Name: Brown Sugar Honey Glazed Carrots
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 pounds whole carrots; 2 tablespoons butter; 1/4 cup brown sugar; 2 tablespoons honey; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; Kosher salt; Fresh thyme

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

These sweet and savory Brown Sugar Honey Glazed Carrots are roasted until tender and caramelized. They're the perfect, easy side dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, plus every weeknight in between!

Brown sugar honey glazed carrots in a round, cream colored bowl, on a yellow napkin, with a silver spoon and fresh thyme in the background.

I'm already thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas side dishes. For me, holiday sides need to be uncomplicated, delicious and have minimal ingredients.

These Brown Sugar and Honey Glazed Carrots meet all of my requirements! They're roasted in the oven until they're soft and tender, and topped with a sweet and savory glaze.

I finish them off with fresh seasonal herbs like sage, rosemary and thyme, along with a generous pinch of course kosher salt.

If you're in need of more tasty holiday side dishes, then I've got you covered! You absolutely need to make my Roasted Carrots and Green Beans, Creamy Redskin Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Asparagus, 3 Ingredient Drop Biscuits and Sweet Potato Casserole with Walnuts.

Jump to:

Why you need to make this recipe
Ingredients
Equipment needed
How to make
Expert tips
Variations and substitutions
Storage, freezing and reheating
Main dishes to serve with
📖 Recipe
Follow me
💬 Comments

Why you need to make this recipe

Super simple! This recipe is so incredibly easy to make. When you're making a complicated holiday meal, you absolutely must include, easy, no-fail side dishes.

Cheap! Cheap, budget-friendly... however you want to say it, carrots do not break the bank! At Wal-Mart right now you can buy a 2 pound bag of carrots for under $2... that makes this side dish one of the cheapest sides you'll serve!

So delicious! This side dish will easily be the star of your holiday dinner table.

Ingredients

Carrots: You can use any type of carrots, as long as they are all chopped to about the same size thickness. Baby carrots, orange carrots, yellow carrots or purple carrots would all work!

Brown sugar: You can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. Brown sugar will add some of the sweetness and help to caramelize the carrots!

Honey: Honey is another sweetener in the brown sugar honey glaze.

Butter: Butter is going to add some savory flavor to our sweet and savory glaze. Since butter is one of the star ingredients in this recipe, I chose to use a high quality butter from grass fed cows.

Fresh herbs: Since this is a recipe that will most likely be made in the fall and winter months, you can use any of the traditional herbs used during that time of year. These herbs would be fresh rosemary, fresh sage and fresh thyme. You can use them all or just pick one!

Additional ingredients needed for this recipe include extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic and kosher salt

*Detailed recipe instructions are found in the recipe card below.

Equipment needed

Rimmed baking sheet - You'll want to line your rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. The brown sugar glaze can be hard to scrub off of the pan once it's cooked on!
Medium sized mixing bowl
Cutting board, chopping knife, measuring cups and measuring spoons

How to make

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400°F and line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel, trim and slice your carrots into similar sizes. I used smaller sized, whole carrots with the greens attached. I left the small carrots unsliced, and sliced some of the large carrots in half, length-wise.

Step 2: Melt the butter in the microwave. Mix the melted butter, honey, brown sugar, minced garlic and olive oil in a small mixing bowl. If the mixture isn't quite warm enough to dissolve the brown sugar, then pop it into the microwave for 30-60 seconds.

Glaze for carrots in a small, glass mixing bowl with a whisk.

Step 3: Lay the carrots out onto your rimmed baking sheet or sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Spread them out so that they are in an even layer. Pour the warm brown sugar glaze over the carrots.

Carrots on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzled with brown sugar glaze

Step 4: Transfer the honey glazed carrots to the preheated oven. Roast the carrots for 25-35 minutes. When they're finished they will be fork tender with golden brown caramelization.

Roasted brown sugar glazed carrots on a parchment lined baking sheet.

That's it! Transfer the Brown Sugar Honey Glazed Carrots to a serving platter and enjoy! If your guests love cooked carrots, then this easy side dish will surely be the star of your holiday table!

Expert tips

Make sure to peel the carrots before roasting them. Carrot skins are pretty rough (and ugly looking) and can trap dirt. They're overall unappealing and you don't want them on your beautiful carrots that you'll be serving as a side dish!
The presentation of these carrots will be far better if you slice them length-wise into extra-thick carrot sticks. This means you'll take your whole carrot, peel it, trim the ends and then slice it in half horizontally in the middle. Then slice the carrots length-wise 2-4 times, depending on the size and thickness of the carrots. If you have thin carrots with the green tops still on (like I used), you can leave the carrots whole and trim the greens.
The carrots will shrink while they're roasting, so don't cut them too thin!
You want to be able to easily pierce your cooked carrots with a fork and be slightly al dente.

Variations and substitutions

Carrots: While I prefer to use large, regular sized carrots for this recipe, baby carrots would also work. Whether you have a bag sitting in your fridge, you want the convenience of baby carrots (no peeling!) or they're on sale at the grocery store, you can definitely use baby carrots for this recipe! Since baby carrots are smaller, they may cook faster... just keep that in mind if you're making the substitution!

Honey: In most recipes, maple syrup can be substituted for honey. This recipe is no exception. If you don't have honey or just prefer the deep, sweet flavor of maple syrup, then you can make the swap!

Fresh herbs: I prefer to use fresh thyme, but fresh sage, fresh rosemary and fresh parsley are all delicious herbs that pair well with roasted carrots.

Storage, freezing and reheating

How to store: Leftover roasted carrots can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

How to freeze: I don't recommend freezing roasted carrots. While technically you can freeze them, they don't hold up well once they're thawed. They lose a lot of their delicious texture and can end up mushy.

How to reheat: I prefer to reheat cooked vegetables in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, until I've achieved my desired warmth. You can also reheat cooked carrots in a small frying pan on the stove over low heat.

How to make ahead: Unfortunately, if you're serving these carrots for a special holiday meal, I would not make them in advance. I would make them fresh and serve them warm from the oven.

If your goal is just to make a delicious vegetable to be able to add to meals for the week and you don't care about presentation, then go ahead and make them in advance! Roasted vegetables are delicious leftovers!

Main dishes to serve with

Since you're definitely making these roasted carrots for a side dish tonight, I'm sure you need some suggestions for your main dish! These uncomplicated and delicious main dishes are all excellent choices!

Brown sugar glazed carrots would taste so amazing with my marinated Air Fryer Turkey Tenderloin!
If you're in the mood for pasta, then I would definitely serve these honey butter glazed carrots with my creamy, ricotta Pasta with Sausage and Broccolini!
If you're serving fish for dinner, then roasted carrots would pair beautifully with my Easy Blackened Cod and my Air Fryer Salmon with Garlic Butter Sauce.
If you've got kiddos that you're trying to feed a healthy dinner to tonight, then brown sugar glazed carrots would be so delicious with my Cheeseburger Meatloaf!

📖 Recipe