Escabeche substitute

Best substitute

Canned or Jarred Pickled Jalapenos

Use the same amount drained as the escabeche you are replacing

Best for tacos

Close match

The standard can of sliced or whole pickled jalapenos, usually packed with a few carrot coins and onion already. Drain and use as the recipe directs.

Other escabeche substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Giardiniera
Different taste
Use the same amount drained
Italian pickled vegetable mix of cauliflower, carrot, celery and pepper, drained of its oil and chopped to bite size if the pieces are large.
What changes
Best for
tortas, sandwiches, rice plates, antipasto, tacos, grilled meats
A genuine cousin rather than a stretch, since giardiniera is also vegetables in vinegar and oil and is used for exactly the same purpose, cutting through fat and rich bread. The flavour direction differs: Italian oregano, celery seed and often a lot more oil, against escabeche's Mexican oregano, cumin, bay and garlic. On a torta almost nobody notices. In a specifically Mexican dish, the celery is the tell. Drain the oil off if the jar is a very oily one.
3Homemade Escabeche in 30 Minutes
Close match
2 sliced carrots, 1 sliced onion, 4 jalapenos in rings, 4 garlic cloves, 2 Tbsp oil, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 Tbsp salt, 1 tsp Mexican oregano, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp sugar
Soften the carrot, onion, jalapeno and garlic in the oil for three minutes, add everything else, simmer three minutes more, then cool and refrigerate in a jar.
What changes
Best for
tacos, tortas, rice plates, grilled meats, beans, eggs
The real thing, done in half an hour, and it is much better than anything in a can. It is edible warm, good within a few hours and excellent the next day. Because this is a refrigerator pickle rather than a canned one, it tastes brighter and fresher than a shelf-stable jar, and the jalapenos will get noticeably hotter over the first week as their heat migrates into the brine. Keep the vegetables just barely cooked so they stay crunchy.
4Quick Pickled Red Onion or Curtido
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume
Thin red onion covered with equal parts vinegar and hot water plus a teaspoon each of salt and sugar for thirty minutes, or a bowl of Salvadoran cabbage curtido.
What changes
Best for
tacos, tortas, grilled meats, rice bowls, carnitas, fish tacos
On a taco these do the same essential work, which is landing a sharp, salty, crunchy counterweight on top of something fatty. Pickled onion is softer and silkier than carrot batons and brings its own allium sweetness; curtido is cabbage-forward and oregano-scented rather than chile-forward. Neither gives you heat, so if the escabeche was your source of chile, add a sliced fresh or pickled jalapeno alongside.
5Pepperoncini or Pickled Banana Peppers
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount drained and sliced
Mild pickled peppers from a jar, stemmed and sliced into rings.
What changes
Best for
tortas, sandwiches, rice plates, salads, eggs, pizza
Tangy, salty and only mildly hot, which puts them in roughly the right neighbourhood, and they are in most supermarkets. They are considerably softer than escabeche vegetables, closer to slippery than crunchy, and a little sweeter, so a torta made with them loses the firm bite that carrot and onion give. There is no cumin, oregano or bay in the brine, so the flavour reads generically pickled rather than Mexican.
6Dill Pickles Plus a Spoon of Pickled Jalapeno Brine
Different taste
Use the same amount chopped pickles, plus 1 tsp jalapeno brine or a pinch of chilli flakes
Chop dill pickles, drain them well, and toss with a little brine from a jar of pickled chiles or a pinch of chilli flakes and a pinch of dried oregano.
What changes
Best for
tortas, sandwiches, rice plates, tacos in an emergency
The least-bad option from a standard American refrigerator, and it does the acid and crunch job competently. Be honest about the mismatch, though: dill and garlic in a pickle brine are unmistakably not the aroma of a Mexican escabeche, so a taco made with them tastes like a sandwich. The oregano and chilli flakes help more than you would expect. Use three quarters as much as the recipe suggests.
7For Fish or Chicken Escabeche, the Technique Itself
Taste and texture differ
2 parts vinegar to 1 part oil, enough to coat, with onion, bay and peppercorns
Fry the fish or chicken, then while it is still hot pour over a mixture of vinegar and oil with sliced onion, bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns, and rest at least two hours or overnight.
What changes
Best for
fried fish, chicken, Spanish escabeche, Filipino escabeche, make-ahead dishes
If your recipe means escabeche the dish rather than escabeche the jar of pickles, there is no substitute for the method, because the whole point is that the acid soaks into the hot fried protein as it cools. What you can vary is the vinegar and the aromatics: white, cider and sherry vinegar all work, and Filipino versions add sugar and ginger while Spanish ones lean on smoked paprika. Skipping the rest entirely gives you fried fish with a dressing, which is not the same dish.

What is Escabeche?

Escabeche is Escabeche means two related things: verduras en escabeche, the taqueria jar of carrots, jalapenos and onion briefly cooked and then pickled in vinegar and oil, and the older technique of dressing fried fish or chicken in a hot acidic marinade and letting it rest.

Cooking tips

Cook the vegetables for two or three minutes, no more. The entire pleasure of escabeche is a firm crunch under a sharp brine, and the most common home mistake is simmering the carrots until tender, which leaves you with a jar of soft orange coins. They will continue to soften slightly in the brine over the following days, so err on the side of undercooking.
Use white or cider vinegar and nothing fancier. Escabeche wants a clean bracing acidity, and balsamic, red wine or rice vinegar all bring colour and sweetness that fight the cumin and oregano. A cup of vinegar to a cup of water with a tablespoon of salt is a reliable proportion for a refrigerator pickle.
The oil in the brine is traditional and worth including. A couple of tablespoons of the oil you softened the vegetables in ends up in the jar, and it carries the aroma of the garlic, bay and oregano in a way that a purely watery brine cannot. It will solidify a little in the refrigerator, which is normal, and the jar will look right again at room temperature.
Escabeche gets hotter as it sits. Capsaicin migrates out of the jalapenos into the brine and into the carrots, so on day one the carrots are sweet and mild and by day five they carry a real sting. If you are serving it to people who dislike heat, use fewer chiles than feels right, or seed them, and serve the jar young.
Use Mexican oregano if you can find it. It is a different plant from Mediterranean oregano, more citrusy and grassy and less minty, and it is a large part of why a taqueria escabeche smells the way it does. Mediterranean oregano works and pulls the flavour slightly Italian, which is exactly why giardiniera is such a close cousin.
For shelf-stable canned escabeche, use a tested canning recipe as written. Do not lower the vinegar, raise the proportion of vegetables, or add extra ingredients to the jar, because the safety of the process depends on the acidity of the whole batch. Refrigerator pickles avoid the question entirely and taste better anyway. The National Center for Home Food Preservation publishes tested recipes worth following exactly.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the escabeche off my tacos?

Yes, and the tacos will still be good, but they will taste heavier. Escabeche is the acid on a plate of fatty meat, tortilla and cheese, and taking it away takes away the thing that keeps you eating. If you skip it, squeeze lime over the filling generously, or add thinly sliced raw onion and a handful of chopped cilantro, both of which supply some of the same lift.

What is the difference between escabeche and ceviche?

Heat. In escabeche the fish or chicken is cooked first, usually fried, and then marinated in an acidic mixture as it cools. In ceviche the fish is raw and the citrus acid alone firms it up. They look similar on the plate and both taste sharp and oniony, but they are different preparations with different food-safety considerations, and one is not a substitute for the other.

Is escabeche a jar of pickles or a fish dish?

Both, which is exactly why the word confuses people. In Mexican cooking, escabeche most often means verduras en escabeche, the jar of pickled carrots, jalapenos and onion on the taqueria counter. In Spanish, Filipino and Latin American cooking more broadly, escabeche is a preparation where fried fish or chicken is marinated in vinegar. Read the recipe context: if it is a topping or a side, it is the pickles.

How long does homemade escabeche keep?

Three to four weeks in the refrigerator in a clean sealed jar with the vegetables submerged, and it is at its best in the first week or two. The carrots gradually soften and the chile heat spreads through the whole jar. Always use a clean dry utensil. Discard it if the brine turns ropy or cloudy with sediment, or if anything smells rotten rather than sharply vinegary.

Can I reuse the brine for a second batch?

Once, for refrigerator pickles only, and never for canning. Bring the used brine back to a simmer, pour it over fresh raw vegetables, and keep the jar refrigerated. The second batch will be a little weaker and less sharp because the first batch diluted the brine with vegetable water. Do not reuse brine for shelf-stable canning, because you cannot know its acidity any more.

Related substitutes

More fermented substitutes

Escabeche substitute

Other escabeche substitutes

2Giardiniera

3Homemade Escabeche in 30 Minutes

4Quick Pickled Red Onion or Curtido

5Pepperoncini or Pickled Banana Peppers

6Dill Pickles Plus a Spoon of Pickled Jalapeno Brine

7For Fish or Chicken Escabeche, the Technique Itself