A delicious Instant Pot vegetable recipe is a great way to prepare side dishes when you’re hands are full with the main course (especially during the holidays). This Instant Pot Glazed Carrots recipe is super simple and a great way to get kids excited to eat their veggies!

Instant Pot Carrots Recipe

In our house we have a cool room downstairs that I store our root vegetables in.

It keeps them at the perfect temperature, letting them last for months without issue.

However, I can be a bit guilty of “out of sight, out of mind” and recently I kept forgetting that I already had carrots. I went to the grocery store no less than four times and each time, I couldn’t remember if we had carrots at home… so I bought some just in case.

Fast forward to having 16 lbs of carrots in the house and being completely stumped at what I was going to do with them!

Of course, we made our famous carrot cake whoopie pies, carrot muffins, ginger ale glazed carrots, carrot cake pancakes, carrot, pineapple and raisin salad, carrot, apple and ginger soup… I even attempted a carrot cake smoothie. But I still had plenty of carrots to get through, and there was no way Ella was going to tolerate me serving steamed carrots every night for supper.

Enter: Instant Pot Glazed Carrots.

These yummy candied carrots combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to make a vegetable side dish that tastes like dessert!

Okay, so it’s not the healthiest way to get kids eating their vegetables, but each serving contains less than a half tablespoon of brown sugar, so I’m personally okay with this as an occasional side dish. (Especially if you have picky eaters who have yet to be converted to the delicious taste of carrots.)

The Instant Pot steams these carrots perfectly, and then we use the sauté feature to thicken that yummy glaze.

These carrots won’t get “hard” candied due to the moisture, but the glaze adds a yummy sweetness to round out the sweet-woody-bitter taste that carrots have naturally. If you want to cut the sweetness, you can reduce the sugar or add your favorite herbs to this recipe. Thyme and rosemary go perfectly with carrots. You can alternatively add some crushed red pepper flakes to introduce some heat!

This recipe is easy enough for a busy weeknight side dish, but special enough for a holiday side dish.

Do you need an Instant Pot Steamer Basket for this recipe? I provide a hack below for making this recipe with a DIY tinfoil basket and the trivet insert that comes with your Instant Pot. While the Instant Pot Steamer Basket can be great for other recipes, we want to steam the carrots in that buttery glaze, so a steamer basket would need to be lined with tinfoil to work in this recipe.

How long does it take to cook vegetables in a pressure cooker? Using this steaming method, we only need 2 minutes of cooking time at high pressure to cook the carrots. Other vegetables may take 4-5 minutes.

Is it healthy to cook vegetables in a pressure cooker? Yes! Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to prepare vegetables because it preserves heat-sensitive nutrients and stops those nutrients from leaking out (as they would if you boiled them).

Can I add another vegetable to this recipe? Yes, another root vegetable like parsnips or beets would be a great addition, but some other vegetables require different cooking times and may be over- or undercooked as a result. Chopped or sliced apples would also make a tasty addition.

Can I use baby carrots in this recipe? Absolutely! No need to alter this recipe to make it work for baby carrots.

Looking for more Instant Pot Recipes? Check out our full collection here!

Check out our quick video on how to make these candied carrots (this time, using baby carrots) – and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe card:

Instant Pot Candied Carrot Ingredients

• Carrots, sliced
• Butter, melted
• Brown sugar
• Salt, to taste
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground nutmeg

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: If you want to cut the sweetness, you can reduce the sugar or add your favorite herbs to this recipe. Thyme and rosemary go perfectly with carrots. You can alternatively add some crushed red pepper flakes to introduce some heat!

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Instant Pot <– I’m so excited to upgrade to this one with air fryer capacities soon! (You can also just buy the lid which adds the air fryer capacity to your standard IP.)
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Sharp kitchen knife <– this is a great, affordable set if you’re in the market for a new kitchen knife set
• Tin foil
• Wooden spoon or spatula

How to Make Instant Pot Glazed Carrots

Place 1 cup of water in your Instant Pot and secure the trivet overtop.

You can either use a veggie steamer that fits in your Instant Pot, or a piece of tinfoil shaped into a bowl, and place that over the trivet to hold the carrots (so they are just steamed and don’t fall into the boiling water). 

Toss the carrots with the melted butter, then season with the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Place the carrots in the steamer basket or tinfoil basket, and secure the Instant Pot lid.

Select Manual setting for 2 minutes, natural or quick release. (Natural will steam the carrots a bit longer.)

Carefully remove the carrots from the Instant Pot and drain out the water.

Place the insert back into the Instant Pot and add the carrots.

Select the Saute setting and cook until the butter-brown sugar mixture is sticky and coats the carrots completely, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pin this Instant Pot Carrot recipe the kids are going to love:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our Instant Pot Glazed Carrots recipe:

I hope your kids love this Instant Pot Glazed Carrots recipe as much as Ella and my daycare kids did!

For more delicious Instant Pot recipes kids will love, check out our Instant Pot Meat Sauce recipe or our Instant Pot Taco Pasta recipe.

Check out our other Vegetable Recipes here: