Mexican Pickled Vegetables
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Make restaurant-style Mexican Pickled Vegetables at home with this quick and easy recipe! Combine carrots and onions with as many jalapenos as you’d like, to make it spicy! These pickled vegetables, known as escabeche in Spanish, are delicious as a side dish, served with all of your favorite Mexican recipes.
One of my favorite parts about a salsa bar at a Mexican restaurant is the pickled vegetables. I always load up a huge bowl and snack on them at the table before the meal.
While I’ve been making my own pickles and quick pickled onions for years, I had never made my own Mexican pickled vegetables until recently. I was inspired after visiting a taco shop in San Diego and basically eating all of their escabeche.
I knew that I could make an excellent version at home and keep it in the fridge for snacking anytime! After a few attempts I’ve perfected this recipe for Mexican pickled vegetables. They are slightly spicy, flavorful and have the perfect amount of acidity and tanginess from the vinegar.
The pickled vegetables will stay good in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, so you can make a batch and have them on hand for a snack any time, or serve them with your favorite Mexican food throughout the week!
Ingredients
- Carrots – for this recipe, you’ll want to peel the carrots, then slice them thinly, about 1/4 inch wide.
- Onion – I love the flavor of a pickled red onion, so I always use red onions in this recipe, but you can also use yellow or white onions. The red onions will give the pickling liquid a slight pink hue, that’s totally normal.
- Jalapeno – I recommend at least 2 jalapenos in this recipe to add spice and flavor. When I’m making this for just myself and my husband, I usually add 4 jalapenos because we like the extra spice and I love adding pickled jalapenos on top of tacos, nachos and enchiladas!
- White vinegar – I tried this recipe with white vinegar, apple cider vinegar and a combination of both, but in the end, I preferred the simple, tangy flavor of just the white vinegar. You’ll use equal parts vinegar and water to make the pickling liquid.
- Fine sea salt – or kosher salt, just make sure it’s fine ground so that it will easily absorb into the pickling liquid.
- Cumin + oregano – to flavor the pickling liquid.
- Garlic cloves – I like to crush the garlic cloves to distribute the garlic flavor throughout the liquid. My husband prefers thinly sliced garlic cloves that he can eat with the other pickled vegetables. I’ve made this recipe both ways several times, and you can’t go wrong either way! If you just want the flavor of garlic and don’t have fresh cloves on hand, you can also use garlic powder instead.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Prepare the pickling liquid. Add equal parts white vinegar and water to a medium pot on the stove over high heat. Add salt, cumin, oregano and crushed garlic. Bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, simmer the mixture for 2-3 minutes.
- Parboil the carrots. Add the sliced carrots to the boiling pickling liquid and cook for 4 minutes. This will cook the carrots just enough, so they’re crisp after pickling, but not too hard. After 4 minutes, remove the pot of pickling liquid and carrots from the heat on the stove.
- Add the sliced jalapenos and red onions to a large mason jar. I recommend these 50 ounce jars as shown in this post, but you can also divide the vegetables and pickling liquid between two, or more, smaller jars.
- Pour the pickling liquid and carrots into the jar with the onions and carrots. I recommend doing this in a sink, just in case any liquid spills over the side. This is much easier to do with a large, wide mouth jar. If you’re using smaller jars, I recommend ladling in the carrots and liquid, to reduce possible spillage. Once all of the vegetables are covered in the pickling liquid, secure the lid on the jar and shake to incorporate all of the ingredients. Let the vegetables pickle in the vinegar mixture at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Serve immediately for a quick pickle, or place in the refrigerator to let the veggies soak in the pickling liquid for longer so they absorb more of the flavor.
Tips and tricks
- The pickled vegetables can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Do not drain the liquid from the vegetables anytime during this 3 weeks. The pickling liquid is what preserves the vegetables and keeps them from spoiling.
- This recipe is dairy free and gluten free. It’s perfect for a vegetarian or vegan diet.
- To make the vegetables spicy, add two more sliced jalapenos to the vegetable mix. Jalapenos will vary in spice. If you really want to spice things up, also add a sliced serrano pepper to the mix.
- To make the vegetables mild, omit the jalapenos or reduce the recipe down to one jalapeno.
- Other vegetables can be added to the mix, like cauliflower florets or sliced radishes. Just make sure to keep the same ratio of vegetables to pickling liquid. For example, if you want to add cauliflower and radishes, add 1/4 pound of each and reduce the amount of carrots and red onions to 1/4 pound each.
What to serve them with
Mexican pickled vegetables are a delicious side dish or appetizer to pair with all of your favorite Mexican dishes! Try it with any of these tasty recipes.
- Migas – I like to toss some of the pickled onions and jalapenos on top of this delcious Mexican breakfast recipe!
- Slow Cooker Carnitas
- Vegetarian Burrito Bowl
- Steak Tacos
- Beef Barbacoa
- Chilaquiles
- Chicken Tostadas
- Chipotle Carne Asada
- Chicken Enchiladas
More kitchen basics
Don’t miss these other easy kitchen tutorials and how-to guides!
Mexican Pickled Vegetables
Ingredients
- ½ pound carrots, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch slices
- ½ pound red onions, thinly sliced
- 2 jalapenos, thinly sliced
- 1 ½ cups white vinegar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed – or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Slice the carrots, onions and jalapenos.
- Add the onions and jalapenos to a large mason jar. Set the carrots aside.
- In a large saucepan on the stove, add the white vinegar, water, sea salt, cumin, oregano and crushed garlic. Turn the heat up to high and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Once the mixture is boiling, whisk it together and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the carrots to the mixture and cook for 4 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and pour the hot vinegar mixture with the carrots, into the mason jar with the onions and jalapenos.
- Tighten the lid on the mason jar and shake to combine all of the ingredients.
- Let the vegetables pickle in the vinegar mixture at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, or place in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- To fit all of the vegetables in one jar, I recommend these 50 ounce jars as shown in this post. But you can also divide the vegetables and pickling liquid between two, or more, smaller jars.
- The pickled vegetables can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Do not drain the liquid from the vegetables anytime during this 3 weeks. The pickling liquid is what preserves the vegetables and keeps them from spoiling.
- This recipe is dairy free and gluten free. It’s perfect for a vegetarian or vegan diet.
- To make the vegetables spicy, add two more sliced jalapenos to the vegetable mix. Jalapenos will vary in spice. If you really want to spice things up, also add a sliced serrano pepper to the mix.
- To make the vegetables mild, omit the jalapenos or reduce the recipe down to one jalapeno.
- Other vegetables can be added to the mix, like cauliflower florets or sliced radishes. Just make sure to keep the same ratio of vegetables to pickling liquid. For example, if you want to add cauliflower and radishes, add 1/4 pound of each and reduce the amount of carrots and red onions to 1/4 pound each.
Nutrition Facts
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