How to Show Only Hours and Minutes in Laravel Blade (HH:MM)

I hit this while building a simple schedule page in Laravel. My database time was coming through as something like 09:30:00 or sometimes a full datetime (2026-01-12 09:30:00), but on the UI I only wanted the clean part: hours and minutes (HH:MM).

Contents

Best method: Use Carbon format(‘H:i’) in Blade
12-hour format (AM/PM)
Cleanest approach for projects: Create a model accessor
Quick fallback: If the value is always like 09:30:00
Timezone note (important if you store datetimes)
Outbound + internal links (helps Yoast)
Final thoughts

At first I tried a quick substring, and it “worked”… until I realized some values were Carbon instances already, some were strings, and timezones could bite me later. So I switched to a proper approach using Carbon formatting. In this guide, I’ll show you the best ways to get only hours and minutes in Laravel Blade—including a clean model accessor option.

Best method: Use Carbon format(‘H:i’) in Blade

If your value is already a Carbon instance (common with created_at, updated_at, and casted datetime columns), this is the simplest:

{{ $model->created_at->format('H:i') }}

Result: 09:30

If your value might be a string, parse it first:

{{ \Carbon\Carbon::parse($time)->format('H:i') }}

This handles:

09:30:00
2026-01-12 09:30:00
Most reasonable time/datetime strings

12-hour format (AM/PM)

If your audience prefers AM/PM, use:

{{ \Carbon\Carbon::parse($time)->format('h:i A') }}

Result: 09:30 AM

Cleanest approach for projects: Create a model accessor

When I realized I needed HH:MM in multiple Blade files, I stopped repeating formatting in views and moved it into the model. This keeps Blade clean and avoids copy/paste formatting everywhere.

Example: if you have a column called start_time (stored as time or datetime), add an accessor in your model:

// app/Models/Event.php
public function getStartTimeHmAttribute()
{
    if (!$this->start_time) return null;

    return \Carbon\Carbon::parse($this->start_time)->format('H:i');
}

Now in Blade you can simply do:

{{ $event->start_time_hm }}

This is the approach I recommend if the same formatting is used in multiple places.

Quick fallback: If the value is always like 09:30:00

If you are 100% sure your value is always HH:MM:SS, the quick (but less flexible) option is trimming the string:

{{ substr($time, 0, 5) }}

I only use this in small projects or when the value is guaranteed to be a TIME string. Otherwise, Carbon is safer.

Timezone note (important if you store datetimes)

If your column is a full datetime and your app uses timezones, make sure you’re formatting in the correct timezone. For example:

{{ $model->starts_at->timezone(config('app.timezone'))->format('H:i') }}

For plain TIME fields (only time, no date), timezone usually isn’t involved—but for real schedules using datetimes, it matters.

Outbound + internal links (helps Yoast)

Final thoughts

If you want the best “always works” solution, use Carbon: format('H:i'). If you’ll reuse the format across your app, create a model accessor so your Blade stays clean. And if you’re working with real datetimes (not just TIME strings), keep timezones in mind.