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 recipe is vegan-friendly and gluten-free.

Instant pot cooked carrots with thyme

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 glazed carrots are sweet, perfectly cooked and delicious.

Isn’t it great that it only takes 2 minutes to cook carrots in a pressure cooker? That does not include the approximate 10 minutes for the pot to come up to pressure or the 5 minutes of prep time. Still, this dish can be done start to finish in less than 20 minutes.

Contents hide
1 Why You Need This Recipe
2 Key Ingredients
3 Recipe Steps
4 Recipe Tips & Substitutions
5 FAQs
6 More Easy Instant Pot Side Dishes You Might Like
7 Instant Pot Carrots

Why You Need This Recipe

  • This super easy recipe is a great side dish that goes with almost any main dish.
  • It’s vegan-friendly and gluten-free! 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.
  • It’s done in 20 minutes. 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.

Fresh thyme or dried thyme adds floral and earthy notes to the sweet cooked carrots. Feel free to use your favorite herbs.

Ghee, butter, vegan butter, or coconut oil adds a rich and decadent buttery flavor that pairs so nicely with carrots.

Ingredients for instant pot carrots

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. 

As always, please do see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.

How to make carrots in the instant pot

Step Two

Place the chopped carrots in a 6-quart Instant 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, all you have to do is drain the carrots, 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 herb you like.

A close up of cooked carrots

Recipe Tips & Substitutions

  • 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).

FAQs

How do you cook vegetables in the Instant Pot for zero minutes?

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.

Do you need the trivet or a steamer basket for this recipe?

No, you do not. Just place the carrots and water directly into the pot.

More Easy Instant Pot Side Dishes You Might Like

Or, check out my round-up of the best healthy Instant Pot Side Dishes!

You might also like our Instant Pot Carrots web story.

cooked carrots in casserole dish

I hope you make this recipe! If you do, please leave a comment and a starred review below.

And, consider following me on social media so we can stay connected. I’m on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube!

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bowl with cooked carrots topped with fresh thyme

Instant Pot Carrots

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Description

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 is a 20-minute recipe that is vegan-friendly and gluten-free.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 pounds fresh carrots, washed
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon melted ghee, butter, or coconut oil*

Instructions

  1. Chop the carrots into approximately 1-inch chunks.
  2. Place the water in the base of a 6-quart pressure cooker. Add the carrots.
  3. Lock on the lid and make sure the valve is set to seal. Set the cook time to 2 minutes on high pressure.
  4. When the cooking time is complete, carefully quick-release the pressure.
  5. Remove the lid and pour the carrots and water into a colander.
  6. 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

  1. *Use coconut oil or vegan butter to make this recipe vegan.
  2. Use baby carrots in this recipe, if you prefer. Baby carrots do not need to be chopped so this will save you time.
  3. 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: Instant Pot pressure cooker
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: pressure cooker carrots, instant pot vegetables, instant pot steamed vegetables

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