Pickled vegetables with oil, or giardiniera sott’olio, are a traditional Italian snack or side dish perfect for festive gatherings. This gluten-free, vegan dish features vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, and zucchini preserved in oil with garlic, herbs, and spices. The process enhances their natural flavors, making them tangy, aromatic, and deliciously tender. The recipe comes from Nadia Fragnito’s new cookbook NATALE: Recipes for a Vegan Italian Christmas.

Read more: 11 Vegan Italian Recipes

To prepare, blanch the vegetables in salted water and vinegar to preserve their crispness and flavor. After drying thoroughly, layer them in sterilized jars with garlic, fresh herbs like oregano or thyme, and a pinch of chili flakes. Cover the vegetables completely with sunflower oil to seal in the flavor and ensure preservation. The oil infuses the vegetables over time, creating a savory, tangy treat.

Serve these pickled vegetables as part of an antipasto platter or alongside crusty bread. Their vibrant flavors and bright colors make them a festive and versatile addition to any holiday table.

Pickled vegetables with oil

This festive season, try your hand at these Italian pickled vegetables that will go perfectly with your Christmas meals or even as a snack with crusty bread.

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Ingredients

1 liter white wine vinegar
500 ml white wine
Salt

About 2 kg of chopped vegetables

Zucchini slices
Green beans pieces
Celery slices
Capsicum pieces
Fennel pieces
Mushrooms sliced or buttons
Cauliflower small florets
Carrots batons

Extras and aromatics

Peeled garlic cloves
Small chilies
Peppercorns
Dried herbs oregano, bay leaves
Sunflower oil for pickling

Instructions

In a large pot, simmer the vinegar and wine with a large handful of salt. Blanch the zucchini, beans, celery, capsicum, fennel and mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove from the pot, drain and blot dry on a clean towel.
Add the cauliflower and carrot to the same pot. Simmer for 5 minutes. Repeat the previous steps. Transfer all the blanched vegetables into a large bowl.
Half fill sterilized jars with the blanched vegetables. Pop in your preferred aromatics. Pour over the sunflower oil to cover the vegetables. Use a spoon to push down around the vegetables and fill any air pockets with oil.
Pack the jars with the remaining vegetables, leaving about 1 inch of space from the rim, so the contents have room to expand. Top with more oil, just enough to cover the vegetables ensuring you leave some space from the top. Clean any spills from the jar and tighten the lids.
Place the jars upright in a large deep pot. To avoid the jars overheating at the base of the pot, you may like to first place a folded towel at the bottom. Fill the pot with room temperature water, covering the tops of the jars by about an inch.
Slowly bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Leave the jars in the pot and remove once the water has cooled. Over the next 24 hours, check the lids have sealed correctly.
Store the pickled veg in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight. Once opened, store in the refrigerator.

This recipe was reprinted with permission from Nadia Fragnito from The Vegan Italian Kitchen and excerpted from NATALE: Recipes for a Vegan Italian Christmas. You can find her website here and her Instagram here.