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Easy Roasted Brown Sugar Carrots 🥕🧈🍁 are tossed in the BEST buttery brown sugar sauce before roasting until they’re tender, caramelized, and just irresistible! This simple cozy side dish comes together in one skillet, in 30 minutes, and it’s always a family favorite! Serve it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or on busy weeknights.
Easy Brown Sugar Carrots Recipe
- Five minutes of prep. Peel and cut the carrots, melt the butter, and the oven handles the rest in about 30 minutes. To save time and make the prep basically nonexistent, you can use baby carrots straight out of the bag. No peeling or chopping required.
- One skillet. Toss the carrots in a large cast iron skillet in butter and brown sugar, and then roast them in the same skillet. You can use any large oven-safe skillet but I like cast iron here. I like it even more that there’s only one pan to wash.
- Sweet and savory. Carrots are naturally sweet and roasting them brings out the natural sweetness even more, which is also complimented by the buttery brown sugar sauce they’re tossed in. Never fear though because the garlic powder, salt, and pepper keep these carrots tasting like a side dish and not dessert.
- A crowd favorite side. One batch serves four to five, and I love that they work just as well next to a weeknight chicken dinner as they do on the Thanksgiving table. For more carrot sides, try my Honey Orange Roasted Carrots or my Herb-Roasted Tri-Colored Carrots, which are favorites every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter celebration.
Ingredients in Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
- Butter: I like salted butter for this recipe but if you have unsalted, just add a bit of extra salt. The butter becomes the base of the brown sugar glaze.
- Carrots: Peel and slice the carrots. I like to slice them on the bias (diagonal) for this recipe. Any color of carrots works well and to save time with peeling or slicing, you can use a bag of baby carrots.
- Brown sugar: Packed brown sugar caramelizes in the oven and gives the carrots their glossy coating. Brown sugar is the superior choice over honey or maple syrup which can cause the sauce to become overly thin.
- Seasonings: Garlic powder, kosher salt, and coarse black pepper balance out the sweetness.
- Fresh parsley, optional: For a little fresh color on top you can’t go wrong if you have it on hand. Other fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme also work if you have them for other holiday recipes.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Roasted Glazed Brown Sugar Carrots
- Preheat the oven. Heat it to 425°F.
- Melt and combine. Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet, add the carrots, brown sugar, seasonings, and stir to combine and coat.
- Roast. Place the skillet in the oven and roast for 15 minutes, toss, and roast for another 10-15 minutes or until as caramelized as desired.
- Toss, garnish, and serve. Toss the carrots in the brown sugar glaze at the bottom of the skillet, since that’s where all the goodness collects. Sprinkle with fresh parsley if desired and serve.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Brown Sugar Carrots
🥕🧈🍁 These glazed brown sugar carrots are tossed in the BEST buttery brown sugar sauce! They're roasted until tender, caramelized, and just irresistible! This simple cozy side dish comes together in one skillet, in 30 minutes, and it's always a family favorite! Serve it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or on busy weeknights.Serves 4-6 as a side dish. If you're serving a larger group, you can double the recipe. I suggest doing it in two skillets if you're doubling it (rather than cramming everything into one) so that all the carrots cook through fully and caramelize evenly.
Equipment
- large skillet such as stainless steel or an oven-safe skillet
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter, (I use salted butter but if using unsalted, you can add more salt below)
- 2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch segments on the diagonal (bias cut; any color carrots may be used, to save time you can use baby carrots which don’t need peeling or slicing)
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed, (I use light but dark brown sugar will give you a richer color, flavor, and deeper caramelization)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste (I use 1 tsp kosher salt and use salted butter; if using unsalted butter you may want to use a bit more salt; make sure you select kosher salt and not table salt)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
- fresh parsley, optional for garnishing (other fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme also work well)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. To a large cast iron skillet (or stainless steel, or another oven-safe skillet), add the butter and heat over medium-high heat to melt it on the stove.
- Once the butter has melted, add the carrots, brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and toss to combine and coat evenly.
- Place the skillet in the oven and roast for about 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, toss to combine, and place it back in the oven and roast for another 10-15 minutes, or until the carrots are as caramelized as desired.
- Roasting Tips – Carrots have natural sugars in them, and there's brown sugar in the recipe, so keep an eye on them in the final minutes of roasting that they don't burn since sugar is prone to buring and this is quite a hot oven. Depending on your skillet material, size of the skillet, size of the carrots, etc. your roasting time may take longer. Roast as long as necessary. Optional Broiling – If your carrots aren’t caramelized when they’re cooked you can broil them on high for a few minutes to give them a bit of color. Be extremely careful with this and I personally don't but I'm throwing it out there as a potential option. Anytime you're broiling, take extreme caution that you don't burn the food which can happen in a blink.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and toss the carrots in the glaze that's collected at the bottom of the skillet.
- Optionally garnish wish fresh parsley or other herbs and serve.
Notes
Storage: Leftover carrots will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat as desired in the microwave. While I’ve never frozen leftover carrots, I assume they’ll freeze fine; noting of course that any time produce has been frozen and thawed, the resulting texture is softer and more mushy.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 221cal, Carbohydrates: 35g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 23mg, Sodium: 809mg, Potassium: 751mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 24g, Vitamin A: 38152IU, Vitamin C: 13mg, Calcium: 90mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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