Whisky Glazed Vichy Style Carrots + video!

Sweet and buttery with that warming hint of good Scotch whisky. These Vichy glazed carrots are perfect for your festive feast. Actually for any meal where you want some really super tasty easy cook carrots on the side.

Carrots are an everyday veggie that we seldom give much thought to. They are just the orange bit on a plate. But carrots shouldn’t be boring, especially at Christmas. So let’s try something different. Ramp up those flavours and keep things quick and easy too.

Why you’ll love these carrots

• This is such a quick dish to make. Ready in 20 minutes!
• They taste totally delicious.
• Super easy, hardly any prep involved.

For me no roast is complete without carrots. And at Christmas I have to go the whole hog (or should that be turkey!) with sprouts, parsnips, roast potatoes, red cabbage, peas and of course carrots.

But how to liven them up a bit? I often roast my carrots along with the parsnips. This was the method of choice for my carrots for years.

Then I decided to split them from their beloved parsnips in the oven. Quite honestly I don’t think Kevin the carrot will ever forgive me, divorce from Penny the parsnip has been so traumatic!

Anyway, I decided to do Vichy glazed carrots instead. Sounds as this might be more hassle than chucking Kevin and his mates in the oven. Well no, cooking in the French Vichy style is really easy.

Vichy style just means that the vegetables are cooked in butter and a little water and the water evaporates as the carrots cook. What you end up with are gorgeously tender veggies flavoured with butter and any herbs that you’ve added in there.

Ingredients

Chantenay carrots. Slice them in half lengthways if they are quite large so they will cook quicker. See notes on using other types of carrots for this recipe.

Garlic. I love the flavour of garlic with carrots. But instead of slicing or mincing the garlic which makes it much more pungent, simply peel the garlic and throw it in with the carrots. This keeps the flavour mild.

Butter, oh yes, you need butter to add that richness and all-important glaze to these delicious carrots.

Sugar for sweetness. You could use honey instead if you like just use the same measurement.

Whisky. Well, these are whisky glazed carrots so missing out on the scotch might just be considered rude, never knowingly rude and all that. Anyway, this is entirely optional you can just go for Vichy glazed carrots instead using this recipe without the hooch.

How to make whisky glazed Vichy carrots

Oh I do love an easy recipe and this one really couldn’t be much simpler.

All you need to do is throw all the ingredients into a pan along with 150ml of water get it boiling then pop on the lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

Now remove the lid and give them another 10 minutes and they should be glossy and tender and have sucked up most of the liquid.

Serve immediately sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Notes on carrots

As it’s Christmas and I like things to look a wee bit fancier than normal I’ve gone for those tiny Chantenay carrots. They are sweet in flavour, cook quickly and look really cute in the dish. Oh, and they don’t need peeling either, just a wash and dry before cooking.

If using full-sized carrots you’ll have a wee bit of peeling to do first and cut them either into rings, sliced at a jaunty angle or in batons. Just remember that the more surface area there is on the carrots the more flavour they will absorb and the quicker they’ll cook.

You could use frozen sliced carrots too but do remember that they already contain water so use less when you are cooking them Vichy style.

Serving and storage

Vichy style carrots must be served hot. They will lose their lovely glazed look if left to go cold. Since they are so quick to cook you can leave them to the last minute and just pop that serving dish on to the table the minute they are cooked.

I like to serve whisky glazed carrots with everything from a standard roast to a side with everything from my super easy chicken and leek pie to pork chops with sage and apple. Their lovely bright colour and wonderful taste will compliment any main dish.

Looking for a different way to cook turkey? Then try my Greek-style turkey roast.

And don’t forget the cranberry relish either.

Brussels sprouts with chorizo and rosemary

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.