Bourbon Glazed Carrots

Looking for a low sodium side dish for a holiday or special occasion? This recipe for low sodium bourbon glazed carrots will wow your family and friends. These no salt added bourbon-glazed carrots pair well with a holiday turkey or a celebratory steak dinner.

Carrots naturally have sodium, so this is not a sodium-free dish. But it is a no-salt-added side dish since none of the ingredients – beyond the carrots – contain sodium. Unfortunately, a food’s naturally occurring sodium still counts as salt consumption, so you do have to take it into account when you plan your meal. At 91 mg of salt per serving (less if you get more than 6 servings out of the dish) these bourbon-glazed carrots are a tasty low sodium side dish.

Yes, the recipe calls for bourbon but these carrots are ok to serve to those under 21 or to adults that abstain from consuming alcohol. During the cooking process, the alcohol content will be burned off. Of course, if you prefer, you could just leave the bourbon out of the recipe! They will still taste good.

TRY BROWNING YOUR BUTTER

If you want to take this low sodium side dish to the next level, brown your butter before adding the carrots. Browning butter is an easy – and quick – step that will create a wonderfully nutty aroma.

By cooking the butter a little past the melting point, the milk solids in the butter are toasted and take on a nutty, caramel flavor. It’s super easy to make brown butter, here’s what you need to know:

• Melt your unsalted butter in a thick-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Using a thick-bottomed pan will ensure your heat is evenly distributed.
• Once melted the butter will foam up a bit, then subside. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan.
• Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma.
• As you begin to notice a decent amount of browning, add your carrots. Once your carrots are in the pan, continuously stir so that you don’t end up scorching part of your butter.

SAVE TIME: USE FROZEN CARROTS

If you want to save yourself some prep time, consider using a bag of frozen carrots. Not only do you save time by not having to peel the carrots, but the carrots are already chopped into equal-sized pieces for you!

Just remember to use frozen carrots instead of canned carrots. First, frozen carrots do not have any added salt. The same can’t be said for canned carrots. Plus, canned carrots seem to lack the crisp texture and fresh taste of frozen carrots.

Some people are concerned that when you use frozen carrots you are trading nutritional value for convenience. But that is not necessarily the case. Carrots make the list of six foods that are healthier frozen. The reason? Carrots are flash-frozen shortly after harvest which means the nutritional value remains preserved.

WHEN IT COMES TO BOURBON…REACH FOR THE GOOD STUFF

As I said earlier, the alcohol content of your bourbon will burn off during the cooking process. So, after that happens what are you left with? The taste of the bourbon! Therefore, you don’t want to purchase some cheap bourbon that tastes like rubbing alcohol because your carrots will taste a bit like rubbing alcohol.

I hear a lot of you saying, “but I don’t know bourbon.” That’s ok. You don’t have to be a bourbon expert. Check out The 8 Best Cheap Bourbons as a place to start. You can also go to the liquor store and ask the clerk for a good inexpensive bourbon.

And if bourbon isn’t your thing, you don’t have to purchase a big bottle! Most liquor stores carry small bottles, often called “mini bottles”. The selection will be smaller but grabbing a couple of those will save you money and prevent you from having a lot of liquor leftover.