Instant Pot Carrots (No Added Sugar)
This recipe for Instant Pot Carrots is so easy and delicious. It makes the perfect healthy side dish for a holiday meal or for an ordinary weeknight. This 20-minute vegetarian recipe is made without sugar.
Isn’t it great that it only takes 2 minutes to cook carrots in a pressure cooker?
If you’re like me, you’re always looking for an easy vegetable side dish to go with dinner. I tend to make a simple green salad or steamed or roasted vegetables.
These steamed carrots are sweet, perfectly cooked and delicious. They’re amazing for a quick and easy side dish.
Recipe Benefits
- This super easy recipe is a perfect side dish that goes with almost any main dish. It’s simple enough to serve everyday, but you can also add it to your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter menu.
- It’s vegetarian, vegan-friendly, gluten-free, and made without added sugar! This recipe tastes delicious with coconut oil instead of butter for a flavorful vegan version. You can also use a vegan butter for dairy allergies or other dairy-free diets.
- Carrots have health benefits including that they are a rich source of carotenoids and beta-carotene. They also have natural sugars which make tender carrots taste sweet even without sugar.
- It’s done in 20 minutes which includes the time to come to pressure and the cook time. The only thing you have to prep are the carrots but you can buy baby carrots and sidestep prep work altogether if you like (see my related recipe for Air Fryer Baby Carrots).
Key Ingredients
- Carrots cook perfectly in the instant pot and have a natural sweetness that goes well with creamy ghee and earthy thyme. For dairy-free diets, use coconut oil instead of ghee or butter. Carrots are available all year round and are a great budget-friendly food item (see all of my tips for eating clean on a budget). You can even use frozen carrots in this recipe (see my guide on how to freeze carrots). If you want to use whole carrots, just slice them into bite-sized pieces before cooking them.
- Fresh thyme or dried thyme adds floral and earthy notes to the sweet cooked carrots. Feel free to use your favorite herbs including rosemary, oregano, or a combination of them.
- Ghee, butter, vegan butter, or coconut oil adds a rich and decadent buttery flavor that pairs so nicely with carrots. If you aren’t on a dairy-free or vegan diet, you can use regular butter.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Steps
Step One
For this easy Instant Pot recipe, wash two pounds of carrots and chop them into about 1-inch chunks. You can cut them on the diagonal to make them prettier.
You can also use baby carrots, if you prefer. Baby carrots do not need to be chopped for this recipe.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Step Two
Place the chopped carrots in a 6-quart electric pressure cooker pot with one cup of water and set the cook time to 2 minutes on high pressure.
Be sure your steaming vent is set to sealed.
You don’t need the trivet or a steamer basket for this recipe.
Step Three
Once the cooking time is complete, use the quick release, and drain the carrots to get rid of the water.
For softer carrots, you can use the natural pressure release for 2-5 minutes.
Step Four
Lastly, toss them with ghee, butter, vegan butter, or coconut oil, and fresh thyme, and you’re done!
If you don’t have fresh thyme on hand, you can always use dried thyme or any other fresh herbs you like.
I hope you agree that this Instant Pot Carrot recipe is a great side dish with simple ingredients. Pressure cooker carrots are a favorite way to cook veggies on a busy weeknight.
Want a variation of this recipe? Try my Pressure Cooker Carrots and Potatoes!
Recipe Tips
- Use baby carrots in this recipe, if you prefer. Baby carrots do not need to be chopped so this will save you time.
- The Instant Pot is a pressure cooker that uses steam to cook food. So, steaming vegetables in the Instant Pot is a perfect fit. You generally only need about 0-3 minutes of cook time at high pressure to create a perfectly-steamed non-starchy vegetable (unless you’re cooking Instant Pot Artichokes, those need a lot more time).
- Are you new to cooking in an Instant Pot? See my guide to using the Instant Pot Duo.
- Store any leftover cooked carrots in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Always be cautious when using the quick pressure release to make sure you don’t burn yourself from the steam.
Recipe FAQs
For delicate vegetables like Instant Pot Broccoli that you don’t want to overcook, you would set the time for 0 minutes. Then, you would use the quick-release after the pot beeps and you’re done. Because carrots are a lot harder than broccoli, I recommend cooking them for two minutes.
No, you do not. Just place the carrots and water directly into the pot.
Yes, just toss a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup to the serving dish with the cooked carrots if you want the recipe to be sweeter.
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes You Might Like
- Instant Pot Cauliflower Florets
- Instant Pot Cooked Cabbage
- Instant Pot Whole Butternut Squash
- Instant Pot Whole Sweet Potatoes
- Instant Pot Whole Red Potatoes
Don’t Miss These Instant Pot Resources!
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Instant Pot Carrots (No Added Sugar)
This recipe for Instant Pot Carrots is so easy and delicious. It makes the perfect healthy side dish for a holiday meal or for an ordinary weeknight. This 20-minute vegetarian recipe is made without sugar.
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 8
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh carrots, washed
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme, chopped
- 1 tablespoon melted ghee, butter, or coconut oil*
Instructions
- Chop the carrots into approximately 1-inch chunks.
- Place the water in the base of a 6-quart pressure cooker. Add the carrots.
- Lock on the lid and make sure the valve is set to seal. Set the cook time to 2 minutes on high pressure.
- When the cooking time is complete, carefully quick-release the pressure.
- Remove the lid and pour the carrots and water into a colander.
- Add the drained carrots to a serving dish and pour over the melted ghee or coconut oil. Toss with the thyme and serve hot or at room temperature.
Notes
- *Use coconut oil or vegan butter to make this recipe vegan.
- Use baby carrots in this recipe, if you prefer. Baby carrots do not need to be chopped so this will save you time.
- The total cooking time includes 10 minutes for the pot to come up to pressure.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Electric Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Gluten Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe
- Calories: 62
- Sugar: 5.4 g
- Sodium: 78.3 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.9 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 1.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
About the Author: Carrie Forrest is the author of the best-selling Instant Pot-authorized cookbook, The Healthy Meal Prep Instant Pot Cookbook. She has a master’s degree in public health with a specialty in nutrition and receives over 5 million annual visitors to her site. Send Carrie a message through her contact form.
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These were delicious! Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out great. Thanks!
So glad to hear that! 🙂
If you use 3X does the time change ?
No the time is the same. Enjoy!
I followed recipe and it’s great. Why put the carrots in the water vs above? The vitamins end up in water. The water was too good to throw out- very sweet- so I used in my green smoothie.
I can’t imagine Easter without carrots, and instant pot version is so good. Lovely bright photography.
Beautiful carrots! This is a great recipe to have on hand when things get chaotic for a big family dinner. Just throw it in the magical IP and forget about it! The thyme makes such a wonderful additional of flavor.
I’m not usually a big fan of plain cooked carrots, but I have to admit I love the simplicity of this dish! And I really like that you could mix it up with different herbs and spices, to change it up each time.