These Healthy Roasted Carrots with Brown Sugar are easy to make, lighter than the regular recipe, WW friendly, and a great addition to your holiday meal (or any meal!) If you love a colorful and healthy side dish on your plate, especially for a festive holiday meal, this side dish is for you!
This recipe for healthy glazed carrots with brown sugar is especially popular at holidays dinners such as Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas dinner! The Weight Watchers points have been cut in half from the original recipe, so they are 2 WW points.
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These healthy glazed carrots were inspired by my Green beans and Mushrooms holiday side dish, as I wanted another colorful WW friendly and healthy, yet special vegetable side dish for holiday dinners. And it's the perfect side dish for my WW friendly Thanksgiving turkey ( Slow Cooker Turkey breast with Quinoa Cranberry Dressing! ) This is the perfect Thanksgiving meal if you want a healthy and easy recipe for a smaller group (2-6)!
A typical roasted carrots with brown sugar recipe has a lot more calories and is 4 WW points on my plan. I was able to cut the WW in half (to 2 WW points) without sacrificing taste! Why waste all those calories (or WW points) on a vegetable side dish when it's not necessary?!
I don't know about you, but I'm saving my calories/WW points for pie. And speaking of pie, I also have a healthier, crustless and WW friendly version of Pumpkin Pie (with no artificial sweeteners) to go with this meal as well! But if you simply want to go all in, then try my Easy Pumpkin Pie. It's worth every point! Whether you are trying to lose weight, maintain your weight or simply eat healthier, you'll love this meal!
🥘Ingredients
For this healthier version of roasted carrots with brown sugar, you'll need the following simple ingredients:
- whole carrots *do NOT use baby carrots
- brown sugar
- garlic
- light butter
- butter extract (affiliate link) *Using butter extract is a great way to get the flavor of butter without the fat and calories!
- olive oil (you can use canola oil or vegetable oil)
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- parsley (fresh is best but you can use dried)
*see recipe card for quantities
🔪Instructions
How to make Roasted Carrots with Brown Sugar (the healthy way)
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F/220 degrees C and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Peel carrots, then cut off ends. Cut carrots in half, then in half again. Cut thicker ends in half again so they are similar in width.
- Toss in bowl with brown sugar, melted butter, butter extract, garlic, oil, salt and pepper.
- Spread out onto onto prepared baking sheet.
- Roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, toss (you can leave them on the pan while you do this) Then roast for an additional 10 minutes until you can easily put a fork through. Toss again, then garnish with parsley and serve.
Hint: It's important that you toss the carrots in the pan after 15 minutes of cooking, as this will help evenly distribute the glaze.
📖Variations
- Carrots - you could substitute baby carrots, but they aren't as good as regular carrots
- Salt - you could use regular table salt or sea salt
- Spicy - you can spice these up a little by adding ¼ teaspoon cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes
- Vegan/Dairy-free - you can substitute vegan margarine for the butter (the butter extract is vegan as well)
- Gluten-free - this dish is naturally gluten-free
- Kid-friendly - my kids love these carrots, but to make them even more kid- kid-friendlier (for younger kids) you could squeeze a little liquid honey on them (directly onto their serving)
- Fresh herbs - you could use fresh thyme or chives instead of fresh parsley
🍲What main dishes to serve with glazed carrots
🍽 Equipment
You don't need any special equipment to make these Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots , aside from a cutting board, a good knife (affiliate link) to cut your carrots and a vegetable peeler. I use a 9X13 baking sheet.
🌡️Storage
Store these easy glazed carrots in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
* If you want to make this carrots recipe in advance (and have them look nice and not shriveled), it's best that you cook them for only 15 minutes, then store them in a sealed container. Then just prior to serving, put them in the oven for 10 - 15 additional minutes.
These baked carrots with brown sugar can be frozen for up to 3 months.
🦺Food safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
👪 Serving size
This brown sugar glazed carrot recipe serves 5. However, you can half, double or even triple the recipe by clicking on the blue servings number in the recipe card. Then select the number of servings you would like and the ingredient amounts will adjust accordingly.
🔢WW Points
This easy side dish is Weight Watchers friendly @2 ww points.
So if you're looking for healthy recipes and light and/or WW friendly, healthy side dishes that won't break the points bank this holiday season, then give these oven roasted brown sugar glazed carrots a try!
And if you're looking for more WW carrot recipes, be sure to check out my WW Carrot Cake!
📋 Healthy Roasted Carrots (with Brown Sugar) Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lb carrots peeled
- 4 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon light butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon butter extract
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Garnish
- parsley *I use fresh
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425degrees F/220 degrees C and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
- Peel carrots, then cut off ends. Cut carrots in half, then in half again. Cut thicker ends in half again so they are similar in width.
- Toss in bowl with brown sugar, butter, butter extract, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. Spread out onto onto baking sheet.
- Roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, toss (you can leave them on the pan while you do this) then roast for an additional 10 minutes until you can easily put a fork through.
- Place carrots in serving bowl (or you can leave on the pan) and toss carrots in the glaze, ensuring you scrape all the glaze from the baking sheet (and mix it in).
Garnish:
- Sprinkle with parsley, if desired. Serve warm.
nancy
i love roasted carrots. They are much tastier than raw carrots hahaha thanks for this easy side recipe!
Colleen
I agree about saving my calories for pie! I love that these are lightened up but still yummy. Also, I never knew about butter extract, so thank you!!
Julia
These were great! I roasted them side by side with brussel sprouts and the glaze gave everything a nice flavour. They were great!
Terri Gilson
I'm so glad to hear you loved them as much as we do, Julia!
Sheena
The whole family loved them! Will be making these again often! Thanks Terri!
Terri Gilson
So glad you guys loved them, Sheena!