Maple Glazed Carrots

These maple-glazed carrots are roasted with pure maple syrup, olive oil, salt, and pepper until the edges caramelize. One pan, about 30 minutes, and easy enough for a weeknight or Thanksgiving.

Carrots are a mainstay at my house. They go into lunch boxes, get pulled out for the afternoon munchies, and occasionally end up in my morning smoothie. Roasted carrots, though, took me a while to come around to. They were fine. Just never something I got very excited about.

But this maple-glazed concoction changed that. The maple caramelizes on the carrots in the oven and gives them a toasty, just-sweet-enough flavor that works as well next to a Tuesday night herb roasted chicken as it does on the Thanksgiving table. And there's no stovetop glaze to babysit. Everything happens on one sheet pan. Love!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• It's one pan and about five minutes of work. This dish is so easy! Toss, spread, roast. The oven does the rest while you finish the main dish.
• Maple is better here than honey. This is my honest take after making both. Maple syrup roasts into something deeper and more caramel-like, while honey can turn a little one-note. I'm team maple all the way when it comes to roasted carrots.
• It frees up your stovetop. If your house is anything like mine, on Thanksgiving, every burner is spoken for. These sit happily on a sheet pan next to whatever else is in the oven.

Key Ingredients

• Carrots. Wash the carrots and cut them on the diagonal into pieces about the same thickness so they roast evenly. Peeling is up to you. I usually peel mine, but a good scrub works if you don't mind a more rustic look. Rainbow carrots are my favorite for looks (especially for a holiday table), and they taste the same as orange ones. If you're in a time crunch, baby carrots will also do the trick.
• Pure maple syrup. Make sure you're using real maple syrup, not the fake stuff often found in pancake syrups. Pancake syrup is mostly corn syrup and flavoring, and it won't caramelize the same way (or taste as good).
• Olive oil. Just enough to help the maple coat the carrots and keep them from sticking.

How To make Maple Glazed Carrots

Step 1: Mix the maple glaze
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil to help make cleanup easy. (Maple syrup that bakes onto a bare pan is...not fun to scrub!) In a large bowl, stir together the maple syrup, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Step 2: Toss the carrots
Add the carrots to the bowl and toss until they're evenly coated.

Step 3: Roast
Spread the carrots in a single layer on the baking sheet without overlapping, and roast for about 20 to 25 minutes. Start checking at 20. I don't like mine mushy, so I pull them sooner rather than later so they still have a little crunch, but if you like them softer, give them a few more minutes.

Step 4: Garnish and serve
Transfer to a serving dish and top with chopped parsley.

Expert Tips

• Give the carrots room. Crowded carrots steam instead of roast, and you'll lose those delicious caramelized edges if you crowd them too close. Use two pans if you need to.
• Cut for even cooking. If you're using whole carrots, thick ends and skinny tips on the same pan finish at different times. Halve the thick pieces lengthwise.
• Watch the last few minutes. The maple can go from caramelized to scorched fairly quickly near the end, especially on the thinner pieces.

Variations

• Brown sugar glazed carrots. Swap the maple syrup for brown sugar for a more classic, molasses-y sweetness.
• A little heat. A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes before roasting gives these carrots just a little bit of spice.
• Add some nuts. When I want a festive dish, I like sprinkling a few toasted, crushed pecans or walnuts over the tops of these carrots.