Best Spanish Pickled Carrots Recipe

If there’s one thing Spanish recipes have excelled at for centuries, it’s tapas and appetizer dishes, so if you’re looking for one, you’ve come to the right place.

The Spanish pickled carrots recipe is a classic, simple, and delicious recipe that will help you have a tapa always ready to go in your fridge with minimal effort required.

Continue scrolling down this article, and you’ll learn how to pickle carrots, along with crucial tips for nailing every aspect of the recipe, from storing and serving to changing ingredients to your liking.

You, dear reader, support this blog. If you purchase through a link, we earn a small commission. As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Pssst…!!?? You can’t get enough of Spanish recipes? Have a look at my other posts: 

• Spanish Pickles Recipe

• Spanish pickled garlic

• Marinated carrots recipe

Background of the Dish

The process of pickling ingredients should be considered a culinary art form, as it enables the preservation of ingredients for an extended period without altering their flavor.

Centuries ago, this was the only way to preserve food, so in southern Spain, multiple pickling recipes were invented with a variety of ingredients such as mackerel, garlic, onion, and more.

Spanish pickled carrots are one of the most recent additions to this family of pickled vegetables.

They combine the best Andalusian flavors with other ingredients such as garlic, onion, and bell peppers, to bring the south of Spain to your table with every serving.

Pin for later!

Things You’ll Need for Spanish Pickled Carrots

To prepare Spanish pickled carrots you will need carrots, garlic cloves, onion, bell pepper, white vinegar, water, black peppercorns, salt, and sugar as the main ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1kg carrots
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 1/2 bell pepper (red, green, or yellow)
• 1 1/2 cups (360ml) water
• 1 1/2 cups (360ml) white vinegar
• 3 to 5 bay leaves
• 10 black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar

How to Make Spanish Pickled Carrots – Step by Step Guide

1. To start making this delicious Spanish pickled carrots recipe, you have to prepare the vegetables. For that, peel, wash, and chop the carrots into ½-inch thick rounds (or batons, but they will take a bit longer to be ready). Also, peel and slice the onion. Cut the bell pepper in half, discard the seeds, and chop into julienne-style pieces. Peel the garlic cloves.

2. Now, grab a large pot and combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt for the brine. Also, add the bay leaves, garlic cloves, and peppercorns and bring it to a boil over medium heat.

3. Once the brine mix starts boiling, add the carrots, onion, and bell pepper. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes or until tender yet not fully soft. For crunchy pickled carrots, you can stop the cooking time at around 15 minutes.

4. After that, let the marinated carrots cool to room temperature. In the meantime, clean the glass containers where you will store them (you will need around 2 jars that can hold 250ml/500ml each).

5. Then once your pickled carrots are cooled, pour them and the cooking liquid into the jars. Make sure that the vegetables are always submerged in the brine. Close the jar with a lid and take it to the fridge.

6. Your easy pickled carrots are now ready. Before serving, let them marinate and rest for at least 4 hours in the fridge. Then, you can store them for up to 2 months.

Substitution of Ingredients

This is the best pickled carrot recipe because it has the right mix of flavors and ingredients without letting them overpower the carrots, although there are some tweaks you can add.

For easy spicy pickled carrots, add other spices like red peppercorns and a teaspoon of chili flakes (powdered spices are not recommended for this type of brine).

You can also add more sweetness to these quick pickled carrots by adding 1 tablespoon of honey and making sure it dissolves properly before adding the carrots to the pot.

Other ingredients you can use in this Spanish pickled carrot brine are jalapeños, your favorite mix of bell peppers, thick cucumber slices for extra crunch, etc.

Finally, it’s ideal to make the brine with white vinegar since it doesn’t affect the color and its flavor is not as acidic. With that in mind, we recommend sticking to apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.

Tips on Serving Spanish Pickled Carrots

Now that you know that making pickled carrots is super easy, we have even better news for you: they’re also super simple to serve.

The traditional way to serve Spanish pickled carrots in Andalusia is as tapas during the afternoon, with sliced ​​bread, toast, or crackers to contrast the soft texture of the vegetables.

You can also use them in your marinated carrot salad, but in this case, we recommend cutting the pepper and onion into thinner strips and making sure the carrot chunks are even.

Healthy pickled carrots can also be used as toppings for other dishes, such as a mixed green salad or roasted meat.

If you have guests coming over, take a few hours to prepare this recipe, along with spicy Spanish pickled peppers and delicious Spanish pickled red onions, to serve as the perfect low-effort appetizer.

How to Store Spanish Pickled Carrots

Spanish pickled carrots can last up to two months in the jar, but they must be stored properly.

To do this, make sure they are submerged in the brine at all times, and that when you remove the carrots from the jar, do so with clean utensils to avoid contamination from other ingredients.

If the flavor is off (extremely acidic, for example), mold forms or there are unpleasant changes in texture, it’s best to discard the jar and make a new one.

Want to learn more traditional recipes that can be made and stored for months? Then try our fantastic pickled mackerel recipe and the delicious Spanish pickled vegetables recipe.

Recipe Card: Spanish Pickled Carrots

---

---