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Do Chua — Vietnamese Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

June 2, 2015 by Lisa Le 40 Comments

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Do Chua — Vietnamese Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon
A Vietnamese staple for banh mi, spring rolls, and more!

Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

There’s something that’s so satisfying about sharing food with friends and family. I just love watching other people enjoy the food I prepare. I have no idea what it is. It’s just ultimately gratifying to see people close their eyes while they savour a forkful of chocolate cake I’ve made, or scrape at the bowl to get every last drop of a stew I’ve made from scratch.

Just the sight of people enjoying my food is so exciting, I always have a big dumb smile plastered on my face when they ask if they can have a second helping.
Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

I basically have become an extra member of my best friend’s family, and I find myself always looking for recipes and treats to bring over to share with them. Test batches of cake, cookies, or confections—and every now and then, something made especially for them.

My best friend’s mom has been asking me for this recipe forever, and I had it on my site in an old recipe, but the photo is hideous. I needed to beef up the Vietnamese Dishes section of my recipe index, so I thought, why not reshoot and remake a classic?
Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

Pickled carrots and daikon are a signature addition to Vietnamese dishes. Their bright brine adds a splash of colour to the deep spices and flavours of Vietnamese proteins, while the crunch adds depth and texture to the otherwise soft or dry aspects of something like a banh mi sandwich.

Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

Shooting and making this recipe brought back such a calming and stress-relieving joy that I haven’t felt in a while. Julienning the carrots and daikon, learning how to adjust to the new lighting in my apartment and playing around with the naturally beautiful ingredients, and being able to enjoy something from my childhood.
Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

Vietnamese Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon are super easy to make. After you prep the carrots and daikon (between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on your knife skillz), all it takes is a quick whisk of the brine, and letting them sit in the brine for at least 20 minutes to get that bright, briny flavour. They’re best enjoyed after a day of pickling, but they’re great after 20 minutes too.
Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

This recipe makes three jars. One for you to enjoy right away, one for later, and one to give to your best friends mom whose face erupts into a gigantic smile at the sight of one of these colourful jars. Add to your next BBQ, rice dishes, fresh spring rolls, or my favourite: homemade banh mi sandwiches. (That recipe is coming up next, so stay tuned!)
Do Chua - Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

 

Do Chua — Vietnamese Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon
Print Recipe

Do Chua — Vietnamese Quick Pickled Carrots and Daikon

Servings: 3 jars of pickles
Author: Lisa Le

Ingredients

  • 1 medium sized daikon radish peeled and julienned
  • 4 medium carrots peeled and julienned
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 1 cup vinegar
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar

Instructions

  • Divide julienned daikon and carrots into three sanitized pint-sized canning jars (500 mL)
  • Stir boiling water, vinegar and sugar until sugar is dissolved.
  • Pour mixture over carrots and daikon until covered. Screw on jar lids and store in fridge. You can use after 20 minutes of pickling. Store in fridge and use within a couple weeks.
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Filed Under: Condiments & Sauces, Recipes from TikTok, Vietnamese Tagged With: carrot, daikon, do chua, quick pickled, vietnamese

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shareba @ In Search Of Yummy-ness says

    June 6, 2015 at 4:36 PM

    I made this once, but the pickles smelled really stinky. I don’t know what I did wrong!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      June 6, 2015 at 7:28 PM

      Oh dear. They do have a distinct scent, it’s not unpleasant to me though. It’s slightly sweet, slightly vinegary =)

      Reply
      • Justine says

        January 15, 2018 at 10:25 AM

        When cooked or pickled, daikon does have an earthy, some say poopy, smell. You didn’t do anything wrong, and the pickles should taste delicious. If you had pickles in a bowl of soup or in a sandwich, you probably wouldn’t smell it. And maybe after a while, you might grow to love the smell!

        Reply
    • Jessie Smith says

      January 1, 2022 at 12:33 PM

      Frankly ma’am, the daikon is the smelly part. If you lay the pickles on a paper towel and then wait about 15 minutes before using, the smell will greatly dissipate.

      Reply
    • Dianne N. says

      July 23, 2022 at 11:27 AM

      Hello,

      I’m new to your page and am quite enjoying it. I love your personality and your recipes seem yummy; I can’t wait to try them out. I do have a question about pickling. I actually found you because I was looking for Vietnamese pickle recipes. My favorite Vietnamese restaurant here in CT closed and they had made the most fantastic homemade pickles. I’d like to try my hand at them. I believe the ones I liked the most were pickled turnips. Does that sound right? If so, do you have a recipe for those? Also, if I follow your recipe, on here, for carrots and daikon, could I use seasoned rice vinegar and different varieties of radish and veggies? I have a bunch of different root veggies from the farmer’s market that I’d like to try to pickle; there’s all different colors of radishes, turnip and carrots. Thanks for any feedback you can provide. Congratulations on your beautiful baby as well!

      Cheers,

      Dianne

      Reply
      • Lisa Le says

        September 1, 2022 at 2:36 PM

        Hi Dianne, this recipe is for carrots and daikon (which is a type of radish!). I assume that’s what your favourite restaurant would have used :) I recommend using white vinegar, as other seasoned vinegars and rice vinegars will impart a specific flavour that is not typical for this type of quick pickle.

        Reply
  2. Hanh says

    July 17, 2015 at 12:02 AM

    Thanks for the recipe! I’ve always bought these in the bulk section of my local Vietnamese grocery store, but I figured I should learn to make my own so I always have some on hand! The new photos for this recipe are beautiful!

    Reply
  3. David says

    September 10, 2017 at 3:50 AM

    Do you ever add onion to this mix, or do you pickle onion separately? (or not at all)? In some banh mi I’ve had the onion slightly pickled as well, and I’ve never been sure if it’s been picked at the same time as this, or if it’s just been added afterwards.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      September 14, 2017 at 8:16 PM

      My family has never pickled onions, but maybe that’s a thing! I never see onion in banh mi much.

      Reply
      • Jim Swain says

        January 9, 2021 at 5:57 PM

        I mix in very thinly sliced jalapeno chips and shallots to taste.

        Reply
        • Jessie Smith says

          January 1, 2022 at 12:35 PM

          I make thin strips of jalapeno and put them in. My Vietnamese friends did not care for them pickled and take them off their banh mi and put on fresh ones.

          Reply
      • shel says

        September 11, 2023 at 2:23 PM

        I like to make pickled shallots, per a recipe from Andrea Nguyen’s Banh Mi book. :)

        Reply
  4. Serena says

    September 24, 2017 at 11:19 PM

    Do you add the water/vinegar/sugar mix to the jar when it’s still very hot?

    Also, is the sugar content able to be reduced?

    Thanks :)

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      September 26, 2017 at 11:47 AM

      Yes, when its hot it’ll pickle it faster and soften the veg to be a softened crunch, it also means that it’ll last longer in the fridge. The sugar content is necessary for the flavour of the pickles, if you reduce it you run the risk of having overly sour pickled veg and will not taste the same as traditional do chua.

      Reply
      • Bamboo267 says

        May 15, 2020 at 11:25 PM

        Whenever I make this pickle recipe, I always add 1/2 a red onion cut into wedges. Turns out a treat!!

        Reply
  5. Julie says

    November 5, 2017 at 5:45 AM

    Hey! What kind of vinegar should I use?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      November 13, 2017 at 2:17 PM

      Hi Julie! Just regular white distilled vinegar :)

      Reply
      • Inga says

        November 28, 2017 at 7:07 PM

        I use rice wine vinegar and it makes it more tasty than regular white vinegar. Better flavor.

        Reply
  6. Inga says

    November 28, 2017 at 7:09 PM

    Yummy pickled veggies

    Reply
  7. Paula says

    May 20, 2018 at 1:54 AM

    Thank you so much. Back in the 80’s I used to go to this donut place that made this incredible Vietnamese sub that wasn’t on the menu. They used this radish carrot combo that I still crave. I knew the basic ingredient’s but not the ratio… I do now though and guess what I will be making soon. Yummy!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 23, 2018 at 1:45 AM

      Whooo hoo!! Yeah it’s a very simple brine that can be used for so many different veggies :)

      Reply
  8. AJ says

    July 23, 2018 at 8:08 AM

    I’ve never used canning jars. Do you have to do anything special to close and seal the canning jars for this recipe, or is it okay to just screw on the lid and leave them in the fridge?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      August 15, 2018 at 3:25 PM

      I never bother with sealing them, I just use them as normal containers :)

      Reply
  9. melodía says

    September 8, 2018 at 5:46 PM

    A year ago, before I found your website, I prepared vegan banh mi sandwiches for 80 non-Asian Americans. I found a recipe for quick carrot and daikon pickles but used jicama instead of daikon. I thought that the texture would be similar but, without the pungent flavor and aroma, it would be more acceptable to Americans. It worked!

    I prefer using rice vinegar so I started to use rice vinegar. Then I realized that using white vinegar for the quantity I made would be much more economical. It turned out fine.

    Hours and hours of slicing was not relaxing. I have since learned that a food processor could have done the job in minutes, with only 2 cuts: (1) Place vegetables on the blade on their long edge to make slices. (2) Then place slices over the blade on their long edge to julienne.

    Reply
  10. Hong says

    September 29, 2019 at 2:13 PM

    I have used this recipe multiple times since perhaps 3 or 4 years ago when I first came across it and thought I’d give it a try. Am not sure if I ever tried to leave a comment… had meant to anyway! Must share with you that the recipe produced super yummy and delicious tasting results each time. Even my parents were impressed and they’re Vietnamese and have discerning taste buds. My mom said it was perfect. Thank you for sharing! You are amazing!

    Reply
  11. Ronnie says

    November 3, 2019 at 8:10 PM

    what’s the difference between the recipes that salt the vegetables first to draw out moisture and the ones that don’t do this? thanks in advance!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      November 5, 2019 at 6:17 PM

      Typically that’s for vegetables that have high water content (like eggplant, zucchini, cucumber) and they’re usually prepared or fried in a way that where you want less moisture. In this case, carrots and daikon are both crunchy vegetables that you want to stay crunchy, so you wouldn’t want to salt them before pickling.

      Reply
  12. Hillary says

    November 18, 2019 at 11:53 AM

    A staple recipe for when I make banh mi! It always comes out great and tastes exactly like restaurants with no modifications. I sometimes even munch on the extras a snacks.

    Reply
  13. Michelle says

    September 20, 2020 at 5:57 PM

    I’m obsessed with your channel. You’re awesome. Enjoy your chats and fabulous recipes. Sending luv from St. Albert, AB Canada. Ps. I just made this recipe today Sept 20/2020. I also had left over shallots and pickled them too! I want to make veggie wraps with rice paper…Thank you for everything. Most enjoyable.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      September 25, 2020 at 2:06 PM

      I’m so happy you liked it!

      Reply
  14. Teefy says

    October 29, 2021 at 5:57 PM

    Hi! Is there a certain type of Daikon that should be used for pickling? Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      October 30, 2021 at 11:50 PM

      Just the big ol white daikon! The korean radish would also work here, but daikon is more commonly found in Asian markets.

      Reply
  15. Joe says

    December 12, 2021 at 3:47 AM

    Hi thanks for your website. We were in a pickle when we didn’t have pickles for a banh mi, but I couldn’t follow the recipe. First step was missing, and so was the salt and the brining part. Could you revise?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      December 20, 2021 at 1:07 PM

      Hi Joe! Sorry the formatting got a little wonky, but there is no salt and brining part of this quick pickle :)

      Reply
  16. CapN says

    July 23, 2022 at 1:54 PM

    Finally found a recipe for my all time fav pickled!!! Thanks! One question: What size of jar should I use for this recipe?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      September 1, 2022 at 2:34 PM

      Whatever jar you have :) I used regular pint sized mason jars here but I often use salsa jars these days.

      Reply
  17. Beverly Lipsey says

    January 21, 2023 at 11:25 AM

    Keep coming back for a quick pickle fix… A trusty recipe. Thank you!

    Reply
  18. Amber says

    September 4, 2023 at 8:46 AM

    These came out perfect! Exactly like in Vietnam!

    Reply
  19. RP says

    October 17, 2024 at 2:41 PM

    Hi! Do I put the jars while still hot in the fridge?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      November 19, 2024 at 10:39 AM

      I usually let them cool on the counter before putting them in the fridge :)

      Reply

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