These tangy and flavorful Mexican pickled carrots are the perfect teammate to your favorite Mexican dishes.
This easy quick pickle recipe comes together in under 15 minutes, and is an absolute riot of flavors and textures. Use them as a topping over your tacos or some Mexican baked potatoes to instantly jazz them up!
I’ve recently been trying lots of Mexican inspired dishes- from healthy snacks to salsas and spice mixes. My Tajin nuts and Tajin popcorn were both big hits, and my homemade Tajin seasoning mix quickly became one of my favorite Mexican spices.
While they were great snacks, I was really looking for something much more flavorful, and ideally centered around using vegetables and fruits. And that’s when I thought of these pickled carrots aka Zanahorias en Escabeche.
Quick Look
- 🔪Prep time: 5 minutes.
- ⏲️Cook time: 10 minutes.
- 👪 Servings: 10.
- 📋Main ingredients: Carrots, garlic, jalapenos, red onion, oregano, sugar, black peppercorns, bay leaves, vinegar, oil.
- ♨️Cooking method: Slice veggies 🡢 prepare the brine 🡢 cook veggies in brine 🡢 take off heat 🡢 cool, refrigerate and use.
- ⭐Difficulty: Easy.
- 🥣Serving ideas: Use these crunchy Mexican pickled carrots as a topping over your Tajin shrimp tacos.
Jump to:
What's So Great About the Recipe?
- It's so easy to make, and perfect to batch-make over the weekend and use for recipes all throughout the week.
- It has bold flavors, making it a great topping or accompaniment to most Mexican recipes, especially my Chili con Carne.
Recipe Ingredients
Carrots: You’ll need lots of fresh carrots for this recipe. Choose carrots that are ripe, bright colored and firm to touch.
Red onion: Red onions bring a bit of pungent flavor to the pickle, and also lend it a bit of a crunchy texture. Slice them thinly with a mandolin slicer- I did this when I made my lime pickled onions too.
Jalapeno: To bring a kick of heat to the pickled veggies, you’ll need to use jalapeños. Use as many as you want, based on your spice tolerance.
Garlic: Whole garlic cloves add a beautiful bit of flavor to the pickled carrots. You can choose to smash them or keep them whole.
Vinegar: You’ll need lots of vinegar as the base for the brine. You can use white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or even a spicy hot pepper vinegar if you want to.
Oil: You’ll also need to add a bit of oil to help the pickled carrots stay fresh in the refrigerator. I love using my lemon infused olive oil for some extra tanginess.
Sugar: Sugar helps balance out the tanginess of the vinegar beautifully.
Oregano: Dried Mexican oregano can actually lift the flavors of the pickling liquid beautifully. You can use fresh oregano too.
Whole spices: I also used some whole black peppercorns and a few bay leaves to add some subtle, warm flavors to the pickled vegetables.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- I used jalapenos for the recipe, but you can totally use habanero peppers or any other spicy peppers of your choice too.
- If you don’t have red onions, just use some white onions instead.
- Ginger can also be a fantastic addition to these pickled carrots. I used them while making my pickled green onions, and the flavor turned out SO good.
How to Make Mexican Pickled Carrots
Peel and slice carrots, jalapenos and onions.
In a saucepan or a deep pot, add the whole spices, vinegar and water and bring to a boil on high heat.
Add the carrots and other sliced veggies, garlic cloves and sugar and boil for 10 minutes.
Lower heat to medium-low and add the oregano. Take off heat, allow to cool completely and then transfer into a glass jar.
💭Top Tip
You can choose to cut the carrots, jalapenos and onions the way you’re planning to use their pickled versions. If you tend to make tacos more often in your household, you might want to cut them into small, thinner sticks as opposed to how I’ve cut them.
Shahida's Tips & Tricks
- Since this is a quick pickle, letting it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of days will allow its flavors to develop, and the crunchy veggies will soak up all the delicious tanginess and heat. Refrigerate it for 3 days or more for the best texture and flavor balance.
- Depending on the kind of texture you prefer, you can let the carrots and veggies cook in the liquid for as long as you want to. Ideally, you’ll need to stick to the 10-minute mark if you want crunchy carrots, but if you prefer them softer, you can keep cooking the carrots for 12-15 minutes too.
- You can also try another variation of these Mexican carrots by adding in some more veggies like cauliflower and radishes- like I did when I made my Mexican pickled vegetables.
- If you want to tone down the spice, you can slice the jalapenos and remove the seeds and the white ribs on the inside- they're what carry the most heat.
- You can also use a mandolin slicer to make thin, even slices. I did this when I made my quick pickled radishes. If you're doing this, the veggies will need just about 5 minutes to cook in the brine.
How to Serve Mexican Pickled Carrots
Mexican pickled carrots are incredibly versatile. You can serve them with your tacos, quesadillas, or any of your favorite Mexican dishes. I love using them as a topping over my Air Fryer walking tacos and Mexican deviled eggs, and of course, my all-time favorite Elote casserole.
These tangy pickles can also be a fantastic addition to your sliders and sandwiches- just like my balsamic pickled onions.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
You can store the pickled carrots in a sterile glass jar and refrigerate them. They can stay there for up to 2 weeks.
You don't! These pickled veggies taste fantastic when served cold too!
Adding the oil is optional, but highly recommended if you're planning on canning these pickled veggies. A layer of oil on the top helps improve the shelf life of these pickled veggies and keeps them from spoiling.
More Mexican Recipes to Try
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried these Mexican pickled carrots or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Mexican Pickled Carrots
Ingredients
- 3 carrots
- 1 red onion
- 3-4 garlic
- 1 jalapeno
- 10-15 black peppercorns
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoon oil optional
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel and slice carrots, jalapenos and onions.
- In a saucepan or a deep pot, add the whole spices, vinegar and water and bring to a boil on high heat.
- Add the carrots and other sliced veggies, garlic cloves and sugar and boil for 10 minutes.
- Lower heat to medium-low and add the oregano.
- Take off heat, allow to cool completely and then transfer into a glass jar.
