Joybee, What's for Dinner? : Maple Glazed Carrots

A simple and tasty vegetable side dish of carrots roasted in maple syrup. The perfect accompaniment to any meal.

**Updated post from original from 12/2012 (90 views): new pictures, minor editing, add tweetabe, like recipe links, rich pin.

Carrots are a great vegetable. They add great color to brighten up even the blandest meal. They are also very versatile. They are great raw, steamed, stir-fried, and roasted. What I love most about carrots is that they store well. I have kept carrots in my refrigerator for over a week and they are still good. This is a great recipe to keep in the arsenal. It is warm, slightly sweet (the maple syrup brings out the natural sweetness of the carrots), and very simple.

Carrots brighten even the blandest meal. [Tweet this]

Maple Glazed Carrots

Cook time: 45-60 minutes (depending on the size of your carrots)
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

3-4 Large carrots peeled and cut bite-sized or baby carrots
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp dried thyme
coarse salt and pepper to taste
juice from 1/2 lemon, optional

This is really easy, you can make more or less just keep an equal ratio of oil/syrup.

Preheat oven to 400F

Toss the carrot pieces with oil and maple syrup. Add thyme and salt and pepper and toss to combine evenly. Then pour the carrot mixture into a baking dish.

Bake at 400, covered, for about 40 minutes or until tender. Then remove cover and bake for about 15 minutes more until nicely browned. Remove from oven and add lemon juice and stir.

Makes 3-4 servings.

This is a wonderful side dish. You can use any sweetener or syrup you like such as honey, or it might be interesting to try agave nectar. You can also use any oil, and any herb (fresh or dry) you have or like. I think thyme tastes really good with carrots, but you could use rosemary, dill, oregano, or anything that smells good just be creative. The lemon juice is optional, but I think it brightens up the carrots, I like to add an acid to sweet sometimes. I saw a recipe that uses balsamic vinegar, that would be great too. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Enjoy.