Instant Pot Glazed Carrots

Instant Pot Glazed Carrots are such an easy side dish to whip up. They are buttery, sweet, soft, and delicious and are coated in an incredible yummy glaze. Using an Instant Pot, carrots are ready in minutes and require no planning or prep time.

Carrots are one of my husband’s favorite vegetables, and let’s face it – anything is better with butter and sugar. The great thing about this recipe is that it is made in the Instant Pot, so as the carrots cook, they soften and absorb all the butter, sugar, and cinnamon. They come out coated in a yummy glaze and have so much flavor.

This Instant Pot Carrots Recipe is the perfect side dish for a holiday dinner because it doesn’t take up precious stove or oven space, but it is also a great side dish to pair with a weeknight meal. It is a great way to get some vegetables on the table

Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots are one of my favorite side dishes because they are basically candied carrots. Using an Instant Pot, you can make an easy vegetable side dish that everyone is sure to love because it doesn’t taste like a vegetable anymore.

🥘 Ingredients Needed

Glazed Carrots are such an easy Instant Pot Recipe, made with really simple ingredients.

• Carrots – You can use either baby carrots or whole carrots that are peeled and sliced. The cooking time is the same for both. Carrots should be raw.
• Brown Sugar – To make this recipe Paleo, you can use Coconut Sugar.
• Ground Cinnamon
• Salted Butter – To make this recipe dairy-free, you can use vegan butter or ghee.
• Kosher Salt
• Water – You can also use orange juice in place of water in glazed carrots – it is a completely different flavor, but it is really good!

🥕 What Kinds of Carrots Can You Use to Make Glazed Carrots?

You can use baby carrots or whole carrots that are peeled & cut into slices. (For presentation, diagonal slices look really nice.) They will cook for the same amount of time.

🍽 Equipment Needed

• An Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker (I like to use my 3-quart Instant Pot for this recipe.)

If you use a 6 or 8-quart Instant Pot, you should add a little bit more water to the bottom. If you do this, to prevent it from getting watered down, place all of the listed ingredients in a pot on top of a trivet, then add one cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot. (This is called the pot-in-pot method.)

This will allow the larger Instant Pot to have enough water to pressurize and maintain pressure but will not water down the carrots.

🥣 How to Make Instant Pot Carrots

To make these carrots, just layer the ingredients in your Instant Pot – water, raw carrots (sliced whole carrots or whole baby carrots), coconut or brown sugar, cinnamon, kosher salt, then cubed butter. (I like to cube the butter and spread it out so that it melts evenly over all the carrots.) (Pictures 1 – 5)

Now, close the lid on the Instant Pot and set the vent to the Sealing position. (Picture 6)

Set the Instant Pot to Manual Mode (or Pressure Cook) at High Pressure for 4 minutes. (Picture 7)

After the cooking cycle is complete (Picture 8), carefully Quick Release the pressure. When the pin drops, open the lid pointed away from your face. (Picture 9) The carrots will be really hot, and there will be a lot of steam. (Picture 10)

Once the carrots have cooled enough to handle, gently stir to coat them in the butter glaze and transfer them to a serving dish. (For a buffet-type meal, you can leave the carrots in the Instant Pot on the Slow Cooker or Keep Warm functions with a glass lid on top to keep the carrots warm.)

Serve with a slotted spoon.

If, for some reason, the butter glaze is really watery, you can make a small slurry of water and cornstarch or water and arrowroot powder – in a ratio of 1 to 1. (Two teaspoons of each would work great.)

Pour the carrots into a strainer over a large bowl, then pour the sauce that strained out back into the Instant Pot. Set the Instant Pot to saute and dissolve the cornstarch or arrowroot slurry into it until it is nice and thick.

Mix the carrots back in, and the sauce should coat them really well. Cooking in the Instant Pot, the carrots absorb so much of the flavor & moisture that they don’t require this, but it is an option if, for some reason, the carrots release a lot of moisture and the glaze comes out really thin.

No Instant Pot? Other Ways to Make Buttery Sweet Carrots

• Glazed Carrots in the Oven: To make glazed carrots in the oven, combine all ingredients (minus the water) in a baking dish and bake at 350°F for 25 – 30 minutes, covered with foil. Stir once halfway through and spoon the melted butter over the top of the carrots.
• Glazed Carrots in the Microwave: To make glazed carrots in the microwave, combine all ingredients (minus the water) in a microwave-safe dish and cover. Cook for 10 – 12 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
• Glazed Carrots on the Stove: Steam carrots for 15 minutes. When the carrots have five minutes left, melt butter in a saucepan and combine with brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. (You can also add cornstarch or arrowroot powder here to help the “sauce” stick to the carrots.) Strain the carrots, then combine them with the butter sauce and serve. (I don’t like these as much because they don’t cook in the butter sauce – they aren’t as flavorful.)

🙋‍♀️ Frequently Asked Questions

🫙 How to Store Leftover Glazed Carrots

Once cooled, store leftover carrots in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The butter/liquid will harden up when cold and may look a little weird, but once you reheat them, you will have a super yummy buttery sweet sauce for your carrots.

The carrots should be eaten within 5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop over low heat.

✏️ Helpful Tips

• If you are feeding a large crowd, I highly recommend doubling this recipe. (This will still work in a 3-quart Instant Pot!) If you need to triple the recipe, I would switch to a 6-quart Instant Pot.
• This recipe is a great recipe to make if you are traveling and have to bring a side to a holiday dinner like Thanksgiving or Christmas – you can whip it up at the last minute in a small corner of the kitchen without taking up any of that high-value oven or stove space.
• These carrots are also great to make ahead, then reheat!
• By a weird accident, we discovered that if you puree or mash these carrots after cooking, the sweet carrot spread is like buttery delicious heaven. They are similar to a sweet potato or parsnip puree but are really cheap. There are no frills, but the taste is awesome.
• If you want to jazz these carrots up a bit, you can add a little bit of thyme, sage, or flaked sea salt – we like them just as they are, though.

🥩 What to Serve with Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

• Sweet Skillet Cornbread
• Crockpot Turkey Breast
• Green Bean Casserole
• Cornbread Dressing
• Southern Style Collard Greens
• Sweet Potato Casserole

Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!