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This recipe makes amazing and delicious spicy quick pickled vegetables that are so good, and easy to make. Once you try these tasty vegetables, you can’t stop eating them!

3 jars of pickled vegetables and vegetables on a white board.
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In addition to being delicious, these fridge pickles are also a fantastic way to get more veggies into your meals.

I learned this incredible pickled vegetables recipe, AKA Encurtido, from my Honduran neighbor and it is the perfect garnish for so many dishes!

What is Encurtido?

Encurtido is a side dish of pickled veggies like beets, jalapenos, carrots, cauliflower, and onions. Traditionally it is served with homemade tamales and meat dishes.

Ingredients

This recipe is packed with various vegetables but is easily customizable to your tastes. Don’t like one of the veggies? Leave it out! These pickled vegetables have:

  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Onion – white or yellow are recommended
  • Cauliflower
  • Canned pickled jalapeños
  • Herbs – fresh cilantro and dried oregano
  • White vinegar
  • Salt & pepper

How to Make Quick Pickled Vegetables

*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can click “jump to recipe” to skip down.

Most of the recipe follows the same pattern for prepping the vegetables. You’re going to cook or parboil (boil just until barely soft) the vegetables in hot water, and then cool them down to stop the cooking process.

If you feel comfortable multitasking while you cook AND your stove is big enough, you can cook most of the veggies at the same time. Just keep an eye on the specific cooking times.

Cooking the Onions

Bring a large saucepan or a dutch oven to a boil. Add the onions and cook them for 30 seconds. Yep, it’s a very short cooking time!

Scoop the onions out of the water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a strainer. Run cold water over the onions until they cool down. Add them to a large mixing bowl.

Cooking the Beets

Bring a small saucepan with 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the sliced beets, reduce the heat to medium, and cook them for 20 minutes, or until they’re tender.

Scoop the beets out of the water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a strainer. Do not drain the water the beets were cooked in. Run cold water over the beets until they cool down. Add them to the mixing bowl with the onions.

Cooking the Carrots and Cauliflower

Bring a large saucepan or a dutch oven to a boil. Add the carrots and cauliflower and cook them for 10 minutes.

Scoop the carrots and cauliflower out of the water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a strainer. Run cold water over the veggies until they cool down. Add them to the mixing bowl with the onions and beets.

Making the Pickled Vegetables

With all the veggies in the large mixing bowl, you’re going to add the: beet cooking liquid, canned jalapeños, water, vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, and chopped cilantro. Toss with tongs to combine all the ingredients.

Allow the bowl to sit at room temperature for 2 hours (the vinegar in the brine makes this safe from a food safety standpoint) and then transfer to air-tight containers in the fridge.

I use a half-gallon canning jar or multiple quart jars. If you have a large canning funnel, it will make this transferring process so much easier.

2 photos showing how to make honduran pickled vegetables.

What to Serve With Pickled Vegetables

I serve it with dishes like Chicken Fajita Casserole, Lentil Nachos, Pressure Cooker Chicken Tacos, Cauliflower Patties, Air Fryer Chicken Taquitos, and actually as a side with Make-Ahead Scrambled Eggs.

I cannot get over how these simple quick pickled veggies instantly make everything taste so much better. I find myself sneaking into the fridge at all hours to pull out pieces to snack on.

Pro Tips/Recipe Notes

  • You can easily adjust the ratio or types of veggies to fit your tastes. I usually double or triple the beets because they’re my favorite!
  • Closely follow the cooking times in the recipe card. You do not want to overcook the veggies or they will be soft when pickled instead of crisp.
  • If cutting onions makes you cry, refrigerate them for an hour before slicing.
  • You can use some canned or frozen veggies for even faster prep. Related: How to Can Beets, Freezing Beets, How to Freeze Carrots, How to Freeze Cauliflower, and How to Freeze Onions.
  • To save time, I make Instant Pot Beets while I’m cooking the other veggies.
  • Grow your own oregano? Check out my tutorial on Drying Oregano to use your own herbs in this recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Will Pickled Vegetables Last?

This recipe will keep for ~6 weeks in the fridge. But they’re so tasty that I guarantee you’ll eat them before that!

Do You Have to Boil Vegetables Before Pickling?

Not all vegetables need to be boiled or even steamed before pickling.

However, since we are combining multiple kinds of veggies in this pickled veggies recipe, each one will be parboiled, or boiled before pickling. This allows the veggies to be the perfect texture in the final product.

Do I have to Use Cilantro?

No, you don’t. If you’re one of the people who, thanks to genetics, think cilantro tastes like soap, you can leave it out.

Using a bit of fresh oregano if you have any would a great addition to your cilantro-less pickled veggies.

a jar of colorful fridge pickles.

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS

One serving of Spicy Pickled Vegetables has 0 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.

4.88 from 8 ratings

Pickled Vegetables Recipe {Encurtido}

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
3 jars of pickled encurtido and vegetables on a white board
This recipe makes amazing and delicious spicy quick pickled vegetables that are so good, and easy to make. Once you try these tasty vegetables, you can't stop eating them!

Ingredients 

  • 5 cups white onion {sliced}
  • 4 cups carrots {peeled and sliced into coins}
  • 3 medium-sized beets {tops and ends removed, peeled, and sliced into coins}
  • 3 cups cauliflower {cut into florets}
  • 1 24 oz can pickled jalapenos
  • 1 cup cilantro {roughly chopped}
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 1 tbsp coarse ground pepper
  • 2 tbsp table salt
  • 1.5 cups white vinegar
  • 2 cups water – for the beets
  • 1.5 cups water – for the brine
  • water – for boiling

Instructions 

Prepping the Vegetables

  • Cut the ends off of the onions and remove the skin. Cut in half and then slice thinly.
    5 cups white onion
  • Peel and thinly slice the carrots into coins.
    4 cups carrots
  • Cut the tops and ends off of the beets, and slice the skin off. Cut the beets in half and slice the beets into coins.
    3 medium-sized beets
  • Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces.
    3 cups cauliflower
  • Roughly chop the cilantro.
    1 cup cilantro

Cooking the Vegetables

  • Set aside a very large mixing bowl.
  • Fill a large saucepan with three inches of water and bring it to a boil. Add the onions and cook for 30 seconds. Drain into a strainer and immediately rinse with cold water. Place in the mixing bowl.
    water – for boiling, 5 cups white onion
  • Bring a small saucepan with 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the sliced beets, reduce the heat to medium, and cook them for 20 minutes, or until they’re tender.
    2 cups water – for the beets, 3 medium-sized beets
  • Scoop the beets out of the water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a strainer. Do not drain the water the beets were cooked in. 
  • Run cold water over the beets until they cool down. Add them to the mixing bowl with the onions.
  • Fill the large saucepan with three inches of water again and bring to a boil. Add the carrots and cauliflower and cook for 10 minutes.
    4 cups carrots, 3 cups cauliflower, water – for boiling
  • Scoop the carrots and cauliflower out of the water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a strainer. Run cold water over the veggies until they cool down. Add them to the mixing bowl with the onions and beets.

Making the Pickled Vegetables

  • With all the veggies in the large mixing bowl, you’re going to add: beet cooking liquid, canned jalapeños, water, vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, and chopped cilantro.
    1 24 oz can pickled jalapenos, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1 tbsp coarse ground pepper, 2 tbsp table salt, 1.5 cups white vinegar, 1.5 cups water – for the brine
  • Toss with tongs to combine all the ingredients
  • Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for two hours, and then transfer veggies and the liquid to air-tight containers. Store in the fridge.

Notes

  • Will keep in the fridge for up to six weeks.

Nutrition

Calories: 111kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Fusion
Tried this recipe?Mention @sustainablecooks or tag #sustainablecooks!

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About Sarah

Helping you serve up budget-friendly sustainable recipes with a side of balanced living.
Come for the food. Stay for the snark.

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20 Comments

  1. I made your picked vegetables yesterday, and they turned out delicious.  I had never cooked fresh beets before and  they were so good.  I will definitely make this again.  Thanks for another great recipe, Sarah.  5 stars

    1. So glad you liked it, Ann. And good job on trying a new cooking method for veggies! Pickled beets are sooooo good.

  2. Holy sh!t, Sarah, this was amazing. We had the saddest looking beets at the grocery store but I forged ahead and now I’m kicking myself for not trying this earlier. Delicious!5 stars

    1. I feel like this is one of the best-kept secrets out there. Glad you’re now part of the “cool kids” club.

      We always ALWAYS have a half-gallon jar of this in the fridge.

  3. I am Canadian, so I don’t think we have 24 oz cans of pickled jalapeños here. Is this the same as jarred pickled jalapeños? The canned ones that I see here are in tiny cans and are usually quite mild while the jarred ones are spicier. Which would work better in this recipe? I am thinking the jarred ones but want to be sure. Thanks!

    1. I guess it would go to what you prefer – mild or spicy. Go with your preferences!

      Here in the states, the canned version is the same level of spice as any jarred jalapenos.

  4. Hi, thanks for the recipe, just want to know how to canned to preserve this encurtido. Thank you very much.5 stars

    1. Hi Martha, I have never canned it. The (canning) processing time for each individual vegetable varies for safe canning, so I don’t think it would be possible. The good news is the pickling brine preserves it for months and months in the fridge.

  5. Did I miss something? I didn’t see what you did with the beet water that you told us to save it.

    1. Hi M, thanks for bringing that up. I updated step 5 to make it more clear that you add the beets and their cooking water with the rest of the veggies. The “beet water” is what gives the Encurtido the beautiful coloring!

  6. This was fun to make and it tastes delicious right away…can’t wait to try it in a few days when the flavors have a chance to really “marry” (is that the correct term???).4 stars