Make Your Own Easy Pickled Vegetables at Home

I’ve had phases where I’ve made lots of pickled vegetables and other phases where I forget about it. However, I’m glad to be back in it, as I realize how delicious and nutritious pickled vegetables are!

To get the full visual representation on how to perfectly pickle your vegetables, in addition to all of my tips and tricks to make the best pickled vegetables ever, be sure to watch the video! If you’re not already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and be sure to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get pickling!

Why You’ll Love This Easy Pickled Vegetables Recipe!

• Vegetable preservation: Worried about your vegetables going bad? Pickling your vegetables allows them to stay good for a very long time so you don’t have to worry about them spoiling!
• Versatile: Check out lots of options to use your pickled vegetables later on in this post! Plus, you can pickle pretty much any vegetable of your choice!
• Tasty: I just love the flavor of pickled vegetables, it’s just so satisfying! This should be a reason alone to go pickle your vegetables today!
• Excellent for digestion: Fermented foods really assist in digestion because of their high concentration in probiotics. You’re better off pickling your own vegetables so that you can control the amount of salt! High-sodium packaged pickled foods can cause their own set of issues if you’re not mindful of the quantities, but to be safe, homemade is always best!
• A very special gift: Want to give something handmade from the heart? Pickled vegetables can be a very unique and heartwarming gift, so if you need some creative gift ideas, I would put your heart in a jar by following this Pickled Vegetables recipe as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge!
• Dietary friendly: These delicious Pickled Vegetables have no barrier to entry! They’re gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, fat-free, and low in sugar and salt.

Equipment Needed for Pickled Vegetables

• Cutting board
• Paring knife
• Whisk
• Salt crock
• Peeler
• Measuring spoon
• Measuring cup
• Saucepan
• Mason jar

Ingredients for Pickled Vegetables

You can refer to the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD for all ingredients and their quantities and to save the recipe for later by scrolling to the bottom of this post or by pressing the “Jump to Recipe” button. The recipe card also allows you to scale the recipe so that you have the right amount of sugar and vinegar based on how many veggies you want to pickle!

Pickling Solution

• Vegetables: To demonstrate in this recipe, I’m using cucumbers and beetroot. I’ll be using these later on in my Homemade Chicken Shawarma recipe!
• Rice vinegar: This is the main pickling agent. I recommend you go for the unseasoned rice vinegar so you have more control over the sugar and salt here. If by mistake you do have seasoned rice vinegar, I recommend you reduce the sugar and salt by half, as seasoned rice vinegar already has both of those.
• Sugar: I go with regular white table sugar for sweetness here, but cane sugar could also work if you want a more natural option. Sugar is key to balance out the strength of the vinegar.
• Water: Needed to blanch the beetroot, and you’ll want a little bit in order to dilute the vinegar.
• Salt: You always need salt to bring out the flavors!

For Flavoring

• Whole spices: This is optional but adds lots of aroma to your pickled veggies! For this pickling solution, I’ll be adding cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, brown mustard seeds, nigella seeds (this combination is actually known as Panch Phoran, or Indian Five-Spice) and black peppercorn.

How to Make Quick Pickled Veggies

Prepare the Pickling Solution

In a saucepan, combine the water, vinegar, sugar and salt.

Whisk well to dissolve the sugar and salt. Then, bring this mixture to a boil.

Once boiling, turn off the heat and set it aside.

To Make the Pickled Vegetables

To prepare the veggies, begin by cutting the baby cucumbers into quarters lengthwise.

Wash, scrub and peel the beets and then slice into 1/2 inch strips.

Blanch the beets to soften them slightly by boiling a pot of water and cooking the beets for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to an ice water bath and then drain after 3-5 minutes.

Place the veggies into separate mason jars and divide the whole spices between each of the jars.

Fill the jars with the pickling solution, making sure to fill the jar to cover the veggies entirely. Allow the pickled veggies to cool to room temperature before sealing the jars and refrigerating. Allow to refrigerate for 24 hours for best results.

Enjoy!

Tips for the Best Pickled Vegetables!

• For “harder” vegetables (such as beets, turnips, carrots or cauliflower), be sure to blanch them prior to pickling.
• Allow the vegetables in the pickling solution to cool down to room temperature before shaking and storing.
• Make sure that the pickling solution covers the vegetables ENTIRELY! Any gap between the vegetables and the jar that isn’t submerged in the pickling solution can lead to mold. You’ll have the optimal lifetime of your pickled vegetables by fully covering them in solution!
• Since these pickles vegetables are homemade, you can easily control the amounts of sugar and salt based on your dietary preferences along with selecting the type of vinegar.
• Traditionally, in the Middle East, white vinegar is used for preparing the pickled vegetables. Rice vinegar on the other hand is an Asian choice. You can use whichever vinegar you feel like or that you have on hand to prepare your pickled vegetables! More details in the next section.

Other Vegetables That You Can Pickle

• Onions
• Radishes
• Daikon
• Peppers
• Cauliflower
• Carrots (either baby carrots or you can peel long strips of full-sized carrots)
• Green beans
• Turnips
• Cabbage
• Asparagus
• Zucchini

You can even pickle fruits, including grapes, mangoes or amlas, which are Indian gooseberries, as you can see in my Amla Chutney recipe!

Other Flavorings

These Pickled Vegetables are the basics to make them extremely versatile! However, you can customize this base recipe based on what type of flavors you are looking for. Here’s what you can do to enhance your pickled vegetables:

• Heat: Add in some jalapeños or other types of chili peppers.
• Herbs: You can add fresh herbs including basil, cilantro, dill, rosemary, thyme, sage, bay leaves, scallions, parsley, dill or oregano.
• Aromatics: Freshly peeled ginger, turmeric root, or whole garlic cloves.
• Whole spices: Other options from the ones I’ve shown above include coriander seeds, star anise, cloves, or allspice.

Pickled Beet Tips and Ways to Serve Them

Since beets are the star of so many pickle jars, let me give them their moment! Slice your beets into even 1/2-inch strips — or chunkier wedges, if that's more your style — so every piece pickles at the same rate. The size of the beets matters too: larger beets can take a touch longer to blanch, so test them with a fork after 2–3 minutes in the boiling water. You want them just tender at the edges but still firm in the middle. Then shock them in that ice-cold water bath to stop the cooking and lock in their gorgeous ruby color.

Prefer a mellower sweetness in your brine? Swap the sugar for an equal amount of honey — it dissolves beautifully into the warm pickling solution. And when it's time to eat, pickled beets are fantastic tossed into a fresh salad, layered onto toast with a swipe of hummus, or tucked into burgers, sandwiches and wraps for a tangy crunch.

Jar Prep and Storage Tips

Clean jars are the quiet secret to great pickles. Wash your jars and lids in hot, soapy water and rinse them well with just-boiled water, then let them dry completely — you can pop them on a baking tray in a low oven for a few minutes or run them through a hot dishwasher cycle. Check that the rubber seals on your lids are in good shape too, since a proper seal keeps unwanted yeasts and bacteria away from your beautiful brine.

A ladle or a canning funnel makes pouring the hot pickling solution into the jars much neater. If you're pickling in large jars, whisk up an extra batch of brine in a medium saucepan — just bring it to a boil and it's ready, no long simmer needed — so the veggies stay fully submerged. And remember: these are quick refrigerator pickles, not shelf-stable canned preserves. Once the jars cool to room temperature, seal them and keep them in the refrigerator rather than a dark pantry shelf. Give them their 24 hours, then enjoy!

Other Fresh Veggie Recipes

• Authentic Pico de Gallo
• Fresh & Quick Chimichurri Sauce
• Chunky Mango Guacamole
• Argentinian Salsa Criolla
• Indian Cucumber Raita