Super Easy Quick Pickled Carrots Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you use pickle juice to pickle carrots? ›

Pickling doesn't have to be a long process involving canning and special supplies. If you have vegetables that would be good pickled, like onions, garlic, carrots or green beans, toss them in the jar of leftover pickle juice, and see what happens. They'll make a nice addition to a charcuterie platter or Blood Mary.

In fermentation, good bacteria turn sugars into lactic acid, which preserves the food product. In quick pickling, the cold of the fridge lets the vinegary flavors of the brine marinate with the fruits or vegetables (and added spices) while forestalling the bacteria growth.

The first step in making pickling carrots is to wash and peel them. In theory, you could pickle your carrots without peeling them. But unless the carrots are young and small, the skins can taste bitter, so I recommend peeling all but the smallest before pickling.

The flavors will deepen and intensify the longer it marinates. Best flavor is achieved after 24 hours. Will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks (sometimes longer). Not freezer friendly.

Pickling involves steeping foods in an acidic liquid, usually vinegar. This gives the pickled foods a distinctive flavor and helps to preserve them. If you don't like the flavor of vinegar or simply have an abundance of lemons, you can use lemon juice instead of vinegar for your pickling projects.

Since pickle juice is almost entirely made of vinegar, it can be used anywhere you'd use vinegar or citrus juice.

The classic ratio is super easy to remember and is easily scale-able depending on how many pickles you're making. It's 100% vinegar, 50% water, 25% sugar and 12.5% kosher salt by weight. So for example, 200g vinegar, 100g water, 50g sugar and 25g kosher salt (again, you can scale this up or down!).

Distilled white vinegar is the most commonly used, because it has a clean, crisp flavor that retains the produce's original taste and color best. Apple cider vinegar lends a milder, sweeter flavor if you don't mind the darker color. White wine, red wine and champagne vinegar all are great to use with pickling.

Use this BA-endorsed formula as a brine base for pretty much everything: Bring 1 cup distilled white vinegar, 2 Tbsp. kosher salt, 2 tsp. sugar, up to 2 Tbsp. spices (e.g., peppercorns, coriander seeds, and/or mustard seeds), and 2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan.

No, there are other methods for pickling, including quick pickling and refrigerator pickling. But this pickling method does call for boiling the brine. This process helps bloom the flavors of the ingredients and help speed up the pickling process when it's added to the fresh vegetables or fruit.

Can pickled carrots go bad? ›

Yes. Like any other food, pickles can go bad. No matter what veggie is being pickled, whether it's a classic cucumber, snap peas or even mini bell peppers, they can go bad for a couple reasons: Age: Like any food, pickles won't last forever.

It may be a normal reaction during fermentation caused by bacteria. If the pickles are soft, they are spoiled from the yeast fermentation. Don't use them. Using too weak a salt brine or vinegar solution may cause soft or slippery pickles, as can using moldy garlic or storing the pickles at too warm a temperature.

It's not dangerous! Some vegetables, like beans or pickles, will turn the brine white in a few days. This means that the good bacteria are doing their job!

This recipe is for quick pickled carrots. Sometimes called refrigerator pickles, quick pickles are not canned or processed to be shelf-stable, so they need to be stored in the fridge and eaten within a few weeks.

Homemade refrigerated pickles last at least three to four weeks in the fridge, McClellan says. Any longer and the quality will start to decline. You'll notice the brine goes from clear to murky and cloudy, and the pickles start to lose their texture.

You might think reusing pickle juice is on the extreme end of reducing food waste, but here's the thing: you're not just saving the juice! Pickling is a good way to use up veggies that are starting to wilt, giving them a second (and delicious) life instead of tossing them.

Heat up the pickle juice in a microwave-safe bowl or on the stovetop until boiling. Put the vegetables and red onion back in the pickle jar and pour the pickle juice over top. Screw the top onto the pickle jar and let the mixture sit in the fridge for at least 5 hours. The pickles will keep for up to 1 week.

The liquid from a jar of pickles ends up a bit diluted from the water that seeps out of the pickled veg. I don't measure, just add some white vinegar and occasionally a little sugar, if it's sweet pickle brine. Zucchini and yellow summer squash make excellent quick pickles using this method.

Add cut-up raw carrots, celery sticks, broccoli and cauliflower florets, and red and green pepper strips directly to the jar of any type of leftover pickle juice. Make sure to keep these tangy tidbits refrigerated.