This quick giardiniera recipe is a vinegar-based dish that includes pickled vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, celery, and red bell peppers along with spices.
1poundassorted vegetables (see notes)trimmed and cut into small pieces
1½cupswhite wine vinegar
1½cupswater
3tablespoonssugar
2tablespoonssalt
1½teaspoonsoreganodried
1teaspoonpeppercornswhole
1bay leaf
Instructions
Prepare sterilized jars
You’ll need to use sterilized jars that have been washed clean. You can place them in boiling water or the oven (225°F/107°C) for at least 10 minutes to sterilize them. Keep them hot until ready to use. While waiting, let’s prep our brine solution and vegetables.
Prepare the pickling liquid
In a small saucepan, combine the water, wine vinegar, sugar and Kosher salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and stir for 1-2 minutes to dissolve sugar and salt. Remove from heat.
Add dry oregano, bay leaf, and whole peppercorns. Cover and allow to steep for about 10 minutes.
Pack vegetable into your jar
Bring the brining solution back to a boil.
In the meanwhile, carefully pack the veggies into your hot sterilized jar. Keep going until you’ve packed all of the vegetables as tightly as possible.
Carefully top off vegetables with the hot pickling liquid until all veggies are covered. At this point, you may be able to add more veggies to ensure the jar is filled. With the help of a wooden spoon, push down on them to create some space to add some more.
Ensure that all vegetables are covered with liquid. Leave a half-inch space between the top of the brine and the lid.
Allow the jars to cool down completely to room temperature.
Then, seal the jars and refrigerate.
It’s best if you wait at least 24 hours for flavors to develop before enjoying them.
Video
Notes
This recipe yields 1 quart. It can easily be doubled.
Thoroughly drying the vegetables helps prevent spoilage of your homemade giardiniera recipe.
One pound of vegetables fills 2 pints or a one-quart mason jar.
Use any variety of vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots, peppers, green beans, fennel, etc.
Recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, etc...
Please keep in mind that the nutritional information provided below is just a rough estimate and variations can occur depending on the specific ingredients used.