Quick Pickled Carrots
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Looking for a quick and easy way to serve carrots? Look no further! In just a few steps you will have your family hooked on these delicious quick pickled carrots!
Carrots. They are one of those vegetables that can be paired with almost any meal. We love them in an apple walnut salad or served as a side of hot honey roasted carrots but if you’re tired of preparing them same old way, then check out this quick pickled carrot recipe.
We will show you how easy it is to make and customize these pickled carrots to ensure you and your family always have a healthy snack available! Our recipe is spicy so feel free to modify it if you need to tone down the spice level.
Make it along with our pickled radishes, pickled cauliflower, and dilly beans and add them to any meal.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Carrots – Cut into quarters approximately 4 inches long or shredded depending on your preference. The carrots you choose can be regular carrots or rainbow carrots but not baby carrots. Baby carrots are sweeter, snacking carrots that have already been cut and shaped into the small baby carrot that you buy in the store. They do not pickle well.
- Red Bell Pepper – thinly sliced; we use red bell peppers but if you like it really spicy you can use any type of pepper you like.
- White wine vinegar – You can use white vinegar, rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or red vinegar. Do note that if you choose to make pickled carrots with red vinegar, it will give your vegetables a slight red hue.
- Water
- Garlic – A great additive for lots of flavor.
- Sugar – You can substitute the sugar with honey, agave, maple syrup, or any artificial sweetener such as Stevia or Splenda.
- Kosher salt – You can add more salt depending on your own tastes. We recommend the salt to be non-iodized. We suggest kosher salt or sea salt. Iodized salt will turn vegetables a dark color and make your brine cloudy.
- Herbs and Spices – Fresh dill for that traditional pickle flavor, mustard seed to add a little spice, corriander seeds add a light, citrus spice to your brine, black peppercorns , and red pepper flakes for some extra heat.
You can also play with the spices, adding different ones, and adjusting the amounts to your own personal tastes! Try adding fresh ginger, daikon radishes, or red onions to your pickling mix for some interesting combos!
Want to learn more about pickling vegetables? Check out our guide on How to Make Quick Pickled Vegetables!
How to Make Pickled Carrots
- Fill jars. Divide the sliced carrots, fresh dill, and red peppers evenly between 2 wide mouth pint mason jars.
- Make brine. Add vinegar, water, garlic, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, coriander, peppercorns, and red pepper flakes to a small pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Fill jars with brine. Once the mixture reaches a boil remove it from the heat and let it cool for 2-3 minutes before pouring it into each jar. Make sure you get an even distribution of spices in each jar.
- Pickle. Let the mixture cool completely before screwing the lid on and placing the jars in the refrigerator. Let sit for 24-48 hours before eating
Best Container to Use
We recommend glass wide mouth pint jars. The glass won’t react with the vinegar and they are durable and reusable with air tight seal.
How to Cut the Carrots
You have a few options for the shape of your pickled carrots. You can do sticks, coins or slices, julienne (which means thinly cutting the carrots into matchstick sized pieces) or use a peeler to cut the carrot into thin ribbons.
The sticks and slices are best for pickling and leaving in the refrigerator. The julienned and ribbons are better for the super-fast, single serving quick pickle described below. Julienned and ribboned carrots are also great as toppings for your dishes!
Fast, Single Serving Quick Pickle
Sometimes you need some pickled carrots to add to a dish and you don’t have any on hand. You can make a super quick pickle version in just 15 minutes! This works best for julienned or ribbon cut carrots.
Place 1 cup of sliced carrots in a microwave safe bowl. Pour in 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cook in the microwave for 30 seconds, then let the carrots sit in the liquid for 10 minutes.
That’s it! Add to a dish like chicken tacos, or beef bulgogi and enjoy!
What Do Pickled Carrots Go With?
What don’t picked carrots go with? Sandwiches, salads, steak, or tacos, you can serve them with anything you would normally have with carrots. Include them on a next charcuterie board like this mezze platter or Memphis BBQ Sausage and Cheese Plate, or add them to the tops of your dishes as garnishes for that extra flourish.
Some of our favorite dishes to have with quick pickled carrots are:
- Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
- Instant Pot Pork Belly Tacos
- Shredded Chicken Taco Bowl (Low Carb)
- Easy Pork Tacos
- Beef Bulgogi
Try Some of Our Other Quick Pickled Vegetables Recipes!
Frequently Asked Questions
Although it isn’t a necessity, we do suggest peeling your carrots. Peeled carrots absorb flavor faster and more intensely, so you get the best flavor if you peel your carrots before pickling.
Peeling your carrot also helps keep your food safe! You always want to clean your vegetables really well before pickling to get off as much bacteria as possible. Peeling carrots makes that even easier because you are removing that outside layer.
If you decide to skip the peeling, we suggest using small, “new” carrots. These most often come in a bunch with the greens still attached.
Since they are young carrots they aren’t as large so they will fit in a jar without being cut and their skin isn’t as tough so they will still absorb flavor. Just make sure you clean them thoroughly beforehand.
Yes! Our recipe doesn’t involve cooking or parboiling the carrots. This lets them go into the brine crunchy. They will soften slightly the longer they pickle, but they don’t lose their snap.
If you prefer them softer you can cut the carrots, boil them for 2 minutes, then run under cold water to stop the cooking, and place them in jars with brine.
You will want to let them pickle in refrigerator for at least 24-48 hours. The longer they sit in the brine, the more flavor they will absorb and the better they will be. To get the most flavor out of your quick pickled carrots we recommend letting them sit for at least 1 week.
Since these are quick pickled and not canned, they cannot be stored at room temperature and must be kept in the refrigerator. Your carrots will last up to 2 months in the fridge.
They are not just delicious but also a good source of nutrition! Often touted as the perfect health food, carrots are very high in beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants. They are excellent for keeping your weight down, help lower cholesterol, and reduce your risk of cancer.
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Quick Pickled Carrots
Ingredients
- 6-8 large Carrots
- 1/2 Red Pepper
- 1.25 cups White wine vinegar
- 1.25 cups Water
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Sugar, or sugar substitute
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 4 sprigs Fresh Dill
- 2 teaspoons Mustard seed
- 2 teaspoons Coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoons Black peppercorns
- ¼ teaspoon Red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Divide the sliced carrots, fresh dill, and bells peppers evenly between 2 wide mouth pint mason jars.
- Add vinegar, water, garlic, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, coriander, peppercorns, and red pepper flakes to a small pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Once the mixture reaches a boil remove it from the heat and let it cool for 2-3 minutes before pouring it into each jar. Make sure you get an even distribution of spices in each jar.
- Let the mixture cool completely before screwing the lid on and placing the jars in the refrigerator. Let sit for 24-48 hours before eating.
Nutrition
