Glazed Carrots are such an easy side dish to whip up and they are so buttery, sweet, and delicious. Using an Instant Pot, they 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 you can also make it Paleo by using coconut sugar, which also lowers the glycemic index just a bit. (Though who is counting on Thanksgiving, right?) Using an Instant Pot, you can make an easy vegetable side dish that everyone is sure to love.
🥘 Ingredient Notes
- Carrots - You can use either baby carrots or peeled and sliced regular carrots. The cooking time is the same.
- Coconut Sugar for Paleo or Brown Sugar - You will see in the recipe that the quantities are different. Brown Sugar is sweeter so less is required. (I like to use a little more Coconut Sugar to get the carrots nice and sweet.)
- Cinnamon
- Salted Butter
- Kosher Salt
- Water
🍽 Equipment Needed
An Instant Pot (I like to use my 3 quart Instant Pot for this recipe.)
If you use an 8 quart Instant Pot, you should add a little bit more water in the bottom or 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 in the bottom of the Instant Pot. (This is called pot-in-pot.) This will allow the larger Instant Pot to have enough water to pressurize and maintain pressure, but not water down the carrots.
🥣 How to Make Them
To make these carrots, just layer the ingredients in your Instant Pot (see my note above if you use an 8 quart Instant Pot) - water, raw carrots (sliced regular 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 Sealing. (Picture 6)
Press 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 they have cooled enough, gently stir and transfer 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 to keep them warm.)
🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
You can use baby carrots, large carrots cut into slices, and even rainbow carrots or fresh garden carrots cut into slices. They all cook for the same amount of time.
You can reheat glazed carrots in the same Instant Pot that they were cooked in by putting the Instant Pot on the Slow Cook or Keep Warm function and topping it with a glass lid or just setting the Instant Pot lid on gently. Stir every few minutes. You can also heat them up in the microwave.
Quick Release means that as soon as the time of the cooking cycle is up (the screen will read L00:00), open the vent on the lid of your Instant Pot so that it is pointed to Venting and let the steam "quickly" release. Do not do this under cabinets or shelves and do not stand over the vent when opening it. If your Instant Pot is really full or has a LOT of starchy liquid in it, do NOT do a Quick Release.
Follow the same recipe, but exclude the water. Combine all ingredients in a baking dish and bake at 350°F for 25 - 30 minutes. Stirring once halfway through. (Making these in the oven makes a mess of your baking dish, so coating your pan with foil helps with cleanup.)
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.
You can make glazed carrots on the stove. Cook carrots in a steamer for 10 - 15 minutes. When five minutes are left, melt butter in a saucepan and combine with sugar, salt, and cinnamon. (You can also add cornstarch or arrowroot powder here to help the "sauce" stick to the carrots.) Strain the carrots from the steamer then combine with the butter sauce and serve. (I don't like these as much because they don't cook in the butter sauce - you can also steam the carrots with extra butter over them to account for this but I would prefer another method if one is available.)
If the butter sauce 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 flavor that they don't require this, but it is an option if you want to try it!
You can make these carrots keto using your favorite keto brown sugar replacement. I have tested these carrots using the Swerve Brown Sugar replacement as well as the Truvia Brown Sugar replacement and they were both good - they just didn't have the same sweet taste as the coconut sugar or regular brown sugar.
You can in the oven and the microwave but I have not yet tested it this way in the Instant Pot. I think it would be okay but I would just proceed with a little caution because honey might not dissolve the same way as the sugar and could potentially burn.
You can season glazed carrots with a lot of different things but I like to keep these simple on Thanksgiving with so many other flavors on the table. If you wanted to jazz them up, you could add thyme or sage, vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, lemon, or even ginger.
🥫 Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating
Once cooled, store your carrots in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. The butter/liquid will harden up in the refrigerator and may look a little weird, but once you reheat them you will have a super yummy buttery sweet sauce for your carrots. These carrots will last about a week once made.
✏️ 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 pot.
- This recipe is a great recipe to make if you are traveling and have to bring a side to 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 on Thanksgiving if you are eating buffet style. You can warm them in the Instant Pot or in a small crockpot over low heat or the "Keep Warm" function of an Instant Pot. If they are going to be reheated and sit over extra heat for any length of time, I would cook them for only 3 minutes.
- Weird accident, but 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 and dare I say - basic. 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.
Other Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes
- Earl Grey Cranberry Sauce
- Cranberry Orange Sauce
- Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy
- Sweet Skillet Cornbread
- Cornbread Dressing
- Macaroni and Cheese
Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!
Instant Pot Glazed Carrots
Ingredients
- 2 pounds baby carrots or sliced whole carrots
- ¼ cup salted butter, cubed
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar or ¼ brown sugar (you can use more, but I find the brown sugar to be really sweet.)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup water
Optional Butter Sauce Thickener
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons water
Instructions
- Add water to your Instant Pot then add carrots.
- Add remaining ingredients on top of the carrots - coconut or brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, then butter. Spread the cubed butter and sugar evenly around - as it heats up, the butter will melt and the sugar will caramelize so this will allow it to evenly drip down into the carrots.
- Now, put the lid on your Instant Pot and close the vent so it is set to "Sealing."
- Set the Instant Pot to Manual Mode or Pressure Cook at High Pressure for 4 minutes.
- When the cooking cycle is complete, carefully and immediately Quick Release (QR) the pressure.
- Carefully open the lid away from your face and gently stir the carrots - serve immediately.
- (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 to keep them warm.) If not eating right away or if there are leftovers, transfer to an air-tight container (once cooled) and store in the refrigerator.
Optional Butter Sauce Thickener
- If the butter sauce 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 flavor that they don't require this, but it is an option if you want to try it!
Notes
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 pot.
- This recipe is a great recipe to make if you are traveling and have to bring a side to 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 on Thanksgiving if you are eating buffet style. You can warm them in the Instant Pot or in a small crockpot over low heat or the "Keep Warm" function of an Instant Pot. If they are going to be reheated and sit over extra heat for any length of time, I would cook them for only 3 minutes.
- Weird accident, but 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 and dare I say - basic. 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.
Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating Once cooled, store your carrots in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. The butter/liquid will harden up in the refrigerator and may look a little weird, but once you reheat them you will have a super yummy buttery sweet sauce for your carrots. These carrots will last about a week once made.
Frequently Asked Questions What kinds of carrots can you use?
You can use baby carrots, large carrots cut into slices, and even rainbow carrots or fresh garden carrots cut into slices. They all cook for the same amount of time. How do you reheat glazed carrots?
You can reheat glazed carrots in the same Instant Pot that they were cooked in by putting the Instant Pot on the Slow Cook or Keep Warm function and topping it with a glass lid or just setting the Instant Pot lid on gently. Stir every few minutes. You can also heat them up in the microwave./ What is a Quick Release?
Quick Release means that as soon as the time of the cooking cycle is up (the screen will read L 00:00), open the vent on the lid of your Instant Pot so that it is pointed to Venting and let the steam "quickly" release. Do not do this under cabinets or shelves and do not stand over the vent when opening it. If your Instant Pot is really full or has a LOT of starchy liquid in it, do NOT do a Quick Release. How do you make glazed carrots in the oven?
Follow the same recipe, but exclude the water. Combine all ingredients in a baking dish and bake at 350°F for 25 - 30 minutes. Stirring once halfway through. (Making these in the oven makes a mess of your baking dish, so coating your pan with foil helps with cleanup.) How do you make 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. Can you make glazed carrots on the stove?
You can make glazed carrots on the stove. Cook carrots in a steamer for 10 - 15 minutes. When five minutes are left, melt butter in a saucepan and combine with sugar, salt, and cinnamon. (You can also add cornstarch or arrowroot powder here to help the "sauce" stick to the carrots.) Strain the carrots from the steamer then combine with the butter sauce and serve. (I don't like these as much because they don't cook in the butter sauce - you can also steam the carrots with extra butter over them to account for this but I would prefer another method if one is available.) How do you thicken the butter sauce to help it stick to the carrots?
If the butter sauce 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 flavor that they don't require this, but it is an option if you want to try it! Can you make these glazed carrots keto?
You can make these carrots keto using your favorite keto brown sugar replacement. I have tested these carrots using the Swerve Brown Sugar replacement as well as the Truvia Brown Sugar replacement and they were both good - they just didn't have the same sweet taste as the coconut sugar or regular brown sugar. Can you sweeten these carrots with honey or maple syrup?
You can in the oven and the microwave but I have not yet tested it this way in the Instant Pot. I think it would be okay but I would just proceed with a little caution because honey might not dissolve the same way as the sugar and could potentially burn. Can you add any other seasoning to glazed carrots?
You can season glazed carrots with a lot of different things but I like to keep these simple on Thanksgiving with so many other flavors on the table. If you wanted to jazz them up, you could add thyme or sage, vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, lemon, or even ginger.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
Please let me know what you think about the recipe :)