Slow Cooker Root Vegetables with Apple Cider Glaze
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Lightly sweet, tender carrots and root vegetables in a buttery apple cider glaze. Make this recipe in a slow cooker for a convenient and delicious holiday side dish.
Root vegetables are wonderful to cook in your slow cooker. While roasting root vegetables is the best way to achieve a more rustic caramelized finish, you can’t get around the convenience of slow-cooking them.
A few hours in the slow-cooker magically turns them into sweet, tender nuggets like nothing else can.
Plus, when you — or your oven— are busy doing other things, this lovely bouquet of cold-weather vegetables quietly does its thing on the kitchen counter, cooking in a bath of butter and apple cider.
I turned to apple cider to complement the sweetness of the vegetables, and also to celebrate the spirit of fall.
Reducing apple cider on the stovetop takes less than 15 minutes. It’s a quick step that concentrates the natural sugars in the cider. The reduced juice is mixed with honey (or maple syrup) and butter, then combined with the vegetables.
Put in all in the slow cooker and walk away for 3 hours. When they’re done, you’ll have tender vegetables in a tasty glaze.
Mix up the variety of roots or keep it simple with just one or two of family’s favorites vegetables. Just be sure the vegetables are cut to the same size so that they cook evenly.
- Carrots
- Sweet Potatoes
- Yukon Gold
- Parsnips
- Butternut squash
Slow Cooker Root Vegetables with Apple Cider Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 ml) apple cider
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) butter
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey or maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 pounds (1.35 kg) mixed root vegetables of your choice, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, etc, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
- Chopped fresh thyme
Instructions
- Boil the cider in a small saucepan until it's reduced by half (½ cup). Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, honey, salt and black pepper to taste.
- Put the vegetables in the slow cooker and pour the cider mixture over. Stir to coat.
- Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours. Serve warm sprinkled with fresh thyme.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Check the vegetables during the last 15 minutes of cooking. If you’d like a thicker glaze, remove the lid and cook on high for 10 – 15 minutes to reduce the liquid a bit more.
- To make your vegetables a little dressier, sprinkle on some toasted chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts, and grated Gruyere or Parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
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I am serving 12 guests. What is the best way to double this recipe?
Sylvia – At the top of the recipe just above the ingredients list, click on the button that says “2x” which will show you the adjusted amounts. Doubling the recipe to serve 12 should work fine if your slow cooker has an extra-large capacity of 7 quarts or more. Otherwise, you might want to cook it in 2 batches.
I made this tonight with a combo of butternut squash, sweet potatoes and parsnips. It was delicious! My cider had cinnamon in it which gave some nice additional flavor. I added a little finely chopped rosemary, sage and thyme in the crockpot while it was cooking but otherwise kept the recipe the same but cooked it a little extra because I like those vegetables a little softer. Thanks for the tasty, easy recipe!
I don’t have cider, can I use apple juice?
Hi Pat – Yes, you can use apple juice.