The best special occasion vegetable side dish ever is these bourbon-glazed, butter-drenched carrots. Oh-so-glossy, flavorful, and sweet.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 2 pounds carrots, peeled, cut into equal-sized pieces
- ½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- ½ cup bourbon whiskey
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, for garnish (Optional)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until foaming. Add carrots and salt; cook and stir in hot butter until liquid evaporates and carrots begin to brown around the edges, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in bourbon carefully. Cook and stir until bourbon is almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle in brown sugar; cook and stir until carrots are almost cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
- Increase heat to medium-high and cook until glaze thickens, 15 to 30 seconds. Season with ground black pepper and cayenne pepper. Transfer carrots to a serving dish and garnish with thyme leaves.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 292 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 27 g |
| Cholesterol | 41 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 411 mg |
| Sugars | 19 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Absolutely delicious!
Yum, Yum, What a great recipe, You rock, Chef John!
Pretty sure I’ll do this one again. I love carrots and this is a great way to serve them.
It was a hit at dinner. Didn’t change a thing!
Yowza!! This was amazing!! The ONLY change was to add 1/2c chopped onions at the 5 min sauté mark and 2 cloves minced garlic a minute before adding the bourbon. Wow! Amazing! Paired with pork chops and mashed potatoes! We loved this! Thanks again Chef John!
A bit too sweet for me so I reduced to 1/4 cup sugar (could do with even less, 3 tbsp maybe). Unnecessary amount of butter, reduced to 6 tbsp butter (could do with even less, maybe just 1/4 cup, or 4 tbsp, of butter). Everything else is good. I used baby carrots, I felt like I needed to add an extra 5 minutes to the cooking time to get them tender.
Made it as special side for St. Patrick’s Day. Followed the recipe and loved how it turned out. Definitely a winner!
A big hit! I will make it again and often!
There are two of us that are not wild about carrots. We ate every one! We did use good bourbon.
I made this for Thanksgiving because we always try something we. This quickly became a must cook for holiday dinners! I made the recipe as it stands but I did add a little orange juice (fresh squeezed half cup) to brighten it a little and play off the sweetness of the brown sugar. The whole 2 pounds disappeared!
YUM! Bravo Chef John! Used half light brown and half dark brown sugar. Jim Bean KY straight bourbon. 2x’s 50ml bottles.
AWESOME… drop the microphone
I followed directions as written….one word…Amazing!
As typical with Chef John, this recipe is outstanding. Chef John you have made me a wannabe chef. Thank you for your contributions, sir.
I only had light brown sugar on hand. Next time I would use dark brown. The carrots were pretty tasty, but not great.
Perfection!!!
The only thing I changed was to add some pumpkin pie spice, and these were absolutely amazing! Definitely a keeper recipe! Thanks John!
Addictive! I’ve never enjoyed the taste of carrots and will generally only eat them if they are in dessert form…i.e. carrot cake or muffins. These, however, made me a convert and fan! The sugary, boozy glaze adds something wonderfully sweet to the taste and turns them into a deliciously decadent side dish. I made them on a whim last year on Thanksgiving and my family raved. They have now become a holiday-time staple and I will be sure to make them again on Easter. Love Chef John’s humorous videos, as always!
I substituted cognac for the bourbon. The carrots were delicious.
Nice flavor and a great way to use up carrots at the end of the gardening season. The only change I made was cutting the brown sugar in half.
Feels to me these could use a good gril, char or broil after