Maybe it’s the fact that I was born and raised in California, but I’ve never had an issue eating vegetables. When I was a little girl, my mom had to fight me not to eat all the salad, beets, cauliflower or green beans that she would serve along whatever main dish was for dinner.

In fact, when I was younger, I was famous for steaming whole bags of frozen broccoli and eating just that for dinner (covered in heaps of melty cheddar cheese of course). I just love veggies.

One of my absolute favorite dishes my mom would make is glazed carrots. They usually only made an appearance on the dinner table on Sunday nights when my dad, who traveled during the week for work, would reliably be home and we’d all gather around the table to reconnect as a family over a meal.

Her glazed carrots were served swimming in a sweet buttery glaze that clung to each carrot round making it shimmer in the shallow bowl. They were soft—not mushy—and sugary. Since carrots are fairly sweet on their own, this dish was an extra special dessert-like treat I always anticipated with joy.

My mom usually made this recipe by bringing chunks of creamy butter, heaps of white sugar and water to a gentle boil, turning the whole mixture into a thick syrup. She would add carrot chunks to this brew and gently poach them until they were just cooked through.

For the life of me, no matter how hard I try, I can’t recreate my mom’s carrots. I think it’s just one of those things where nostalgia makes it seem more impossible than it actually is. I gave up trying a long time ago and just resigned myself to begging her to make them whenever she comes to visit me in Atlanta.

That being said, through my many, many  failure attempts, I have come up with my own glazed carrot recipe that I absolutely LOVE.

Living in Georgia has introduced me to so many Southern pantry staples and one of my absolute favorites is sorghum syrup. When I was working as a barista at Bread & Butterfly restaurant, we served the most amazing buttermilk pancakes topped with sticky-sweet sorghum syrup. It was legit love at first bite.

What Is Sorghum?

Sorghum is a molasses-like sweetener that arrived to the United States via the slave trade. Unlike molasses, which is the byproduct of sugar cane, sorghum comes from the sorghum plant, which actually looks a lot like corn.

For this recipe, I roasted heirloom carrots in the oven--which sounds fancy AF but they are from Trader Joe’s--until they had a nice char on them. Then, in a medium-sized skillet, I took some butter and sorghum syrup and heated it until the butter fully incorporated into the sauce. I topped all of this off with some crunchy Maldon salt for texture (and because I’m a sucker for a sweet and salty mix) and boom, I had a dish that took all of $12 bucks to make and, as an added bonus, reminded me so much of my mommy’s glazed carrots.

These carrots would be perfect served alongside my favorite brown butter pork chops or even next to some well seasoned buttermilk fried chicken.

However you choose to enjoy them, I hope they give you as many lasting family memories as my mother’s version has given me.

I’ve tried my best to answer any questions you might have below but if you have anymore leave me a comment or hit me up on Instagram.

I don’t have sorghum syrup, what can I use instead?
If you don’t have sorghum syrup at home, feel free to substitute for maple syrup or just a simple syrup.

I don’t have carrots at home, what other vegetable could I use?
If you don’t happen to have carrots at home but want to make this recipe, it would also work with sweet potatoes. Just make sure to cut the potatoes in the small, uniform slices to ensure quick cook time.

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Sorghum Roasted Carrots

Yield: 2-3 people

Author: Ryan Shepard

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min

Ingredients

• 2 pound (or one bag) heirloom carrots (I like the ones from Trader Joe’s)
• ½ cup sorghum syrup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons evoo
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Maldon salt
• Garnish: Fresh Thyme or Rosemary

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel carrots, cut them in half and place them on a large baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes or until lightly charred.
2. Remove carrots from the oven and set aside.
3. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add butter and wait until it’s melted. Add in sorghum syrup and whisk together until butter and syrup are well combined.
4. Pour syrup over carrots and top with smoked maldon salt and herbs if using such as fresh. Serve immediately.

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