A perfect topping or garnish with any of your favorite Mexican meals, perfectly crisp and just the right amount of heat in these Mexican pickled carrots!
What Are Zanahoria en Escabeche
Zanahorias en escabeche translates to pickled carrots, more specifically zanahorias means carrots and escabeche is pickling. These carrots are usually served as an accompaniment or condiment to Mexican dishes. Have you noticed when you buy certain brands of canned jalapeños that there are usually a few carrots and onion? Well, these are the same thing.
Whenever I open a new can of jalapeños and I see the carrots, I immediately grab those and start munching away. Can’t help it they’re just so good. Even though I swear sometimes they’re much spicier than the actual jalapeños, I still love them. I’ve always enjoyed putting them on my tacos, tostadas, tortas, and even enchiladas and enfrijoladas. They go well on just about any dish that you’d like to add a little touch of heat.
Crunchy not Mushy
The carrots should have a bit of a crunch to them and not be too soft or mushy, but I understand we all have different taste and that is why I am leaving the “crunchiness” level up to you. These, of course, are spicy pickled carrots, but please feel free to adjust by usingjalapeños for mild, serranos for medium to high heat and of course habaneros for a fiery option.
Zanahorias En Escabeche Or Mexican Spicy Pickled Carrots
These can be served as a garnish or side with any Mexican meals. Or if you love them like me you will eat them straight out of the jar as a spicy snack, yum!
Ingredients
Your Ingredients:
- 3/4 lb. of carrots
- 1 large white or Spanish onion
- 2 to 3 fresh jalapeños or serrano chilis
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon of oregano preferably Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt
- 2 cups plain white vinegar
- 3 cups of water
- 1/8 cup of olive oil
Equipment Needed:
- jars and lids sanitized ( I used 2 small you may only need 1 large one)
- large frying pan
- 1 medium pot
Instructions
- 1. To prepared or sanitize the jars and lids: You can do this quickly by placing the jars and lids inside a large and deep pot filled with water and bring to a boil, boil for 10 minutes and remove and drain off the water while you prepare the carrots. Another way to sanitize the jars is by washing them in a dishwasher with very hot water.2. Peel the carrots and slice into 2-inch pieces, either into coins or diagonally. Peel and chop the onion into 4 parts, peel and slice the garlic cloves into halves. Slice the chiles into quarters. In a large frying pan heat the oil, add the carrots and cook for about 5 minutes. Next add the chiles, onion, garlic, and bay leaves and cook for another 10 minutes. Next add the salt, oregano, and peppercorns and cook for about 3 minutes, stir to combine the spices and vegetables well. Test a piece of carrot to see how crisp or tender it is. You can decide how much crispness you’d like your carrots to have, cook until they reach your desired texture. Turn off heat and set aside. 4. In a medium pot (while your carrots are cooking), mix the water and vinegar and bring to a soft boil under medium-low heat. Once boiling cover and turn heat to low and allow to simmer until it’s ready to be poured over the carrots in the jars.5. Once the jars have been sanitized, the carrots cooked and vinegar-water mix boiled, you can line up your jar(s) and lid(s) for filling. In each jar fill, 3/4 full with the carrot mixture then pour in vinegar mix into the jar but leave about 1/8th inch of space from the rim to leave enough room so it doesn’t spill. Seal tightly and set aside fill your other jar. Allow your jar or jars to sit and cool down, do make sure they are tightly sealed. Once they have cooled down to room temperature you can put them in the refrigerator. Let them sit in there at least overnight or longer if you want, the longer the more the flavors seep into the carrots and give you more flavorful carrots. Tightly sealed they will keep up to a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, that’s if they last you that long!
Tell me what do you like to top with these pickled carrots?
These are beautiful…I need to try preserving some time soon 🙂 Lovely photos…
These are beautiful and inspirational, I would like to make this recipe soon, yummy:-) Gorgeous photographs too!
Beautiful photos. They look nice and crunchy, spicy, and delicious. I need to get preserving one of these days. Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing.
the colours are fantastic! may have to try pickling carrots!
Those carrots are beautiful! Great spices.
Ohhhh my cousin would love that.
Thanks for this, I love pickled vegies! You often get similar ones as a garnish with certain dishes at my local Vietnamese restaurant and I have been known to eat my friends' unwanted ones 🙂
delicious pickles
I like crunchy carrots! pickled carrots are always good. As you said, they're good by themselves. Beautiful photos Nancy! Those fresh carrots with a head on are beautiful!
Wow, looking at the pictures I just feel like trying this pickles…they sure look yummie and SO tasty…great pictures as well 🙂
Hey Nancy, these are so nice! I was just thinking I might make some Vietnamese picked carrots and such, but now I might just use your recipe. I mean, I'm sure both kinds are wonderful.
p.s Great photos too. That table the carrots are on is the kind of table I want for photos…
I like the idea of adding pickled carrots to tacos. I may try to do my own pickling at home, from what I see, it does not seem to be difficult at all! 🙂
That said, I'm pretty sure I'll be paranoid about not sanitizing the bottles properly. 😛
Oh! These are some of my favorite things, too! When I make jalapeños in escabeche, I always add extra carrots…you're so right…they are perfect for grabbing and munching. Deeeelicious recipe =) p.s….congrats on making Food News Journals “best of the blogs” with this!
These look amazing with the hot peppers, garlic, and peppercorns! Kicked up flavor I am sure!
Bon appetit!
=:~)
Thank you all and now you see how easy it is to make yummy pickled carrots.
@Stella, it's a cheap Ikea wood table that I stained with …. I think it was a Mahogany stain. You can do it to, ruff it up a bit to give it a weathered look.
@GiliChef, Thank you for letting me know – that makes me happy:) Look ↑ I posted it too.
Those are gorgeous! That's one thing I haven't tried making pickles from is carrots. After seeing this, I may though. Beautiful!
OK, I know I already left a comment…but hey, this is an event 🙂 Congratulations I am so excited…These are just fantastic, and I am can so see them featured 🙂 Hugs, Alisha
I don't think I've ever noticed the carrots in jars of jalapenos?! Im going to be on the look out now.. these sound delicious!
gorgeous photo's very nicely done~
Ooh my husband loves these! Looks so good.
you are so talented and these pictures are fantastic!
This looks absolutely beautiful. really appetizing!!
This looks good…I am into pickling these days and this is an easy one for someone who is just starting….
I keep looking at these. I need to make them. I love anything pickled.
I've been looking for a pickled carrot recipe – this looks great. Can't wait to try making it!
I love pickles but have never had pickled carrots. They look delicious though!
I love your photo of the carrots on the wooden background. Just gorgeous!
I love this recipe! I'm really into chutneys, jams & curds at the moment. These carrots look like they might be next on my list. I need to buy some more jars!!
I did this recipe for 8 jars using jalapenos out of our garden. All 8 jars didn’t last 1 month. I was eating it 1/2 jar at a time for lunches with a sandwich or something. So good!!
Wow, you love them as much as we do. 🙂 Thank you Justin!
These are delicious, thank you for the recipe. I’m making a second batch because the first one didn’t last very long… I wanted to ask, can I reuse the pickling liquid from my first batch?
I’m so used to getting these with my tacos and when I moved to Denver I was so disappointed because the restaurants/little taquerias don’t serve them but I’m good now that I can make my own (thanks to you).
Hi Zodi,
Thank you glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe and that you can now have them at home.
I’ve never reused the pickling liquid, not sure about the safety of reusing it. Good luck!