Equipment
* optional
Ingredients
Vegetables and Aromatics
- 200 g serrano peppers, washed and stems removed
- 2 garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
- 2 g black peppercorns, whole
Pickling Brine
- 240 ml distilled white vinegar
- 240 ml water
- 15 g kosher salt
- 10 g granulated sugar
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 8 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbohydrates
- 1 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fiber
- 0 g
- Sugar
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 293 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 0 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 0 g
- Potassium
- 34 mg
- Calcium
- 4 mg
- Iron
- 0.1 mg
- Magnesium
- 3 mg
- Phosphorus
- 5 mg
- Zinc
- 0.0 mg
- Vitamin A
- 5 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 5 mg
- Vitamin E
- 0.1 mg
- Vitamin K
- 1 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.1 mg
- Thiamin
- 0.01 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.01 mg
- Niacin
- 0.2 mg
- Folate
- 2 mcg
- Water
- 33 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Wearing food-safe gloves, slice the serrano peppers into 3mm to 5mm thick rings. Discard the stems.
Pack the sliced serrano peppers, crushed garlic cloves, and whole black peppercorns tightly into a clean 500ml glass jar.
In a small saucepan, combine the white vinegar, water, kosher salt, and granulated sugar. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve completely, reaching 100°C/212°F.
Carefully pour the boiling brine over the peppers in the jar, ensuring all ingredients are completely submerged. Leave about 1cm of headspace at the top.
Let the jar sit uncovered at room temperature for 2 hours until the glass is cool to the touch. Once cooled, seal tightly with the lid and transfer to the refrigerator.
Chef's Notes
- Handling capsaicin-rich peppers like serranos can leave invisible oils on your skin that burn for hours. Wearing nitrile gloves is highly recommended. If you work bare-handed, wash your hands immediately with a degreasing dish soap, not regular hand soap.
- The residual spicy vinegar left over after you eat all the peppers is culinary gold. Splash it into rich lentil soups, use it to deglaze a pan after searing pork chops, or whisk it into an acidic vinaigrette.
- For extra crunch, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of calcium chloride (commonly sold as pickle crisp) to the empty jar before adding your vegetables.
- You can customize this base recipe infinitely. Consider adding a few slices of raw carrot, a bay leaf, or some thinly sliced white onion to the jar for traditional taqueria-style escabeche.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 months — Keep peppers completely submerged in the brine to prevent mold.
Troubleshooting
Peppers turn very soft or mushy in the jar
Cause: The peppers were boiled in the brine rather than having the brine poured over them, cooking the cellular structure too much.
Fix: Cannot be fixed, but the soft peppers are still delicious pureed into a spicy relish or mixed into mayonnaise.
Prevention: Always pack fresh raw peppers in the jar and pour the hot liquid over them off the heat.
Garlic cloves turn blue or green after a few days
Cause: An enzymatic reaction between sulfur compounds in the garlic and trace minerals in the vinegar or tap water.
Fix: No fix needed. The garlic is completely safe to eat and the color change does not affect flavor or safety.
Prevention: Use filtered water and ensure you are using pure salt without iodine or anti-caking additives.
Cultural Context
Pickled chilies, widely known as chiles en vinagre or escabeche, are an essential table condiment in Mexican cuisine. They provide a crucial layer of acidity and sharp heat designed to cut through the richness of fatty meats like carnitas or barbacoa, acting as a vibrant palate cleanser that balances heavy, savory dishes.
