Crunchy, fresh, and tangy, these quick pickled carrots are about to become your new favorite pickle! They are ready to enjoy in as little as a day, and they’ll happily hang out in your fridge for a month.
In our house, pickles are a permanent resident in our fridge (we’re obsessed!). And while we love our classic dill pickles, there’s something truly special about these bright, snappy, quick pickled carrots.
They’re perfectly crunchy, wonderfully fresh, and ridiculously versatile. Enjoy as a speedy snack, on appetizer or charcuterie boards, or add some extra crunch to your salads and sandwiches. If you’re as obsessed with pickling carrots as we are, you’ll also love this homemade giardiniera (coming soon), which is more of a pickled vegetable relish.
Key Ingredients
- Carrots: The star of the show! Use the best carrots you can find for this recipe. We really want their natural sweetness and vibrant color to shine. If you grow your own (that’s amazing, by the way!) or have access to carrots from a local farmer’s market, definitely use them.
- Vinegar: We keep the brine super simple with regular distilled vinegar (5% acidity). It gives the carrots a clean, classic pickled flavor, allowing the sweetness of the carrots to truly come through (it’s also inexpensive!). Feel free to substitute with rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar if you prefer.
- Salt and Sugar: These are essential for balancing the brine. Without salt or sugar, our brine would taste too intensely like plain vinegar. They help to round out the flavors and enhance the carrots. For salt, I use sea salt or pickling salt (it’s best to avoid table salt here, as the added iodine can interfere with the pickling process). For the sugar, I use plain granulated sugar as my go-to. You can substitute brown sugar, but it may make your brine slightly cloudy.
- Garlic and Spices: For classic flavor, we love adding sliced garlic to the jars (you can mince it, but be prepared for a slightly more intense garlicky flavor in your brine!). Then, for the spices, we keep it simple with mustard seeds, coriander seeds, a bay leaf, and whole peppercorns. These add that quintessential pickling aroma and a bit of warmth without overpowering the carrots.
The secret to these perfect quick pickled carrots is their simplicity! Just trim your carrots, pack them into a jar, and pour over a quickly heated brine. A night in the fridge transforms them into crunchy, tangy carrots that last up to a month (if you don’t eat them sooner!). I can’t wait for you to try them! For more easy pickles, see our bread and butter pickles, easy pickled peppers (coming soon), or these pickled beets!
Perfect Quick Pickled Carrots
- PREP
- TOTAL
These crunchy, snappy, quick pickled carrots are such a wonderful thing to have in the fridge. I snack on them, serve them alongside cheeses and meats, chop them up for salads, and slice them for sandwiches. Thanks to the vinegar in the brine, just like our cucumber dill pickles, they last for a month in the fridge (but that’s if you don’t eat them sooner!).
Note: The carrots are ready after a night in the fridge, but do get better as they sit in the brine. They really light up around day three!
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) carrots, scrubbed clean
16 ounces (470ml) distilled vinegar, 5% acidity
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons (12g) fine sea salt
4 teaspoons (17g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
12 whole peppercorns
Directions
1Prepare the carrots: Trim the ends of your carrots. Cut each carrot lengthwise into quarters. Then, cut them to lengths that fit nicely inside your 1-quart jar. (We often cut long lengths first, then use any random leftover pieces to pack into the jar’s middle.)
2Fill the jar: Add half of your sliced garlic to the bottom of a clean 1-quart jar. Tightly pack the prepared carrot spears into the jar. Add the remaining garlic, and then carefully slide the bay leaf down one side of the packed carrots.
3Make the pickle brine: In a small saucepan, combine the distilled vinegar, sea salt, granulated sugar, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and whole peppercorns. Bring this mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring just until the sugar and salt have fully dissolved.
4Pour the brine over the carrots: While the brine is still hot, carefully pour it directly into the jar with the packed carrots. Make sure the brine completely covers all the carrots. Secure the lid on the jar until it’s “finger-tight” (meaning snug but not overly cranked).
5Cool and refrigerate: Set the jar aside on your counter and let it cool completely to room temperature. Once cooled, transfer the jar to your refrigerator. For the best flavor, refrigerate pickled carrots overnight before enjoying them. If you can wait, they get even better after 2 to 3 days! These quick pickled carrots will last covered in their brine in the fridge for up to 1 month!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- The jar: We use a 1-quart wide mouth mason jar (32 ounces or 946ml).
- Canning: These pickled carrots have been specifically designed for the refrigerator and are meant to be kept in the fridge at all times. However, if you’re experienced in canning, you could adapt them for long-term shelf stability. This would involve using sanitized jars, new lids, and a pressure canner.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. Calculating how much salt is in the carrots is difficult, so we have included all of the brine in the calculations.
