Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Carrots with Onions

4.50 from 4 votes

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Carrots with Onions

Slow cooker honey garlic carrots with onions are cooked to perfection without taking up oven or stovetop space for a great potluck dish. Includes Instant Pot directions, too.

Prep Time20

Cook Time3

Total Time3 20

Course: Side Dishes

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 134kcal

Author: Jami Boys

Equipment

3 to 6 quart slow cooker

Ingredients

2 to 2½ pounds carrots, peeled & sliced*
1 large onion, peeled & diced or sliced
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup for a different flavor)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)

Instructions

Prep the carrots and onions, placing them in the bowl of the slow cooker when done. (Note: it's best to cut the carrots about the same size for even cooking.)
Add the butter, honey, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to a microwave safe bowl or saucepan. Heat slowly just until melted, about 1 minute in the microwave or a couple minutes on the stove.
Pour the butter mixture over the top of the vegetables and stir everything together well.
Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or LOW for 6-7 hours.**

Instant Pot Directions (more hands-on time, but less time overall)

Use a steamer basket inside the Instant Pot and place the cut carrots (or baby carrots) and chopped onions in the basket with 1 cup of water in the pot underneath. Cook on High pressure for 2 minutes and do a quick release and remove the vegetables to a large bowl and drain the liquid from the pot.
Turn the IP to sauté and add the remaining ingredients, stirring until butter is melted and everything is combined, 1-2 minutes. Add the carrots and onions back to the Instant Pot and stir everything together, keeping on warm until you need to serve them.

Notes

*You can use baby carrots to save time. If some are thick, slice them in half lengthwise to be closer to the size of the other carrots. If they are all thin, you may want to check them for doneness earlier, at the 2 hour or 2-1/2 hour mark.

**I always use the 3 hours on HIGH mark, since this makes the carrots still crisp-tender which we like. If you'd like your carrots softer, choose the 4 hour mark or cook on LOW.

TO MAKE AHEAD: Prepare the recipe as written through step 3 and place in the crock of the slow cooker. Put the slow cooker crock in the fridge overnight (if you can't fit the crock in your fridge, you can transfer the carrot-onion mixture to a gallon baggie, then to the crock the next day).

And if you have frozen carrots you'd like to use, this is actually the best way to use them in this recipe since they'd have time to thaw overnight while marinating.

Nutrition