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 I have to admit 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.

• Carrots
• Sweet Potatoes
• Yukon Gold
• Parsnips
• Butternut squash

Just be sure the vegetables are cut to the same size so that they cook evenly.

More Hearty Vegetable Side Dishes:

• Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Grapes and Feta
• Harvest Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Chimichurri
• Brown Butter Green Beans with Hazelnuts and Thyme
• French Potato Cake with Leeks and Gruyere

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Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Slow Cooker Root Vegetables with Apple Cider Glaze

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A great holiday vegetable side dish to make in your slow cooker - mixed carrots, sweet potatoes and squash in  a buttery apple cider glaze.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup apple cider
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 pounds mixed root vegetables of your choice (carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, etc), peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
• Chopped fresh thyme

Instructions

1. Boil the cider in a small saucepan until it's reduced by half (1/2 cup). Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, honey, salt and black pepper to taste.
2. Put the vegetables in the slow cooker and pour the cider mixture over. Stir to coat.
3. Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours.  Serve warm sprinkled with fresh thyme.

Notes

• 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 Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 255 Total Fat: 8g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 20mg Sodium: 319mg Carbohydrates: 40g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 10g Sugar: 16g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 7g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Nutritionix. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate with your favorite calculator.

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