Brown Sugar Carrots

Glazed roasted carrots in a cast-iron skillet, garnished with fresh herbs.

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🥕🧈🍁 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.

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Course: Sides, Sides, Salads & Vegetables

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Keyword: brown sugar carrots, brown sugar glazed carrots, easy roasted carrots, roasted carrots with brown sugar glaze

Servings:

Calories: 221cal

Equipment

large cast iron skillet OR
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