Marinated carrots make a perfect summer tapa!
Many people visit Spain and wrongly assume that Spanish food is lacking in the vegetable department. I can understand their thinking– a pork driven culture with some of the best cheese around makes Spain an easy meat lover’s paradise, but what about the vegetarians out there? Well, it isn’t always easy when dining out but choices like these delicious marinated carrots are among the many vegetarian choices in Spain and are one of my favorite Spanish foods!
Marinated carrots are known in Spain as zanahorías aliñadas and are a delicious vegetarian Spanish food. The recipe is simple, but the carrots do need time to marinate and absorb all of the flavors of the spices and garlic. In Spain the restaurants and bars in Andalusia usually serve zanahorías aliñadas as a simple tapa, and the bright orange marinated carrots are often displayed among other salads and cold tapas at the bar.
This recipe for zanahorías aliñadas has been adapted from the wonderful Javi Recetas— an Andalusian cook with a great website. If you read Spanish, check him out!
Spanish Marinated Carrots Recipe
Marinated Carrots (Zanahorías Aliñadas)
Ingredients
- 6-7 large carrots
- 2-4 garlic cloves I suggest you try the recipe with less garlic the first time
- 1 T dried oregano
- 2 t cumin
- 1 t smoked Spanish paprika hot or sweet
- ⅓ c of apple cider vinegar or substitute another mild vinegar
- Salt to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Bring about a half gallon of water to a boil with a spoonful of salt.
- Wash and peel the carrots, then add to the boiling water
- Boil the carrots until they are just tender-- do not overcook! Then drain them and cover in cold water to let them cool.
- Mash the garlic and spices in a mortar and pestle until you have a paste.
- When the carrots have cooled, cut them into large round slices and put them into your serving bowl.
- Add the garlic paste to the carrots and stir and then add equal parts of vinegar and water until the carrots are covered with liquid.
- Cover the carrots and allow them to marinate for a minimum of 4 hours in the fridge.
- Spoon the out of the liquid with a slotted spoon and serve with high quality olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Nutrition
Enjoy these marinated carrots– one of my favorite Spanish recipes!
Other vegetarian Spanish foods:
Fried Eggplant with Honey
Andalusian Gazpacho
Spanish French Toast (Torrijas)
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Eliane Oliver
Can I make them ahead of time and then just keep them in the fridge for a while?
Lauren Aloise
Yes, definitely – a few days is no problem.
Marla
Outstanding and simple- although I pre-chopped my carrots and cooked. I also lightly heated all spices in oil as well because raw garlic is hard on me lol.Excellent balance of flavor even if carrots aren’t your favorite.
QUERINO DE FREITAS
Very nice indeed, I have made marinated tomatoes, not as spicy as yours with less vinegar as tomatoes are so delicate.. Its just by chance I got your page , I have a card with carrots on the front, I wanted to write below ballet of carrots so I clicked on translations and you recipe came up….Your other home called Jessica says she bought load of carrots and didnt know what to do with them ,,why buy something when one have no imagination …Cheers Querino
Jeanette
Is it better to use ground cumin or whole seeds for this recipe? I made it once before and it was delicious but can’t remember which I used!
Lauren Aloise
You can go either way! I love the crunch of the seeds, while ground cumin penetrates the carrots more… maybe a mix of the two?
Tara
These were delicious! I love that they can be made ahead of time and definitely a great use for my leftover carrots.
Trevor Huxham
This is just what I needed! I bought a huge package of carrots for like €0.65 at the store today and had no idea what to do with them since I only needed 1-2 carrots for the lentil stew I’m making this week. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Trevor Huxham
I would like to add that I’m living in Spain right now with a Spanish flatmate (doing the auxiliar program!) and when I let him try these he freaked out at how tasty they were and wanted the recipe; he’s already made two huge batches of them. So props to you for posting a LEGIT Spanish recipe!
BTW I myself really liked the flavor when I first made them, too. 😀
Lauren Aloise
So happy to hear this Trevor! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Grace Aloise
I’ll have to try making these this weekend for Father’s Day–sounds delicious! Love and Miss You–Mom
Flamenco Restaurant Madrid
Grilled vegetables are a million times tastier that mushy boiled vegetables however sadly such a lot of folks ditch this excellent cooking technique.
Laurie Hager
Hi, Lauren! Thanks for this post! I just linked to your blog from our Facebook page and hope to get the conversation rolling with our wonderful audience. I have heard many Americans lament the lack of fresh veggies when traveling in Spain. Could it be that they just do not know where to look? We’ll see! It’s always wonderful to hear the variety of perspectives from Spaniards, Americans and the rest of the world – all of whom have a special place in the hearts for the magic that is Spain.
Thanks again and best regards,
Laurie
Lauren Aloise
Thanks Laurie, sounds great! They are delicious!
Will - My Spanish Adventure
Love the look of these juicy babies. When I finally come back to Madrid can we have some?
Lauren Aloise
You bet! I’ll make them just for you!
World Traveler
These look amazing!
Mo
This is another cracker Lauren! I´m going to make them exactly as you say for my cousins who are coming to spend two weeks with us (arriving this weekend, yay!). I agree that it´s a myth that Spaniards don´t serve veggies. On the contrary, they have wonderful ways of brightening up what – in Scotland at any rate – are boring, boiled and unadventurous vegetables. I´m not sure I mentioned this before but a while back in Italy I ordered a “carrot salad”, imagining something wonderful like this. Well, it came and it was a huge pile of roughly grated raw carrot in a bowl. And nothing else! Give me Spanish food any day!
Patrick
Original tapa! Colourful and tasteful…
ChgoJohn
This sounds really good. It’s the vinegar that caught my eye and I’ll have to try this one.
Jessica
Those look really delicious! I just bought a huge bag of carrots with no idea what to do with as well, so this was perfect timing.
Laura
Mmmm these looks so delicious. I was thinking of going out and buying carrots as I read this post!