Last Updated on
Serve up some Cider-Glazed Carrots at your Christmas table this year, adding a bit of sweetness and tang to the normal lineup of Christmas-centric sides.
As previously discussed here on the blog, I’ve got some strange allergies to food.
My sister has even more than I do… and one of hers is carrots.
Despite being allergic to quite a few fruits and vegetables, my sister is crazy creative in the kitchen, cooking around what she’s allergic to and whipping up some delicious dishes in the process.
And whenever I’m cooking, I always inevitably think about how I would fix a dish for her if she was coming to dinner, as she cannot even touch a carrot without breaking into hives. It’s led to some pretty awesome discoveries… like learning that sweet potatoes are delicious in pot pies and that orange bell pepper works nicely in a tomato sauce to add a little sweetness.
However, this dish is not something I can adapt for her, as the main component is carrots. (But no worries… I won’t be serving this to my sister on Christmas Eve unless I made it with sweet potatoes or parsnips.)
This potluck recipe I have for y’all today is actually adapted from a friend’s mom, and it sounded so good when she initially sent it over that I knew I was going to have to make this at some point.
When I got to planning our little impromptu Christmas potluck, this recipe popped back into my mind… and I adapted it a bit. My rendition of these carrots makes for more of a sauce, and the carrots are delightfully sweet when cooked down in it.
Here’s how you can make them:
Cider-Glazed Carrots
Serve up some Cider-Glazed Carrots at your Christmas table this year, adding a bit of sweetness and tang to the normal lineup of Christmas-centric sides.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. carrots , peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 cup alcoholic cider (I used Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Hard Cider)
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
Instructions
- Trim the tops and bottoms of the carrots. Peel them, then chop into 1" pieces.
- Pour the olive oil in a pan, and once warm, sauté the carrots for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the sugar, stirring into the oil and carrots, cooking for about a minute.
- Add in the cider and stock. Bring to a boil, then stir in the mustard.
- Partially cover the pan, and simmer for another 10-12 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
- Remove the lid and continue cooking until the liquid has reduced to a thick sauce.
- Serve warm, and enjoy.
Are you a carrot fan?
MMMM, your dishes always look so good. Growing up i inhaled carrots. To bad they didn’t make me see better
Thanks so much, Aleshea! Like you, I inhaled carrots when I was growing up and are still quite fond of them to this day. It IS a shame they didn’t help either of us see better, though!
I am not a huge fan of cooked carrots so I am always looking for a way to jazz them up. I will have to try this dish.
Let me know what you think, Amanda, if you do indeed try this dish! I think these carrots are lovely, but I enjoy carrots in any form, soooo…
I can’t imagine a life without carrots. I eat a bag of baby carrots like almost every day. Cooking them in hard cider sounds like a much tastier dish though!
Haha, love that, Kelly! My eating habits with carrots are kind of all over the place, which is amusing. Some weeks, I can down a bag in a day. Other weeks, I’ll only add them to dishes I’m cooking. And other weeks, I won’t touch them at all. Either way, they’re always delicious, and it’s hard to get much better than cooking ’em in hard cider.
Oh my heavens, those look amazing. I might make these for our Christmas dinner. Thanks for sharing.
Aww, thank you, Tiffany! If you do make them for your Christmas dinner, please let me know what everyone thinks!
Looks awesome – pinning for later. I’m not a carrot fan, but perhaps I might like these!
Fingers crossed that you do like these, Krystal! They were a hit in our house, so I hope they’re one in yours, too.
So many vegetables! I think my mother-in-law would really like this one–there’s always a glazed carrot of some kind on her holiday table.
Lots of veggies for us this week, ma’am! That’s awesome that your mother-in-law is a fan of glazed carrots! I’d never really done anything with them before this recipe, and I’ll definitely be doing more of it in the future because they are just so. good.
Whoa, these carrots look delicious! I could definitely do these as an easy side dish during the holidays.
Thanks, Jessica! This is definitely an easy side dish, and if you make it, I’d love to know what you think of them!
I’m not really a fan of cooked carrots unless it’s in pot roast.
Your photos make this look yummy, though!
Thanks, Joyce! It surprises me that a lot of folks aren’t huge carrot fans, but to each their own. And these carrots take on such a nice sweetness when they cook down that they’re kind of hard not to love… but again, to each their own. 🙂
What a unique recipe! I love raw carrots and carrots with warm honey. I’m sure this could work itself into the rotation. I’m printing this now.
Thanks, Reginia! I hope you like this as much as we did because we gobbled these carrots right up! Also, I love that you sometimes eat carrots with warm honey. Never tried that, and now I’m intrigued.
I love this recipe! I need to try cooking carrots this way – so different! Especially with that glaze – it looks and sounds delicious! I like carrots a lot but usually just eat them raw!
I am a carrot fan, Erin. These look great. Pinning this. Visiting from SGBC.