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Learn how to make the best quick pickled carrots – Mexican-style! These are great to serve with tacos, enchiladas as so much more! These are so good you can munch on them as a snack!
Quick Pickled Carrots that will become a fridge staple for you!
These add color, crunch, and just a hint of spice from the pepper brine to your tacos, enchiladas and so much more.
These are an amazing palette cleanser. Zanahorias en escabeche is the Mexican restaurant equivalent of pickled ginger from a sushi bar.
Quick pickling is my favorite way to consume cold veggies, especially in the summertime – it is the best snack. I find myself loading pickled carrots and jalapeños into my Baja shrimp tacos. I take bite fulls with my chipotle chicken crunchwraps. Grilled carne asada or any other protein with Mexican Rice and quick pickled vegetables work like a charm when you want a flavorful dinner recipe. And don’t even get me started on how good they are added into my spicy fish taco bowls.
Ingredients for quick pickled carrots
- White Vinegar: We’ll making the vinegar mixture with equal parts water and vinegar. Feel free to swap the white vinegar with apple cider vinegar if you don’t have distilled vinegar on hand.
- Kosher Salt:What would a pickle recipe be without a source of sodium? We’ll add the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a saucepan along with tons of add ins and bring it to a simmer so that salt and sugar dissolve before we allow the carrots, onions, and jalapeños to soak in the brining liquid.
- Sugar: adds a hint of sweetness and balances the salty and tangy elements in this recipe.
- Add-ins: Think, bay leaves, black peppercorns, Mexican oregano, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, or anything else you like. I typically use a few of these, but you could certainly add all of these if you’d like. Though the mustard seeds aren’t typically to a Mexican-style quick pickled carrot recipe. I should also add that you can pickle other vegetables in this mixture too. Cauliflower and radishes work well in this mixture as well.
- Carrots: this is the best way to consume carrots, which are loaded with nutrition – think a good amount of fiber and a moderate level of vitamin C. Slice the carrots thin using a mandolin or a sharp knife if you want them to be extra soft by the time they are done steeping in the vinegar mixture or cut them slightly thicker (medium-sized slices) if you like a bit of crunch.
- Onions: thick sliced onions pickle with the carrots and jalapeños in the pickling liquid.
- Jalapeno Peppers: fresh jalapeños add plenty of heat to the recipe.
- Serrano Pepper: I like to just cut a slit and throw one or two of these into the picklingjar to give it a new dimension of deliciousness.
- Garlic Cloves: though you can certainly eat the pickled garlic cloves as well, I usually just add these for flavor.
How to Make Mexican Pickled Carrots:
- Prep and bring to a boil. Grab the carrots, give them a good wash. Then, dry, peel, and slice them into slices. You can use this cutter to make crinkle cuts in the carrots but this is totally optional. Grab a small saucepan and add the water, vinegar, salt, sugar, bay leaves, black peppercorns, and oregano to a boil.
- Simmer in the liquid. Add the carrots, jalapenos, onions, Serrano pepper, and garlic to the liquid and let the veggies simmer for a few minutes so that they often slightly.
- Cool it off. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the veggies steep in this for a few minutes.
- Store this. Carefully transfer the pickled veggies to a clean jarring tongs. Then pour the liquid into the jar over the carrots and jalapeños.Make sure the veggies are submerged in the vinegar mixture. You can taste and enjoy these pickles now, because they are ready to eat. But, I prefer them cooled down in the refrigerator so I always give them a few hours to chill.
Other carrot recipes to use up that bag:
- Super Moist Carrot Cake Muffins
- Spicy Thai Carrot Soup
- Garlic Butter Roasted Carrots
- Harissa Roasted Carrots with Whipped Feta
- Vietnamese Chicken Bowls with Carrot Ribbons
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Easy Refrigerator Pickles
- Quick Pickled Onions
- Pickle-Brined Crispy Chicken Sandwich
- Pickled Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
- Charred Corn Avocado Salad with Pickled Onions
Mexican Quick Pickled Carrots with Jalapeños
Learn how to make the best quick pickled carrots – Mexican-style! These are great to serve with tacos, enchiladas as so much more! These are so good you can munch on them as a snack!
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons cane sugar
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- 1 pound carrots peeled then sliced in ¼ inch rounds
- ¼ white onion sliced
- 2 jalapeños sliced cut into ¼ inch rounds
- 1 serrano pepper whole with a slit
- 6 cloves garlic
Instructions
- BOIL: Bring the water, vinegar, salt, sugar, bay leaves, black peppercorns, and oregano to a boil in a medium saucepan.
- SIMMER: Once boiling, add the sliced carrots, onions, sliced jalapeños, Serrano, and garlic and let it simmer in the vinegar mixture for 2-3 minutes over medium heat so that they just simmer.
- COOL: Remove the saucepan from heat, and allow the veggies for cool for 5 minutes in the vinegar.
- TRANSFER: Then carefully transfer the pickled veggies to a clean jar using tongs. Carefully pour the liquid over the veggies and ensure they are all submerged.
- STORE: The pickled carrots are ready to use at this point, but they do taste better once the carrots have sat for a few hours in the vinegar mixture and cooled down. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.
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Delicious and easy!
So happy to hear you enjoyed these, Sarah! Appreciate you circling back to leave a review 🙂