Marinated Picnic Vegetables

Chef notes

Packing for a picnic is always a delicate balance. You need a mix of sweet and savory bites, but more importantly you need things that will stay good at room temperature for a few hours. That’s where these marinated vegetables come in. This recipe is really tasty and easy to throw together for a picnic or an afternoon barbecue. It lasts for days in the fridge, too, so you can make it a few days before your picnic without worrying about a soggy salad. Because the vegetables are pickled, they only get better with time.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever vegetables are in season. Here, I’ve used summer stunners like carrots, celery, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash, but consider this recipe a roadmap. Picnicking in the fall? Try a combination of butternut squash, golden beets and carrots. In spring, make use of the abundance of green and white asparagus, along with green beans and baby turnips.

If you don’t have everything you need on hand, you can easily purchase all of the ingredients (just click the orange button below that says ‘Get Ingredients’). You can pick and choose exactly what ingredients you need based on what’s in your pantry and they’ll be on your doorstep before you know it. 

Swap Option: Feel free to add your favorite vegetables to this dish. You can also use whatever is at the farmer's market that week. My friend even likes to add canned artichoke hearts and hearts of palm.