Instant Pot Carrots with a Maple-Butter Glaze
Make the best Instant Pot Glazed Carrots with a maple-butter sauce topped with toasted pumpkin seeds for a crowd-pleasing vegetarian side dish.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This super easy 20-minute side dish is perfect for the holidays because it doesn’t require oven space. The carrots stay crisp-tender and have a sweet and savory glaze with crunch from pepitas.
How to Make Instant Pot Glazed Carrots
This is a super easy side, 20 minutes from start to finish, and it frees up your oven to make the big event.
The carrots cook directly in the Instant Pot. Then you’ll remove the veggies and make the thick buttery sauce to drizzle on top. You can use maple syrup or honey to sweeten the glaze for the carrots.
What Carrots Are Best for Pressure Cooking?
You can use any kind of carrot for this recipe, but note that the size of your carrots will affect the pressure cooking time.
💡 Ideally, you want all the carrots to be cut the same thickness so they cook uniformly. If your carrots are very thick at one end and very thin at the other, you may want to cut the thicker pieces in half.
If you want them to look extra fancy, you can use the cute baby rainbow carrots with little fancy tops on them like these. They make a beautiful presentation!
How Long to Pressure Cook Carrots
Carrots cook quickly, so you’ll only need a 2 minute cooking time at high pressure to get them to the perfect crisp-tender texture.
However, if your carrots are very thin, try starting with a 1 minute cook time. If you’re using big, thick carrots, you may need another minute or two, but check after 2 minutes to avoid overcooking.
Topping Glazed Carrots
I like to add a bit of crunch and some color contrast on top of the glazed carrots with pepitas.
While the pumpkin seeds with the shells are not my favorite, you may love the extra crunch. If you’re like me and want to skip the shells, look for pepitas instead of pumpkin seeds.
Because, did you know that pepitas are pumpkin seeds that grow without shells? They’re similar but different!
If you’re not a fan of pumpkin seeds, you can certainly omit them from the recipe. Or use a different crunchy topping like crushed hazelnuts, toasted walnuts or a sprinkle of toasted breadcrumbs.
Storage Suggestions
Store leftover glazed carrots in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. You can reheat them on the stove or in the microwave to serve.
🛑 I don’t recommend freezing cooked carrots, as they tend to get mushy when they defrost.
More Instant Pot Side Dish Recipes
If you’ replanning a holiday spread, try these other oven-free side dish recipes perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah:
- Instant Pot Homemade Cranberry Jelly is a fun sweet-tart sauce to enjoy with Turkey, or any roast.
- This Instant Pot Bread Stuffing is my family’s favorite Thanksgiving recipe! We make it in a bundt pan in the Instant Pot and crisp it up after the turkey’s come out of the oven!
- Instant Pot Cornbread is the fastest way to make light, fluffy and moist cornbread for dinner any night of the week.
🦃 Check out all of our Thanksgiving Instant Pot recipes!
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Instant Pot Carrots with a Maple Butter Glaze
A 20-minute side dish recipe, Instant Pot Carrots feature crisp-tender veggies in a rich butter-maple glaze, topped with crunchy pepitas.
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup OR honey
- 1 pound large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds (shelled) or pepitas
- Salt and pepper, to taste, optional
- Dried parsley, optional, for garnish
Instructions
- In the pressure cooking pot, combine the salt, water, and maple syrup OR honey.
- Add the carrots to the pot.
- Lock the lid in place and select High Pressure and a 2 minute cook time.
- When the cook time ends, do a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Check for doneness. (If nearly there, return the lid and allow carrots to steam for a few minutes. If they’re still quite hard, cook at High Pressure for another minute or two.)
- Transfer the carrots to a bowl and cover to keep warm.
- Select Sauté and add the butter to the pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened and syrupy, about 2–5 minutes.
- Return the carrots to the pot, along with the pumpkin seeds, stir to combine, and season to taste.
- Garnish with parsley if desired.
Notes
Note: The cook time depends quite a bit on the thickness of your carrots. If your carrots have a big taper—they’re very thick at one end and very thin at the other—consider halving the thicker pieces. Ideally, you want all the carrots to be cut the same thickness so they cook uniformly.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 211Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 298mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 7g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
Any suggestions or tips on how to prepare for use later in day ? I will be driving 2hrs to destination and they probably won’t be served for another 4hrs.