These carrots are done when the water has boiled off and every piece is coated in a sticky glaze, about 35 minutes start to finish. A third of a cup of orange marmalade replaces the usual brown sugar and grated orange. Nothing else sweet goes in.
Glazed carrots usually take two steps. Cook the carrots until tender, then coat them in butter and something sweet, which for most recipes means brown sugar or honey. Taste of Home's classic simmers them in water and drains them. Then ¼ cup brown sugar melts into 2 tablespoons of butter for the glaze. The orange versions add juice and grated zest on top of that.
Marmalade already holds all of those parts. Our Navel Orange Marmalade, for instance, has a label that runs from cane sugar and California Navel oranges through orange juice concentrate to pectin and citric acid. The sugar and the acid come measured out already. The method below cooks everything in one pan, the way BBC Good Food's marmalade carrots do, but drops the added sugar and leans on the jar instead.
How does marmalade change the glaze?
| Usual ingredient | Swap in | What changes | How to adjust |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ cup brown sugar, honey or white sugar | ⅓ cup (80 ml) Navel Orange Marmalade | Sweetness arrives with cooked peel, so the glaze tastes less purely sugary | Taste at the end; stir in 1 tsp brown sugar if you want it sweeter |
| Orange juice and grated zest | Nothing extra | The peel shreds in the jar carry the orange flavor | Chop any long, thick shreds so they cling to the carrots |
| A separate glaze pan | Same pan as the carrots | Glaze reduces as the carrots cook | Keep stirring once the liquid gets low |
Published marmalade versions range from 50 g of fine-cut marmalade plus 25 g sugar for 1 kg of carrots (BBC Good Food) to ⅔ cup plus 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (Taste of Home); this one uses ⅓ cup and no added sugar.
Orange glazed carrots recipe
Serves 6 as a side. About 10 minutes of knife work, then 20–25 minutes on the stove: 35 minutes start to finish.
Ingredients
- 2 lb (900 g) carrots, peeled and cut into batons about ½ inch (1 cm) thick and 3 inches (7.5 cm) long
- 1 cup (240 ml) water
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) orange marmalade, such as our Navel Orange Marmalade
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve (optional)
Steps
- Spread the carrots in a wide skillet or sauté pan, 12 inches (30 cm) if you have one, so they sit in close to a single layer.
- Add the water, marmalade, butter and salt.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring once to melt the marmalade into the water.
- Lower the heat to a steady simmer and cook uncovered, stirring every few minutes, for 18–22 minutes.
- Test a carrot with a knife when the liquid is nearly gone. If it's still firm, add 2 tbsp (30 ml) water and cook a few minutes more.
- Once the carrots are tender and the liquid has become a sticky coating, stir for 1 more minute so every piece is glazed.
- Season with pepper and taste for salt. Scatter over the parsley and serve.
Notes
- Watch the last few minutes. The glaze turns from syrup to sticky quickly once the water has gone, and sugar left on a hot, dry pan will catch. Stop as soon as every carrot looks coated.
- Baby carrots work without cutting. They cook faster, so start checking at about 12 minutes.
- Make ahead: cook the carrots up to the end of step 5, cool and refrigerate them covered, then reheat in the pan with a splash of water until glazed again.
- Roasted instead: RecipeTin Eats roasts glazed carrots at 425°F (220°C) for about 25 minutes, tossed once. To bring marmalade into that method, toss the carrots with oil and salt first and brush on the marmalade for the final stretch of roasting, so the sugar has less time on the hot tray.
The brown-sugar version, if there's no jar in the house
Leave out the marmalade and follow the classic instead. Simmer the carrots in just enough water to cover until tender, 10–12 minutes, then drain them. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same pan, stir in ¼ cup (50 g) packed brown sugar until it dissolves into a smooth glaze, 3–5 minutes, and toss the carrots back in to warm through. That's the Taste of Home method, sized for 1 lb of carrots, so double it for the 2 lb above. For orange flavor, add the grated zest of 1 orange and a couple of tablespoons of its juice with the sugar.
Which marmalade is best for glazed carrots?
A sweet orange marmalade gives the most familiar result. Navel is the classic, and glazing vegetables and meats is one of the uses we list for that jar. The Valencias in our Valencia Orange Marmalade are harvested in summer, when their acidity has softened, and roasted carrots are on its list of suggested uses.
A bitter Seville-style or grapefruit marmalade will work, but it pushes the dish toward sweet-and-sour. With one of those, add the teaspoon of brown sugar from the swap table before you taste. Meyer lemon marmalade is another option for anyone who wants the carrots less orange and more floral; our marmalade collection has the full range.
These carrots share a table well with a marmalade-glazed ham. Our mustard-and-brown-sugar glaze for the ham is in the post on holiday cooking with California marmalade.
Photo by Clark Douglas on Unsplash.
