Sweet and Spicy Instant Pot Carrots

Ah carrots. The neglected vegetable. Never the star of the meal, or even the highlight of a dish. Usually added (at least in our house) as a second or third tier vegetable in soups, stews and casseroles. Around this time of year, we have an influx of home grown carrots (thanks this year to my father-in-law and his beauty of a garden!), and darn it, these carrots are so beautiful they deserve to be in the spotlight for once. Carrots can shine in this recipe for sweet and spicy carrots in the instant pot! Some may be familiar with this dish as deviled or devilish carrots! 😀 I know I’ve mentioned that I love my Instant Pot on a few occasions, but seriously- how can you not love something that cooks anything in ONE minute!?

This dish is paleo and vegan (sub coconut oil)! It came together so quickly and easily, and you can certainly omit the hot sauce for (messy) toddler finger food. Pro tip: watch the sauce- the Instant Pot gets H O T and if you aren’t watching, the molasses could burn. Luckily, it is so quick that you don’t have to watch it long.

This recipe calls for blackstrap molasses as the “sweet”, and it is important to choose a good quality molasses to preserve the natural vitamins and minerals.  I’ve been replacing what little sugar we do eat with blackstrap molasses, simply because it is one of the few sweeteners that actually has nutritional values! In fact:

Unlike refined sugar, which has zero nutritional value, blackstrap molasses contains vital vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium. About 5 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses contains 50 percent of the recommended daily allowance of calcium, 95 percent of iron, and 38 percent of magnesium.

Plus it just has a delicious, deep, almost nostalgic flavor that you can’t get with regular sugar. Maybe it’s just me- my mom is allergic to chocolate, so I have lots of memories of making yummy snicker-doodles and molasses cookies growing up. 😀 Whatever the case, you can find high quality molasses here:

Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses — 16 fl oz

Equipment

• • Instant Pot
  • Steamer Basket
  • Instant Pot Mitts

Ingredients

• 1 lb carrots
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup Organic Blackstrap Molasses
• 2 tablespoons Kerrygold Butter
• 2 teaspoons Ground Mustard
• 2 tablespoons Stone Ground or Yellow Mustard
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 2 teaspoons minced Garlic
• Hot Sauce (to taste)
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Instructions

1. Cut your carrots lengthwise into quarters- and cut those in half if need be. We had delicious home grown carrots that were quite thick- I could have cut the quarters in half- if that makes sense 😀 You want them to be about the size of carrot sticks you might get served at a restaurant, or the size your mom cut them when you told her you were hungry and she made you carrots as a snack.
2. Add one cup of water to the Instant Pot, then add the trivet or steam basket, then add your carrots. Put the lid on, make sure the valve is set to sealing.
3. Set the Instant Pot for Manual – High – 1 Minute. Release the pressure using the quick release method.
4. Carefully set aside the carrots (which should be fully cooked through- you can test with a fork), and dump out the water.
5. Set the Instant Pot to Saute.
6. Add in butter and molasses. When the butter has melted, add in the remaining ingredients- and stir together.
7. When everything is well mixed (shouldn’t take more than a minute or so) turn the Instant Pot off and add the carrots back into the pot.
8. Stir to coat the carrots with the sauce mixture.

Serve with an extra splash of hot sauce- if you dare! My husband’s comment was that the sauce would be perfect for lil smokies! I agree- that would be perfect. You could also just use baby carrots for this recipe, and have a super easy potluck or tailgating snack! If you use baby carrots, I might cut the cooking time down to 0 minutes in the Instant Pot. 😀 Would love to hear how you dress up these Sweet and Spicy Instant Pot Carrots!