Easy Pickling Guide: How to Pickle Fresh Vegetables Beyond Cucumbers
Pickles! Who doesn’t love them? They are also super easy to prepare at home AND you can pickle way more than just cucumbers. In fact, pickling is a great way to preserve a variety of different vegetables from your home garden. Some of my favorite vegetables to pickle are carrots and peppers. The pickling process brings out some wonderful flavor combinations, and it’s an excellent way to extend the shelf life of your harvests.
Looking for ideas? Try pickling green beans, onions, carrots, peppers, beets, radishes, okra, and of course, cucumbers. I prefer to make my pickled vegetables in the refrigerator because it takes less time and usually results in a crisper final product. However, you can also process your homemade pickles in a water bath to preserve them for even longer (just be sure to follow a reliable canning recipe).
Keep reading below to get my go-to recipe for making homemade pickled veggies in the fridge.
Quick Pickled Vegetables
Makes one 16 oz. (pint) jar
Ingredients
1 ½ cups fresh vegetables (cucumbers, peppers, radishes, carrots, okra , onions)
½ cup water, at room temperature
½ cup rice vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons honey, maple syrup, or sugar
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
20 twists of freshly ground black pepper
2 leafy sprigs of fresh dill, roughly chopped (or 1 teaspoon of dried dill)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 bay leaf
Recipe
Slice vegetables into rounds or spears
Combine the water, vinegar, maple syrup (or sugar), salt, red pepper flakes (if using), and black pepper.
Stir until most of the salt has dissolved into the liquid, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Set aside.
Place vegetables into a wide-mouthed mason jar, and top with the dill and garlic.
Pour the liquid over the vegetables in the jar so that they are fully submerged.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Store in fridge for up to a month.
Hot Pepper Jelly
A fun and versatile way to preserve your pepper harvests. Click the button below to get the recipe along with ideas for ways to use it.