Lemon Carrots – A Stove Top Carrot Recipe

Lemon Carrots are my favorite stove top carrot recipe. With a few simple ingredients and a saucepan, you will have a simple, fast cooked carrot side dish to pair with almost any dinner option. These glazed carrots use fresh lemon juice and zest, sugar and butter for a simple sauce.

Lemon Carrots

Carrots are such a great side dish that don’t get enough love in my opinion. Many people think of them as just part of a veggie tray or cooked with potatoes and a beef roast.

Repeat after me.

Carrots are more than just a vessel to eat hummus.

All you need is an easy recipe for cooked carrots. It just so happens that I found this amazing recipe in an old cook book from the employees of Eastern Airlines.

This Lemon-Glazed Carrot recipe makes these vegetables the star of the show. The lemon sauce consists of just a couple of basic ingredients, including fresh lemon. You’ll need both the lemon zest and the juice, sugar, salt and butter.

Easy Cooked Carrot Recipe

This stove top cooked carrot recipe is so easy to make. All you really need is a knife to cut the carrots thin, a way to zest lemon and a saucepan. Cooking carrots brings out the natural sweetness.

How do you zest a lemon without a zester?

I often use a small lemon zester to remove the zest from a lemon, but you could also use a larger cheese grater, a vegetable peeler or even just a sharp knife to remove the zest from a lemon.

If you use a sharp knife or a vegetable peeler, peel off the yellow peel, leaving the white pith on the lemon.  Then take your knife and chop it into small pieces.

What sauce goes good with carrots?

Lemon sauce is the perfect complement to cooked carrots.  A basic lemon sauce consists butter, sugar, salt and a fresh lemon juice and zest.

Quick Cooked Carrot Recipe

Cutting the carrots into thin slices makes these lemon carrots quick, approximately only 20 minutes on the stove top.  And while they are cooking, you can move on and focus on your main course.

What meat goes well with carrots?

Carrots goes with every meat. Here’s 10 recipes to serve along cooked carrots.

• Crock Pot Tropical Pork Roast
• 5 Ingredient Ground Beef Casserole
• Chicken Fried Steak
• Mom’s Oven Baked Pork Ribs
• Sour Cream Pork Chops
• Old Fashioned Salmon Patties
• Open Faced Tuna Melt
• 12-Minute Old-Fashioned Ham Steak
•  Pan Seared Chicken 
• 3 Ingredient Beef Steak Marinade

What ingredients do I need for lemon carrots on the stove top?

Carrots, sliced thin

Water

Sugar

Salt

Lemon Juice, (fresh if possible)

Lemon Zest

Butter (or margarine)

How to Make Lemon Glazed Carrots

Step by Step Instructions

1. Slice carrots thin.
2. Add water, carrots, sugar and salt to a heavy saucepan.  Cover and bring to boil on medium high heat for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook until the carrots and tender and the water has evaporated.
3. Add butter, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until the butter melts. If desired, garnish with fresh herbs.

For the full instructions and ingredient amounts for cooked carrots with lemon juice, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to Cook Carrots on the Stove?

Step by Step Instructions

1. Slice the carrots thin. 
2. To a saucepan, add carrots, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt just enough water to cover, approximately 1/2 cup. 
3. Cover and cook over medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes; remove the lid and continue to cook until the water is absorbed and the carrots are tender.
4. To make extra flavorful, add butter and fresh lemon juice and zest after the carrots are tender for a perfect cooked carrot with lemon recipe.

Recipe FAQs

• To make this a quick recipe, cut the carrots thin.
• Be sure to use a real lemon. You’ll need both the juice and the zest for a true lemon flavor.
• Cover the carrots for the first 10 minutes of cooking, then remove the lid and allow to cook until the water has evaporated.
• This serves 4 people.  It easily doubles or triples for a larger family.
• Check out our Amazon Store for our favorite kitchen gadgets and pantry essentials.

Recipes Using Carrots

Whole Roasted Carrots

Broccoli Cheese Soup with Shredded Carrots

Carrot Raisin Salad

Swiss Steak and Vegetables

Skillet Dinner with Kielbasa, Cabbage and Carrots

Linking up to Weekend Potluck.