Cider glazed carrots are sweet, tender and delicious, and an impressive way to serve the humble carrot.

Everyday vegetables in Ireland are simply boiled or steamed and tossed with a little butter before serving, but not today's recipe.

Carrot slices with parsley garnish in a white bowl on a checkered background

Carrot Side Dish To Impress
Ingredients
Directions for Cider Glazed Carrots
Recipe Card

Carrot Side Dish To Impress

For special occasions like Christmas or Thanksgiving I like to make veggie side dishes a little extra special by adding an extra layer of flavor.

And my cider glazed carrots are no exception. Hard cider, a sweet and fruity alcoholic drink is very popular in Ireland, and helps transform simple carrot batons into a mouth-wateringly delicious vegetable side.

Many cider glazed carrot recipes simply use apple cider vinegar as a base for the glaze, but I like to cook mine using 'real' cider or 'hard' cider as it's called stateside.

A white bowl of cider glazed carrots — Cider Glazed Carrots

And don't worry about residual alcohol remaining in the carrots when they are served. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, so when these carrots simmer the alcohol is burned off.

And so, without further ado, here's my recipe for cider glazed carrots.

Ingredients

Here's the ingredient list. You'l find exact quantities in the printable recipe below the instructions. There you can choose between US and Metric measurements.

carrots peeled and julienned
butter
dark brown sugar
hard cider
water
dijon mustard
parsley to garnish

Other recipes for glazed carrots often use cinnamon and maple syrup to sweeten and spice up the carrots. Since I use hard cider I prefer to stick to brown sugar and dijon mustard for sweetness and flavor.

I don't include salt in my recipe, but feel free to add salt when you're cooking the carrots.

Black pepper can also be sprinkled over the carrots as garnish, but I prefer just some chopped fresh parsley as garnish.

Onion does not feature in this recipe. I like to simply stick to plain old carrots.

If you like thyme flavor, then feel free to add a few sprigs of fresh thyme to the carrot cooking water. Remove before serving.

I use hard cider for this recipe. The alcohol steams off during the cooking process. If you never cook with hard drinks, then substitute apple juice or a non-alcoholic apple cider.

Directions for Cider Glazed Carrots

Here, you'll find step-by-step photographic instructions for these delicious glazed carrots. You can print the recipe using the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

Knife and chopped carrots showing how to prepare carrots julienne style — Cutting carrots into sticks

Prepare the carrots by peeling them and trimming the tops and bottoms.

Cut them into batons or strips about 3 inches long and a ¼ inch thick.

Slicing carrots into batons or sticks for glazing

When cut this way carrots are said to be julienned carrots.

When I was a little girl and cake was being served, my uncle would always advise ...

"Now don't cut me a julienne strip."

I knew he wanted a nice big slice, but I always wondered who was this Julian character to whom he kept referring. It wasn't until years later when reading some recipe books that I came to realize my uncle was actually saying "julienne" strip, a French word describing something that is thinly cut. How he ever got to be so fancy with his "julienne" strips of cake, I'll never know.

Back to our carrots after that little ramble ...

Butter melting in the bottom of a white saucepan — Melting butter in a saucepan

Melt the butter in the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.

Carrot sticks being tossed in melted butter — Coating carrot sticks in melted butter in a Dutch Oven

Add the carrot sticks, and toss to completely coat them in melted butter.

Sauté them for 5 minutes.

carrots with brown sugar and cider — Adding brown sugar to carrots for glazing

Sprinkle the brown sugar over the carrots, stirring it into the carrots and butter as they cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Dutch oven of carrot sticks with hard cider being poured over them — Adding stock to carrots

Add the hard cider, water, and mustard to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for 25 minutes, with the lid on until the carrots are beginning to tenderize.

Remove the lid and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the carrots are fully tender. By removing the lid the steam can escape helping to reduce the liquid to a glaze.

Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve warm.

You can also top the carrots with some diced up butter bits before serving.

Julienne carrot sticks glazed in cider with parsley — Parsley garnish on glazed carrots

Recipe Card

Here's a short video summarizing the steps for these delicious carrots.

Here's the printable recipe card.

Cider Glazed Carrots

A cider glaze takes everyday carrots to the next level in tastiness.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Irish

Keyword: Carrot, Cider, Glazed Carrots, On The Side

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings: people

Calories: 120kcal

Ingredients

2 pounds carrots peeled and julienned
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 cup hard cider
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon parsley freshly chopped to garnish

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare the carrots by peeling them and trimming the tops and bottoms. Cut them into batons or strips about 3 inches long and a ¼ inch thick.
Melt the butter in the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Add the carrot sticks, and toss to completely coat them in melted butter. Sauté them for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the carrots, stirring it into the carrots and butter as they cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the hard cider, water and mustard to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes with the lid on until the carrots are beginning to tenderize. Remove the lid and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the carrots are fully tender. By removing the lid the steam can escape helping to reduce the liquid to a glaze.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve warm.

Nutrition Facts

Cider Glazed Carrots

Amount Per Serving (110 g)

Calories 120 Calories from Fat 36

% Daily Value*

Fat 4g6%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 10mg3%

Sodium 150mg7%

Potassium 484mg14%

Carbohydrates 18g6%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 10g11%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 25432IU509%

Vitamin C 10mg12%

Calcium 50mg5%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition Information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients used.

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I hope my cider glazed carrots will make your taste buds happy.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.