Cooked Candied Carrots Dairy-Free

Dairy-free candied carrots have been a favorite side dish in our milk allergy family for years. 

From toddlers to teens, my kids never turn this recipe down. 

See recipe below!

We first posted about this easy side dish years and years ago, but it's time for a refresh. 

At our house, we most always keep a bag of carrots on hand.

One kiddo and I love raw carrots with dairy-free ranch.  

While hubby and both kiddos think carrots make for the perfect quick side dish with dinner.

You'll often find our cooked candied carrots served up with fast dinners like sloppy joes or grilled cheese. Easy peasy!

These cooked carrots were soft enough for my kids when they were toddlers. 

And now as teens, they can help cook carrots themselves. 

They just never tire of sweet carrots with brown sugar and butter. 

At any rate, all these years we just kind of winged it with this cooked carrots recipe. 

But I think it's time to give it it's due honor with a real recipe in the books. 

After all, it's withstood the test of time at our house. 

And it just may at your house, as well. 

See our easy recipe below. 

IS IT WORTH GROWING CARROTS

Before we get to the recipe, I thought I'd share that we love this recipe so much that we decided to try growing our own carrots recently. 

Hubby has quite the green thumb and every year expands our backyard garden with even more produce experiments. 

Most everything he tries to grow turns out to be a success. 

But the carrots...even he will tell you they weren't worth growing on our own. 

He even grew them in a box with great organic soil so the ground wasn't the issue. 

Pulling them out was definitely the most fun and satisfying part of the endeavor. 

However, I did not enjoy washing and cutting these awkward little fellers. 

Hubby and I both agreed that organic whole carrots at the store were so much easier...

and more cost effective. 

But alas, I did salvage most of the carrots we grew just as a matter of principle. 

They mostly got tossed into smoothies, ha ha. 

The taste was off. Rather bitter. 

So yes, we'll be using that area of the garden for something else this spring. 

At least we tried. 

Store-bought or garden, I like to prep my carrots ahead of time and have them in the refrigerator ready to go. 

Ready for snacking, ready for dinner side dishes. 

This is a huge time saver for me. 

Now here's the recipe for you below.

CANDIED CARROTS DAIRY-FREE

For some reason, this recipe makes enough for our family of four.

But you may want to double it if your family eats a lot or would like leftovers. 

I like to buy a big family size of baby carrots so I have enough to double if I want.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups carrots (12 oz)
1.5 tablespoons dairy-free butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

Wash and cut carrots to desired size. Whole carrots can be cut into 2” sticks or coins. Or use baby carrots that don’t need cut, just washed. 

Place washed and cut carrots into a pot of salted water.

Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 20-30 minutes. Don’t overcook the carrots, cook just until a fork inserts easily.

Drain water. Reduce heat to low. Add dairy-free butter, brown sugar, and salt to the drained pot of carrots. Stir continuously for 5-7 minutes, tossing carrots in the sweet mixture until it’s bubbly and hot.

Serve immediately, pouring excess sweet butter over the carrots.

Store leftovers in refrigerator and reheat next day. 

Hope you enjoy these candied carrots as much as our family does!

Jan 2012