The Best Bourbon Glazed Carrots Recipe

Glazed carrots are a classic side dish — just as at home beside a Southern fried pork chop as they are a Thanksgiving turkey. But when you want your carrots to transcend that secondary position and vie for the spotlight in their own right, well, this is the recipe for you. In this recipe, we make use of several additional elements to add depth and intrigue to the perennial favorite side. We begin by simmering the carrots in butter and bourbon whiskey and cooking them until they are tender and infused all the way through with delicate notes of oak, vanilla, caramel, and whatever else comes through from your bourbon of choice.

The brown sugar cooks down into that butter and whiskey mixture, creating a smooth glaze with a perfect balance of sweet and savory. These bourbon-glazed carrots would already be plenty to wow your dinner guests, but we aren't done yet: The last couple of additions really take them over the top.

To finish the dish, we stir in toasted walnuts, adding both a roasted, nutty element and a little crunchy texture. Finally, a sprinkle of chopped chives completes the dish with a final flourish of fresh allium flavor and a pop of contrasting color. All together, you have yourself a side dish that will certainly challenge the main course for your guests' attention.

For this recipe, you will need butter, carrots, bourbon, brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and toasted walnuts. Once you've gathered those together, you are ready to start cooking.

Bring a large skillet to medium heat and add the butter.

Once melted, add the carrots and bourbon, and cook for 14 minutes.

Add the brown sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, stir together, and cook for another 8 minutes or so, until the carrots are cooked through and the glaze is nice and thick. Remove from heat.

Stir in the toasted walnuts, garnish with chives (if desired), and serve warm.

We've all been there: You're in the middle of cooking a recipe, the next step involves the brown sugar, and when you pull that bag out from the back of the pantry you discover that it is hard as a rock. Do you have time to shatter a piece off or grind it up? Or could you just substitute white sugar and call it good? For recipes like these glazed carrots, you can almost always get away with white sugar. You'll miss some of the deeper caramel notes that you get from brown sugar, but it'll work just fine. This substitution, however, does not work for all kinds of recipes. To understand why, you need to understand what brown sugar actually is.

Modern brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar mixed with a small amount of molasses, which is itself a bittersweet byproduct of the sugar refining process. The addition of molasses adds both a complexity of flavor and a touch of acidity to brown sugar. This acidity will not make much of a difference in a carrot glaze but can have a profound effect on baked goods, so be wary of making this substitution elsewhere.

Now that you know what it is, you've probably also figured out that it's quite simple to make your own brown sugar at home. If you keep a jar of molasses in the pantry alongside your white sugar, you will always have access to soft, fresh brown sugar.

The walnuts in this recipe serve not only to add a wonderful crunch but also a delicious, toasty flavor and counterpoint to the sweet and savory notes of the carrots. They are the perfect addition to this vegetable side to transform it from run-of-the-mill to eye-catching and exciting. But, while we think they're perfect, not everyone is a fan of walnuts. So, what can walnut haters use in their stead?

If the problem is specifically walnuts, not nuts in general, we suggest pecans. Both walnuts and pecans are commonly used in both sweet and savory contexts, and toasted pecans will provide a similar flavor and crunch to the finished dish. Bonus points for sticking with Southern flavors as well, with pecans being a favorite nut in bourbon country. Pretty much any nut will work here, so pick your favorite, and just make sure you chop it down small and toast it before tossing it in with the carrots. Toasted nuts bring a rich savoriness to dishes that you simply don't get from raw nuts. Pine nuts, almonds, and even peanuts could work just fine in this recipe.

If, on the other hand, we're dealing with a nut allergy scenario, your best bet is to opt instead for toasted seeds. Toasted shelled pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds will bring a similar flavor to the walnuts while also adding their own crunchy element.