These Quick Pickled Carrots Perk up Just About Any Meal

A perfect pickle perks up just about any meal. Pickled carrots are no exception. Tossed into a simple salad, mounded over seared chicken breasts, or folded into rice, pickled carrots’ sweet, salty, vinegary bite enlivens just about everything they touch. As a bonus, they are so simple to make and require just a handful of basic ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen cabinet and refrigerator—and that likely includes the carrots!

In our quick pickled carrot ribbon recipe—developed by our Birmingham, Alabama-based test kitchen colleague Tricia Manzanero Stuedeman—a flavor-packed brine is briefly boiled, poured over the ribbons and thinly sliced shallots, and left to sit. The hardest part of the recipe is probably waiting an hour and a half for the pickle flavor to develop before you can dig in. Once that wait is over, you can use them right away or stash them in the fridge for up to a month—just pull them out anytime you want to add zest to a meal.

5 Tips for Quick Pickled Carrot Ribbons

1. Peel the carrots into ribbons. Shaving the carrots into ribbons before pickling them not only creates an attractive presentation, there are also practical benefits: Compared to larger slices, the thin ribbons allow the brine to penetrate more effectively and quickly. For most pickled carrot recipes with thicker slices, the carrots need to be briefly cooked in the brine to ensure the flavors of the brine penetrate into the dense, fibrous carrots and that the carrots soften slightly. But with these ribbons, the hot brine can be poured directly over the raw ribbons and in just an hour and a half (which in the pickle world, is actually a short time!), they will take on the flavors of the tart vinegar and the aromatic garlic and ginger used in the brine.

We found the easiest way to shave the carrots is by using a Y-shaped peeler. If you prefer, you can use a mandolin to thinly shave the carrots. Whether you use a peeler or a mandolin, you’ll inevitably be left with a small remaining center of each carrot that can’t be peeled any further. Don’t throw these scraps out—just slice the pieces as thinly as possible and add them with the ribbons. 

2. Salt the carrots before brining. It might at first glance seem redundant to salt the carrots before they’re going to be pickled in a salty brine, instead of just adding all of the salt directly to the pickle brine. But in her tests, Tricia found that tossing the carrots with a small portion of the salt and letting them sit briefly draws out a lot of excess moisture from the carrots—this excess moisture would dilute the flavor of the pickles, so it’s worth the time for the best flavor.

3. Briefly cook the brine. Boiling the brine helps to dissolve the sugar and remaining salt and also brings out the flavors of the added aromatics, giving those ingredients a jumpstart that helps carry their flavor into the carrots. The aromatics include garlic, ginger, and peppercorns, which give the pickles a touch of heat and spice, a bay leaf for a subtle earthy flavor, and a few tablespoons of sugar and salt that highlights the carrots’ natural sweet flavor. When the boiling brine is poured over the ribbons and thinly sliced shallots, the hot liquid softens the vegetables slightly, while they absorb the flavors of the brine. 

4. Heat the empty jar. Before pouring the boiling brine over the vegetables in the glass jar, we recommend warming the jar briefly by holding it under running hot water for about 30 seconds until warmed through. You’re not looking for the jars to reach an exact temperature, but warming the glass briefly ensures that the jar won’t crack once filled with the hot brine. Even with tempered glass that’s designed for canning, sometimes very quick and drastic changes in temperature (like pouring boiling liquid into a cold jar) could cause the glass to crack. Though this is unlikely to happen, warming the jars is an easy way to avoid the worst case scenario.

5. Let the carrots sit. In order for the carrots to develop a salty, tangy, aromatic pickle flavor, they need time for the pickling liquid to penetrate them. Luckily, since the carrots are shaved into thin ribbons, they take less time to absorb flavor than thicker, denser vegetables would need. 

After just an hour and a half in brine, these pickles are bright and tangy with just the right amount of crunch. They’re great with almost any meal, but I especially like them with our Filipino barbecue skewers.

Cook Mode
(Keep screen awake)