Slow Cooker Honey Cinnamon Carrots
Honey Cinnamon Crockpot Carrots are the BEST slow cooker carrots! They're a sweet, buttery, addictive side dish for freeing up the oven on a holiday or any day!
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For more delectable carrot side dishes, you may enjoy Honey-Glazed Carrots with Thyme & Lemon, Orange-Apricot-Glazed Carrots with Almonds, or Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Thyme!
I'm sure I don't need to tell you that slow cookers just make life easier. Sometimes they mean that dinner is ready when you are, without the 5:00 what-the-heck-am-I-going-to-make dilemma or the hectic evening cooking rush. Other times, slow cookers equal salvation when holiday menu completion has you short on oven space and stove top real estate. And the latter case is where these crockpot carrots come in!
Occasions for Enjoying
Say hello to Slow Cooker Honey Cinnamon Carrots, my friends. These sweet and glossy little beauties would make the perfect accompaniment to your next holiday ham, turkey, or Cornish hens. Their cinnamon-kissed honey butter glaze makes them not only delectable, but addictive. We may as well just refer to them as carrot candy from here on out, y'all.
The combination of honey and cinnamon always reminds me of a sopapilla, yet cinnamon gives carrots an almost sweet potato casserole or pumpkin pie-like quality. So guess what that means? This recipe is not limited to Easter. It would also be a popular accompaniment to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
For that matter, this is not simply a holiday recipe! I have no doubt that your family would be thrilled to pile their plates with some of these delectable crockpot carrots on any ol' Tuesday.
Ingredients
So what does it take to throw together these simple, yummy, crockpot carrots?
- Carrots. I typically use baby carrots just because it's so easy to throw them in the slow cooker with no prep work. I would just recommend not using those really skinny petite baby carrots, as they might turn to mush. You may also use regular carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks. Feel free to slice them on an angle for a "fancier" presentation!
- Butter. The carrots actually slow cook in melted butter. Because, YUM.
- Honey. Stirred in for sweetness and to create a glaze. You could substitute maple syrup instead for a slightly different flavor.
- Cinnamon + vanilla. For flavor.
- Salt. Makes the sweetness of the carrots pop.
- Whiskey. This ingredient is totally optional. It adds a layer of flavor without making the carrots overtly taste like whiskey. And I should know, because I strongly dislike bourbon and would not enjoy these carrots if they tasted like it. But they don't, so I do, and I think you will, too! (Confused much?)
How to Make Crockpot Carrots
Now for a few recipe notes. To get the obvious out of the way, this recipe is so easy to make.
- They carrots are initially slow cooked in melted butter, a bit of salt, and an optional splash of bourbon.
- Once they're tender, golden honey is stirred in, along with cinnamon and a bit of pure vanilla extract. These combine with the butter to create a glorious glaze.
- From there, you can just set your slow cooker to WARM until mealtime. Gently stir the crockpot carrots before serving, and don't forget an extra drizzle of glaze over your plated carrots, because cinnamonhoneybutterYUM.
Crockpot Size
Speaking of stirring, I feel the need to quickly explain the photos accompanying this post. I actually cooked my carrots in a large, oval, 6-quart slow cooker. I only transferred them to this smaller, 3-quart slow cooker for photography purposes, because the carrots were down at the bottom of the larger slow cooker and it was hard to take pictures with all of those shadows.
While these crockpot carrots would have easily fit in my smaller slow cooker, I preferred cooking them in my larger model because it gave me room to carefully stir them after adding the honey. By that point, of course, the carrots were soft and tender, and a small, crowded slow cooker could have resulted in them becoming inadvertently chopped up while trying to incorporate the sticky honey with a spoon. I probably wouldn't have cared about slightly mutilated carrots if we were just going to be eating them, but again, blog photos.
It's really up to you as to what size slow cooker to use, but I think the carrots are a bit easier to stir in a larger one.
So it's decided. You'll be serving Slow Cooker Honey Cinnamon Carrots for Easter! And Thanksgiving. Probably Christmas. And likely half a dozen more times in between.
Because, really...who doesn't love a side dish that makes itself?
Helpful Tips, Tricks, & Equipment
- In case you're in the market for a new slow cooker, here's my favorite one.
- Adding 1 tablespoon bourbon does not make these crockpot carrots taste like whiskey. However, feel free to stir in additional bourbon if you'd like a stronger, more noticeable flavor.
- And if you prefer, here's a recipe for making the same glazed carrots in the pressure cooker! >>> INSTANT POT HONEY CINNAMON CARROTS
More Holiday Side Dishes
- Cream Cheese Corn Casserole
- Make-Ahead Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes
- Bacon Green Bean Casserole
- Creamy Peas with Bacon + Mint
Honey Cinnamon Crockpot Carrots
Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds baby carrots OR whole carrots (peeled & sliced into 2-inch chunks)
- ¼ cup (½ stick) melted butter
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon bourbon whiskey, optional
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Place carrots in the bottom of a slow cooker (I used a 6.5-quart...choose a size that's large enough to allow room for stirring). Stir salt and bourbon into the melted butter. Pour over the carrots in the slow cooker and toss until evenly coated. Cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours on LOW (or 3 to 4 hours on HIGH) until carrots are tender.
- Drizzle cooked carrots with honey and vanilla and sprinkle with cinnamon. Gently stir until carrots are evenly coated with butter/honey/cinnamon mixture. Set slow cooker to WARM until ready to serve and stir well before stirring.
Equipment Needed
Notes
Nutrition
Post originally published on March 10, 2016, and updated on February 28, 2018.
i'm making this for a side dish Thanksgiving. I love carrots and I think they are a healthy and nutritious addition to the usual Thanksgiving offerings.
Thanks for the recipe! Do these reheat well?
They reheat just fine. However, they can be a little difficult to stir during reheating without breaking them up, as the previous cooking time may have made them pretty soft. In other words, just be gentle stirring. 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hello,
Have you tried doubling the recipe for a big crowd?
Thank you,
Lisa
Yes! 🙂
I made your carrots for a work function. Everyone loved them. Thank you
Making them for Thanksgiving ..they sound so easy and delish !
I can't tell you how much my kids and family LOVED this recipe!!!
Cinnamon carrots are such a great idea for Easter dinner! Can't wait to have these on my table!
Hope you enjoy them, Nellie! 🙂
I cooked this as well as a ham using your crockpot recepie. This is what happens when you get 3 crockpots at your bridal shower. Lol
Ha ha, Shelby...I have multiple slow cookers, too! Sometimes it comes in quite handy. I'm sure you'll get lots of future use out of all of them! 😉
These baby carrots look so beautiful. The ingredients are easy to get and definitely something different to try with carrots.
Hope you enjoy!
What could you use instead of butter?
Coconut oil would be good
These carrots sound seriously delish, Sam! Thanks so much for sharing...
A very Happy Easter to you and yours!
Deb
What can you use instead of bourbon?
Hi Julia! You can just leave out the bourbon altogether. 🙂 Or, if you wish, you could swap it out for something citrus-y like orange juice. Enjoy!
I bet substituting Grand Marnier would be bomb dot com.
I used Brandy and they came out really good.