots a yummy sweet flavor and the caramelization. Use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar – they can be used interchangeably.
• Honey – this is the additional sweetener. I find that pairing honey with brown sugar brings more complexity of flavor than using one or the other alone. Honey also helps thicken the glaze. Maple syrup and agave are good substitutes as well.
• Salted Butter – a little butter brings a little more yumminess into mix. Butter will cling to the carrots and bring that rich buttery taste.

How to make brown sugar glazed carrots

These candied carrots are sweet, delicious and goes perfectly to ham, turkey, chicken etc. If you think you don’t like carrots, give this a try. It might just convert you!

Step 1: Prepare Carrots

Trim both ends of each baby carrot, peel them, and slice them.

I sliced my carrots into half lengthwise, then cut each halves into 3-4 sections (depending on how long the carrots are). I try to keep them in a reasonably sized chunks. This way, our candied carrots will be ready quickly, but yet the pieces are not so small that they are mushy.

Try to keep them about the same size as much as you can (this can sometimes be tricky because carrot size can vary so much).

Step 2: Cook Carrots

First, drizzle skillet with cooking oil, bring it to a medium heat, then add sliced carrots to the warm skillet.

Bring in brown sugar and honey, then toss to coat well.

Stir to combine everything together until the sliced carrots are well coated in that luscious brown sugar and honey goodness.

Next, add water to the skillet, which will help soften the carrots and cook them faster.

Bring to boil on high heat, then lower the heat to medium.

Cover the skillet with a lid – leave a slight gap at the side (see picture below) so that the steam will help cook the carrots while some of the water still evaporates.

Cook until most of the water has evaporated, and carrots are soft to your liking.

Because the sizes of carrots, heat of the pan, type of pan vary, cook time will vary as well.

My advice is to check at the 5 minute mark after covering the skillet. Use a fork to pierce the carrots and see if they are soft enough to your liking.

If the skillet is very dry and the carrots are not yet soft, add 1-2 tbsp more water, cover, and let it cook for longer.

At the end, most of the liquid should have evaporated and what is left should be slightly thickened.

Stir to combine, then add a knob of butter to the skillet and combine the brown sugar glazed candied carrots with the melted butter.

I like to garnish with chopped parsley, but you can totally skip the parsley if you want. Serve immediately!

What I particularly like about this candied carrot recipe is, these carrots have a touch of sweetness that compliments the actual sweetness in carrots, but yet they are not drenched in gravy to the point that you cannot taste the carrots.

Make some today and enjoy every bite!

Variations and Substitution

This candied carrot recipe is a basic recipe that stands alone beautifully on its own, but you can definitely jazz it up further and make your own. Here are good ingredients to further enhance this dish if you choose to do so:

• Herbs: add thyme or dill before covering the and letting the carrots cook, or garnishing it with parsley or chives at the end can really bring on a new dimension of flavor.
• Seasonings: adding cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, or a pinch of salt and black pepper can enhance the flavors as well.

Storage and Reheating

• Storage: store candied carrots in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
• Reheating: Reheat by adding a few drops of water and then microwaving it until they are warm.

Other Easy Side Dishes

Here are some of my other favorites!

• Garlic Parmesan Asparagus
• Roasted Baby Potatoes
• Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts
• Air Fryer Zucchini
• Skillet Corn with Bacon