Maple Glazed Carrots

Maple Glazed Carrots are flavored with maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and cayenne for a rich, slightly spicy, vegetable side dish.

Maple Glazed Carrots

In my mind, spring is the season of the carrot.  Months have passed since the last CSA delivery and while most local vegetables have long since disappeared, the hardy and prolific carrot remains–carefully tucked away in the basement refrigerator! 

So I tried a recipe for Maple Glazed Carrots, accented with Balsamic vinegar–to jazz up a sometimes ordinary vegetable.  It was a great accompaniment first to an entrée of salmon and then a smoked ham. 

Maple Glazed Carrots

What are Glazed Carrots?

Per Food Network, glazing “is all about reducing a cooking liquid until it coats your vegetables with a deeply flavored, glossy and beautiful sauce.”   ANd unlike simply topping with a sauce, the glaze becomes an integral part of the carrots and imbues them with flavor. 

The recipe is based on one from America’s Test Kitchen that my brother discovered (ATK calls the recipe Glazed Maple-Balsamic Carrots and it is available on their site with a subscription).   After watching everyone battle over the leftovers at his house, I knew I needed to try it myself.

I simplified the recipe slightly by not pre-boiling the carrots and instead steaming them in the glaze.  I figured steaming is healthier—and I also had one less step and one less pan to wash! 

dinner with balsamic glazed carrots

Why You’ll Love This!

Tasty.  With a balanced sweetness and a hint of spice, these carrots are tasty and unconventional.  No boring carrots this spring!

Healthy.  Carrots are such a healthy vegetable!

Frugal. Carrots are an economical vegetable.  And if you use the remnants of last fall’s harvest, it’s almost like they’re free!

Maple Glazed Carrots

What You’ll Need

Ingredient Notes

  • Carrots.  This is the main component of this recipe.  And they’re very nutritious!
  • Butter or oil.   This adds flavor and helps sautee the shallots.
  • Shallots.  These add savory flavor.  In a pinch you can use onion.
  • Thyme, Cayenne, Salt.  These add flavor and a pinch of spice.
  • Maple syrup.  This adds a maple-y sweetness and helps create the glaze.
  • Chicken or vegetable broth. This adds flavor and helps create the glaze.
  • Balsamic vinegar.  This helps to balance the sweetness and adds depth of flavor.

Special Tools

No special tools are needed.

Step by Step Directions

 Sautee the chopped shallots in butter or oil.

Sautee chopped shallots

Add the sauce ingredients and simmer briefly.

Add the sauce ingredients.

Add carrots to the sauce.  Cover and steam until tender.

Stir carrots into sauce

Stir in a little extra butter before serving.

Add butter at end

How to Serve

Maple Glazed Carrots is a great side that works with almost any dinner entrée.  I like to serve a salad as well which is a nice nutrition compliment to the orange carrots.  Eat a rainbow! 

And happily, the recipe is super easy to adapt for special diets (see Special Diets below).  This makes it particularly suited for holiday meals where you may be serving a lot of people with special dietary needs.  But remember that it’s easy enough for a weeknight side as well. 

And since carrots are always fun for Easter, this is a lovely selection for Easter brunch or dinner!

I sometimes garnish with chopped parsley and sometimes not.

Maple Glazed Carrots

Variations and Special Diets

For some other fun carrot sides, consider a raw carrot salad, which would also be appropriate for a holiday brunch or dinner table.  A couple options are Easy Thai Carrot Salad or the always popular Classic Carrot Raisin Salad.

Or do a similar hot carrot side but change up the spices and use turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom like these Honey Spiced Roasted Carrots.

Special Diets

This dish is already vegetarian and to make it vegan, you just need to use margarine or oil instead of butter and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.  It is also gluten-free and dairy-free (with oil).   So that makes it an especially nice dish for a holiday meal where you may be serving a lot of people with special dietary needs.

maple glazed carrots

Preparation and Leftovers

If needed, these can be prepared ahead of time and stored covered and refrigerated.  When reheated they are pretty much indistinguishable from freshly made. 

You should be able to freeze leftovers if you need to.  The carrots will soften more, so I probably wouldn’t serve previously it to company–though I’d be happy to have it myself.

Tips & FAQs

When I need a small amount of broth like in this recipe, I like to use Better Than Bouillon.  It comes in a wide range of flavors (some organic even) like chicken, vegetable, lobster and more. I can make up just the amount I need and don’t have to worry about using up the remainder of a can, or losing little jars of leftover broth all over my freezer. 

I like to cut my carrots on the diagonal.  This makes them look more substantial and I think it’s pretty too!

carrots cut on diagonal

Creative Creations with Carrots

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Maple Glazed Carrots

Maple Glazed Carrots

Maple Glazed Carrots are flavored with maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and cayenne forrich, slightly spicy, vegetable side dish.
Author: Inger
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Total Time 30 mins
Course Vegetable
Servings 8
Calories 138 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Tablespoon butter or oil, divided
  • 2 shallots chopped
  • 1 teaspoons thyme dried, or 2 teaspoons fresh
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar for cooking
  • 2 pounds carrots peeled and cut on bias into 1/2-inch slices
  • optional parsley for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Melt 1 tablespoon butter (or substitute) in large skillet over medium heat. Cook shallots until lightly browned. Stir in thyme, cayenne, maple syrup, broth, salt and 1/4 cup vinegar and bring to a simmer.
  • Stir in carrots and cook, covered, until tender, about 15 minutes. Raise heat to medium-high and cook, stirring regularly until sauce is thick and syrupy, about 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 Tablespoon butter (or substitute), then serve.

Notes

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Nutrition

Calories: 138kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 1gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 278mgPotassium: 443mgFiber: 3gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 19070IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 66mgIron: 1mg
I am not a health professional and nutrition data is calculated programatically. Accuracy may vary with product selection, calculator accuracy, etc. Consult a professional for the best information.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Updated from Mar 23, 2014 post.

29 thoughts on “Maple Glazed Carrots

  1. Radha

    Maple and carrots! I love the flavor profile of this dish. I have a couple of colored carrots and this goes in the menu.

  2. Sonya

    These are delicious! Have made them twice now (admittedly, using the original recipe, which I found in Cook’s Country April 2007) and will be making them again next week. Anyway, just vouching for their yumminess!

    1. Inger Post author

      Aren’t they nice Sonya! And its always good to have a vote of confidence 🙂 . I am making them again for a dinner party Saturday using purple and orange carrots for a little extra visual pizazz!

    1. Inger Post author

      The salt should be added with the herbs. I have updated the recipe. Thanks for catching this and letting me know!

    1. Inger Post author

      I was happy that maple season was rolling around when I finally got to this too!

    1. Inger Post author

      Thanks–I was glad my brother and his wife shared. Cooked carrots are often sort of plain Jane aren’t they…

  3. Karis

    Love the sound of this recipe and I’ve got CSA carrots and fresh thyme (leftover from making a pickled beet pizza) in my fridge, so the timing is perfect!

    1. Inger Post author

      And your carrots aren’t 6 months old! I remember that pizza. I even pickled some beets with thyme this year, though the thyme flavor did not come through as strongly as in the ones from the class.

  4. Louise

    Hi Inger!
    Taking a migrating break, which isn’t going well:) I posted about it and Maple Syrup Month today:) Love the Maple Balsamic Glazed Carrots. I’ve actually seen this recipe flitting about but I think you really hit the right nerve suggesting the steaming method. It also usually leaves tha carrots with a bit more bite. I’m so glad you got the recipe and shared. I will be pinning it and as soon as Maple season decides to descend upon us, I will be making them too. Thanks for sharing, Inger. They look awesome!

    1. Inger Post author

      Thanks Louise. I just read about your computer and you have my sympathies! They just started tapping the maple trees here. We have just one big maple in the front yard or I might give it a try myself!

      1. Louise

        Hi Inger,

        I need all the sympathy I can get and a few good drinks too! It’s not going well…

        Are you going to try and tap that big Maple, Inger. It doesn’t hurt the tree but I don’t know if size or age matters.

        1. Inger Post author

          I hope things are going better for you and your new computer Louise. I think I’m too late to get the equipment and tap this year, but I am seriously thinking about next. I learned that the tree is big enough to take two (or three) taps and then I remembered a second (normal sized) maple in the side yard. Thanks for getting me thinking!

          1. Louise

            I agree, Inger, it is probably late in the season to set up tapping but I am so excited to hear that you are seriously thinking about tapping next year! Very cool…I just got some new pictures of buckets hanging on a couple of trees at the church. They aren’t even half way filled yet. But, if you need to research the tools and stuff you need, it’s probably to late now. I am glad I got you to thinking though. I can already imagine you out there all dressed in flannel tapping the maple trees, lol…Not to mention the tasty goodies you’re be creating:)

          2. Inger Post author

            Oh flannel–I’ll add that to my list (my husband has his already 😉 )

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