As Easter nears, it’s possible the holiday is going to look a bit different for you than you initially planned. Maybe your travel plans got cancelled, or the big family gathering you were going to host is now put on hold. I planned to share three brand new side dishes for Easter this week, and even though we’ll be enjoying a quiet holiday at home with just the five of us, I still want to celebrate the day with a delicious meal. I’ve slowly been outsourcing all our protein main courses for holidays to Kevin to make on his Big Green Egg. Even though I roast a whole turkey for Thanksgiving, he smokes turkey legs as well. He also will be doing beef tenderloin for Christmas, and he makes our Easter ham as well. That leaves me in charge of appetizers, side dishes, and desserts. Still a lot! But to make my life easier, I plan to make one side dish for each holiday in the Instant Pot, like these instant pot glazed carrots with maple and bourbon.
I just finalized our Easter menu this past weekend! We’ll be having ham, potato salad, these instant pot glazed carrots, a green bean mushroom casserole. For dessert I normally make a layer cake, but because it’s just us I think I’m going to make peach cobbler! Layer cakes use a lot of ingredients and since baking staples have been selling out at grocery stores, I’m going to forgo the traditional layer cake this year. But if you can find the ingredients for it, my carrot cake recipe is absolutely perfect.
As a family, we have our Thanksgiving menu perfected, but Christmas and Easter are two holidays that I want to nail down side dishes that become tradition for those holidays. Just like people think of stuffing for Thanksgiving, I want side dishes that remind us of Christmas and Easter. Now Kevin doesn’t care for glazed carrots or sweet potatoes, which means I may be making multiple side dishes, but I’m ok with that! Glazed carrots will absolutely be a staple on our Easter menu, and I’m going to start making sweet potatoes casserole for Christmas as well.
I hope that these instant pot glazed carrots make it onto your Easter menu!
- 2½ lbs. carrots, peeled and cut on a diagonal
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 2 tbsp. bourbon
- 4 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. water
- Set your instant pot to sauté and melt butter. Add bourbon and cook for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol. Turn off the heat. Add maple syrup, salt, and pepper.
- Add the carrots to the instant pot and toss to combine. Set to high pressure for one minute.
- For very tender carrots, cook at high pressure for one minute then immediately release the pressure and remove the lid once pressure is released. For carrots that still have a bit of a bite, release the pressure once the instant pot comes to pressure BEFORE the one minute of cooking time begins. Either way, the carrots will be delicious, it just depends on what texture you like your carrots!
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the carrots from the instant pot and set in a serving dish. Whisk together cornstarch in water in a small bowl and add to instant pot. Set to "sauté" and cook until sauce is thickened. This will only take a few minutes. Then drizzle sauce over carrots.
- Enjoy!
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[…] week is about Easter side dishes. On Monday I shared my favorite maple bourbon glazed carrots, made in the instant pot and cooking in just one minute. And today we have these herb and […]