Giardiniera substitute

Best substitute

Chopped pepperoncini plus celery and olive oil

Use the same amount by volume, roughly half pepperoncini and half celery, plus 2 tbsp oil per cup as the giardiniera you are replacing

Best for Italian beef sandwiches

Close match

A three-minute build using jarred pickled peppers, raw celery and oil.

Other giardiniera substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Italian pickled vegetable mix (sottaceti)
Close match
Use the same amount plus 2 tbsp olive oil per cup
Vinegar-packed jarred mixed vegetables, usually cauliflower, carrot, celery and onion.
What changes
Best for
antipasto plates, sandwiches, salads, cheese boards
Prep. Drain well, chop coarsely, toss with olive oil and a pinch of chilli flakes, and let stand 15 minutes.
This is the Italian original that Chicago giardiniera descends from, so it is a legitimate swap rather than an approximation. The important difference is oil versus vinegar: sottaceti are packed in vinegar brine only, so they taste noticeably sharper and thinner, and they lack the rich, spicy, slick quality that makes oil-packed giardiniera cling to a sandwich. They are also usually mild rather than hot. Drain them, chop them if the pieces are large, and stir in olive oil and chilli flakes to bridge the gap.
3Muffuletta olive salad
Different taste
Use the same amount
New Orleans jarred relish of chopped olives, pickled vegetables, capers and oil.
What changes
Best for
muffuletta, Italian subs, pizza, pasta salad
Prep. Use straight from the jar; drain some oil if the sandwich bread will not take the moisture.
A very good swap that pulls the flavour in a specific direction. It has the same oil-packed, chopped, acidic, crunchy structure, so it behaves identically on a sandwich. The difference is dominance of olives and capers, which makes it distinctly brinier, saltier and more savoury, with less of the fresh vegetal celery-and-cauliflower character. It is also usually mild, so add chilli flakes if you were using hot giardiniera. On a muffuletta this is not a substitute at all but the correct ingredient.
4Pickled jalapenos plus chopped celery
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume, one part jalapenos to two parts celery
Jarred pickled jalapeno rings combined with raw celery for crunch.
What changes
Best for
Italian beef sandwiches, hot dogs, sandwiches when you want heat, tacos and burgers
Prep. Drain and chop the jalapenos, mix with diced celery, oil and oregano, and rest 15 minutes.
Good on heat and crunch, weaker on complexity. Pickled jalapenos are considerably hotter and much more sharply, aggressively vinegary than the peppers in giardiniera, and the flavour is one clean note of hot and sour rather than the layered garlic, oregano and mixed-vegetable character of the real thing. Two parts celery to one part jalapeno keeps it from overwhelming the sandwich. A glug of olive oil and a pinch of dried oregano make it read much more Italian.
5Chow-chow or piccalilli
Different taste
Use the same amount
Chopped pickled vegetable relishes from the American South and Britain respectively.
What changes
Best for
sandwiches, cold meats, cheese, when nothing Italian is available
Prep. Drain thoroughly, thin with olive oil, and correct with vinegar and chilli flakes to push back against the sugar.
Right structure, wrong direction, and worth knowing why before you commit. Both are chopped pickled vegetable mixes with genuine crunch and acidity, which covers two of giardiniera's jobs. But both are also sweetened, and piccalilli is heavily flavoured with turmeric and mustard, so a sandwich made with either tastes noticeably sweet and tangy rather than salty and spicy, and piccalilli will turn the whole thing yellow and mustardy. Cut the sweetness by draining well and adding a splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil and chilli flakes.
6Calabrian chile paste loosened with olive oil
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 tsp paste plus 2 tbsp oil for every ¼ cup giardiniera
Crushed Calabrian chillies in oil, used purely for heat and richness.
What changes
Best for
Italian beef sandwiches where the juice already provides moisture, pizza, when you only care about the heat
Prep. Stir the paste into olive oil and spoon over the sandwich; add raw celery or a splash of vinegar for the missing crunch and acid.
This is the honest least-bad option, and it only does half the job. It nails the spicy oil aspect of hot Chicago giardiniera, which is the part people miss most on an Italian beef, and it is unmistakably Italian in flavour. What is completely absent is crunch and acidity, so the sandwich loses the textural contrast and the sharp cut-through that keeps a rich beef sandwich from feeling heavy. If you go this route, add something crisp and sour separately, even just sliced raw celery and a squeeze of lemon.

What is Giardiniera?

Giardiniera is Giardiniera is a jar of pickled vegetables, typically celery, carrot, cauliflower and hot peppers, sold either Chicago-style packed in oil or Italian-style as vinegar-packed sottaceti.

Cooking tips

Drain oil-packed giardiniera or any oily substitute before it goes on a sandwich, and press it lightly against the side of the jar. The flavour lives in the vegetables, not in the loose oil, and undrained giardiniera will soak an Italian beef roll into something you cannot pick up.
Save that drained oil rather than throwing it away. It has been sitting with chilli, garlic and herbs for weeks and makes an excellent finishing oil for pizza, roast potatoes, beans or a simple bowl of pasta, which is a good enough reason to buy a jar in the first place.
Check whether the recipe wants mild or hot before you substitute, because it is the single biggest variable. Mild giardiniera is essentially pickled vegetables and reads as tangy and fresh; hot Chicago giardiniera is loaded with serrano or sport peppers and reads as genuinely fiery. Chopped pepperoncini gives you mild, and pickled jalapenos or a spoon of chile paste gives you hot.
Chop any substitute smaller than you think you need to, down to about a 5mm dice. Part of what makes giardiniera work on a sandwich is that it spreads in an even layer and every bite gets some, whereas large chunks of pickled cauliflower roll out of the bread and land on the plate.
A quick refrigerator version is easy: pour hot vinegar brine over chopped raw vegetables, cool, then cover with olive oil and refrigerate for at least a day. This is a fridge condiment with a couple of weeks of life, not a shelf-stable preserve, and it must stay refrigerated.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Chicago giardiniera and Italian giardiniera?

Mostly the packing medium and the heat. Italian giardiniera, part of the broad category of sottaceti, is chopped vegetables preserved in vinegar brine, usually mild, and it tastes sharp, clean and vegetal. Chicago giardiniera is the Italian-American descendant: the vegetables are pickled and then packed in oil, and the hot version is loaded with serrano or sport peppers, so it tastes richer, spicier and slicker and clings to a sandwich rather than dripping off it. If a recipe for an Italian beef calls for giardiniera, it means the Chicago oil-packed kind.

Can I just leave the giardiniera out of an Italian beef sandwich?

You can, but it is doing more work than it looks. Giardiniera is providing acid to cut the fat of the beef and the richness of the jus, salt to season the whole thing, crunch against otherwise uniformly soft bread and meat, and heat to keep it interesting. Without it the sandwich tastes flat and one-textured very quickly. If you have none, get some of the way back with pickled peppers of any kind, or at minimum a scatter of thinly sliced raw celery or onion with a splash of red wine vinegar and a pinch of salt and chilli flakes.

Can I make giardiniera at home if I cannot buy it?

Yes, and a refrigerator version takes fifteen minutes of work. Dice celery, carrot, cauliflower and hot peppers small, cover with a hot brine of equal parts vinegar and water with a tablespoon of salt, cool, drain, then cover with olive oil, add garlic and oregano and refrigerate at least overnight. It gets better over a week. Treat it strictly as a fridge condiment. If you want shelf-stable jars for the pantry, that is home canning and a different matter entirely, covered in the question below.

Can I change the vinegar or vegetables if I am canning giardiniera for the pantry?

No. Shelf-stable canned pickles are only safe because a tested recipe has established the exact acidity, the exact vinegar strength and the exact processing time needed to prevent botulism, and altering the vinegar, reducing it, swapping in a lower-acid vinegar or adding extra oil or low-acid vegetables can push a jar into the danger zone. Follow a tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation or your national food safety authority exactly as written. Everything else on this page concerns finished jarred condiments and refrigerated versions, not anything sealed for storage.

Is muffuletta olive salad the same as giardiniera?

They are close relatives and swap for each other well, but they are not the same. Both are chopped, oil-packed, acidic and crunchy, which is why either works on a sandwich. Olive salad leads with green and black olives and capers, so it is much saltier and brinier with a distinct olive flavour, while giardiniera leads with celery, carrot, cauliflower and hot peppers, so it tastes fresher and more vegetal and usually much spicier. Use olive salad on a muffuletta, where it belongs, and giardiniera on an Italian beef.

Related substitutes

More preserves substitutes

Giardiniera substitute

Other giardiniera substitutes

2Italian pickled vegetable mix (sottaceti)

3Muffuletta olive salad

4Pickled jalapenos plus chopped celery

5Chow-chow or piccalilli

6Calabrian chile paste loosened with olive oil