In short

To make homemade pikliz, finely slice cabbage, carrots, onion and hot peppers (piment bouc), add salt, garlic and spices, then cover everything with white vinegar in a jar and let it marinate at least 24 hours in the fridge. Want a different pikliz, ready to serve? Try Pick-Lize Deluxe, cook Sanicia Mérius’s recipe.

Homemade

Traditional pikliz, just like in Haiti

Every Haitian family has its own pikliz recipe, but the base is always the same: finely cut raw vegetables, hot peppers and vinegar. Here is a traditional recipe, with the basic ingredients, the quantities and the steps. To learn all about this condiment, read our pikliz guide.

Pikliz lakay – spicy cabbage and carrots

Haitian condiment

Traditional Haitian pikliz

A crunchy, tangy and very spicy pikliz to serve with griot, fried plantains, fried foods, rice and grilled meats.

Prep: 20 min · Marinating: 24 h in the fridge · Makes about 1 litre

Ingredients

  • ½ white or green cabbage (about 500 g), very thinly sliced

  • 2 carrots, julienned or grated

  • ½ onion (or 2 shallots), thinly sliced

  • ½ green or red bell pepper, in thin strips (optional)

  • 3 to 6 piment bouc peppers (or Scotch bonnet or habanero), thinly sliced

  • 2 garlic cloves, minced

  • 6 whole cloves

  • 1 tsp (5 ml) black peppercorns

  • 4 allspice berries (optional)

  • 1 tsp (5 ml) salt

  • About 2 cups (500 ml) white vinegar, enough to cover

  • Juice of 1 lime or sour orange (optional)

Method

Wear gloves to cut the peppers and don’t touch your eyes: piment bouc is very hot. Remove the seeds if you want a milder pikliz.

Slice the cabbage as thinly as possible, julienne the carrots, then thinly slice the onion and bell pepper.

In a large bowl, mix the vegetables with the peppers, garlic, cloves, peppercorns, allspice and salt.

Pack the mixture into a clean glass jar of about 1 litre.

Pour in the vinegar and lime juice until the vegetables are completely covered. Close with a plastic or lined lid: vinegar corrodes metal.

Let it marinate at least 24 hours in the fridge before serving: pikliz is even better after 2 or 3 days.

Keep it in the fridge, with the vegetables well covered in vinegar, and always use a clean utensil.

Tips

Making great homemade pikliz

  • Heat: 3 piment bouc peppers make a nicely spicy pikliz, 6 a very hot one. Start low: you can always add more.
  • The cut: the finer the cabbage, the faster it takes on the vinegar while staying crunchy.
  • The vinegar: plain white vinegar is all you need; lime or sour orange juice adds a fruity note.
  • The onion version: for onion pikliz (pikliz zonyon), replace the cabbage and carrots with 3 large red or white onions in thin rings, with the same peppers, spices and vinegar.
  • Storage: in the fridge, in a tightly closed jar, with the vegetables always covered in vinegar.

Frequently asked questions

Your questions, our answers

All pikliz share the same base: raw vegetables, hot peppers and vinegar. What changes is the main vegetable. The most common is cabbage pikliz: mostly cabbage, with carrots, onion and sometimes bell pepper. Onion pikliz (pikliz zonyon) puts onion first, with little or no cabbage, plus peppers, vinegar and often lime juice. Other families give more room to carrots or bell pepper. Pick-Lize Deluxe is a cabbage and carrot pikliz.

At least 24 hours in the fridge. It is even better after 2 or 3 days, once the vegetables have soaked up the vinegar and the heat.

Piment bouc, the Haitian hot pepper. If you can’t find it, use Scotch bonnet or habanero. Count 3 peppers for a nicely spicy pikliz and up to 6 for a very hot one.

Yes: use fewer peppers and remove their seeds. The pikliz will stay crunchy and tangy, with a milder heat.

In the fridge, in a tightly closed glass jar, with the vegetables always covered in vinegar. Use a clean utensil to keep it crunchy.

Pick-Lize Deluxe is a ready-to-serve pikliz made 100% in Québec from cook Sanicia Mérius’s recipe, with oil and an exclusive seasoning blend. It comes spicy or extra spicy, in 375, 500 and 630 ml jars. Unlike traditional pikliz, it contains a chicken soup base.

Want a pikliz that’s different from the traditional one?

Try Pick-Lize Deluxe, a ready-to-serve cabbage and carrot pikliz made 100% in Québec from cook Sanicia Mérius’s recipe, with an exclusive seasoning blend. Spicy or extra spicy, it is sold in grocery stores in Montréal, Laval, Terrebonne and other cities, or by order at 514 653-2197.