If the carrots of my childhood had been prepared with a sweet vanilla glaze like these ones, you can be sure I would have eaten them much more willingly than I did! These little cuties get to roll around with a vanilla bean in butter and honey (and a touch of white wine vinegar) until they’re tender and showing off a gorgeous caramelized glow. Even with the glaze, the natural sweetness of the carrots still shines through. It’s a fast and easy side dish that we enjoyed this week with a nice rib eye steak. I’ll be putting them alongside roasted chicken, ham, lamb or just about anything from now on.
I found this recipe at Trader Joe’s on their baby carrots package. You have to hand it to these guys – they make it incredibly easy to feel good about eating your veggies. When I stroll my cart into the store one of the first sights before me is the wall of fresh-packed vegetables, all prepped and ready to heat up in minutes. Some, like the baby carrots, even come with recipes. This one was simple and I had all the ingredients already on hand. Stay tuned, I’m sure to be returning to the Trader Joe’s veggie wall for more tasty sides.
Vanilla Glazed Baby Carrots
Adapted from the back of the Trader Joe’s Baby Carrots package
INGREDIENTS:
16-20 baby carrots (buy the “real” kind, with the stems)
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in a large sauté pan. The carrots should form a single layer in the pan.
Bring the carrots to a simmer on medium-high heat. Reduce the liquid until the pan is just about dry. The carrots should be cooked through, shiny and delicious.
These carrots are perfection!
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Those are so cute! I never would have thought to put vanilla with carrots but I’m gonna try it soon. Trader Joe’s is the best. Great picture, thanks for sharing.
Shoy
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WEIRD… Hmmm… what’s your next post going to be?? Maybe we’re ‘blog soul sistahs’. What do ya think?
These look delish. I would never even think of looking on the back of a carrot package for a recipe. I guess I should be more curious!!
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TJ’s is great. The carrots look beautiful, and I too would not have thought about flavoring them with vanilla.
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This is my daughter’s favorite dish! I can’t always find the fancy carrots, so I just use regular carrots and cut them in half, and then cut the halves into long strips. I have also tried maple syrup instead of honey- also delicious! Thanks for posting this!
That’s terrific, Karen – so glad you guys like it! I really like this recipe too. 🙂
How long do you tend to cook them on simmer?
I have little kids so I like the carrots to be on the softer side of tender – ill usually simmer about 15 minutes.