These homemade quick pickles are ready in just a few hours. They're crisp and flavorful, making an excellent addition to any entrée.
I enjoy making homemade pickles. They're delicious, and it's fun to change things up and use different vegetables, vinegar types, and seasonings. I almost always have a jar of these refrigerator pickles in the fridge. I especially enjoy them with cold leftover meat slices for lunch.
Ingredients
See the recipe card for exact measurements. Here are my comments on some of the ingredients.
- Vegetables: I typically use green beans, cauliflower florets, and mini peppers.
- Vinegar: I use white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar.
- Sweetener: Helps balance out the vinegar's acidity.
- Optional: Make them spicy by adding two hot chili peppers to the jar.
Instructions
Traditional pickling is an elaborate process, but making these quick pickles is easy. The detailed instructions and step-by-step photos are included in the recipe card. Here's a quick overview.
Prep the vegetables and pack them tightly into a glass jar, leaving ½ inch of space at the top. Bring the brine mixture to a boil over high heat.
Allow the brine mixture to cool slightly, pour it over the vegetables, and seal the jar.
Allow the jar to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least six hours, preferably overnight, before serving.
Recipe Tip
Although this recipe is quick to make, the pickles still need time in the fridge. If you eat them right away, or even after just a couple of hours, they won't have much flavor yet. They will just taste like veggies in vinegar.
A few hours of resting helps, but the brine needs more time to really soak in. As the pickles sit, the vinegar, salt, and seasonings slowly work their way into the vegetables, building that classic pickle flavor.
For the best results, let the pickles rest overnight. By the next day, the brine will have done its job, and you'll have crisp, flavorful pickles that taste just right.
Recipe FAQs
The combination presented in the recipe card below (green beans, cauliflower florets, and mini peppers) is the one I use most often, but you can use any sturdy vegetable. Other vegetables that work well are thick spears of asparagus, firm mini cucumbers, carrots, and radishes.
The image below shows a slightly different combination that includes green beans, mini peppers, and radishes.
Quick pickles differ from pickled red onions. The onions mellow out the brine because they release sugars and water when pickled and have a porous structure that helps the brine penetrate evenly. All of that dilutes and softens the acidity.
Vegetables like green beans, cauliflower, and mini peppers are firmer, lower in sugar, and don't release much water, so they tend to absorb the brine's acidity without softening it. That's why the same brine tastes perfect on onions but too acidic on other veggies, and that's why I recommend adding a sweetener.
Alternatively, you can reduce the vinegar-to-water ratio. My recipe uses roughly 1.5 parts water to 1 part vinegar. You can try using 2 parts water to 1 part vinegar, although I would still recommend adding a teaspoon of sweetener (or the equivalent in stevia).
You can, but after trying it (the photo below shows the pickles in a jar with a raw apple cider vinegar brine), I'm not a fan. Raw apple cider vinegar, especially the unfiltered kind with "the mother," has a stronger, more pungent aroma and flavor compared to white wine vinegar, which has a clean, relatively mild taste.
You can refrigerate them in an airtight glass jar or container for about a week. Being homemade, they don't contain preservatives, so they won't last as long as store-bought pickles.
Serving Suggestions
These pickles are perfect with hamburgers! I like to serve them with baked hamburgers, grilled hamburgers, bison burgers, and lamb burgers.
They also pair well with pulled pork or pulled chicken, as shown in the photo below.
I sometimes make a lunch plate with cold cuts, cheese, hard-boiled eggs (or deviled eggs), and these pickles. It's one of my favorite lunches. Instead of store-bought cold cuts, I sometimes use cold leftover meat or chicken, including:
Recipe Card
Homemade Quick Pickles
Video
Ingredients
Vegetables:
- ¾ cup cauliflower florets - use small florets
- ¾ cup green beans - trimmed and cut in half
- ¾ cup mini peppers - I leave them whole
For the brine:
- 1 ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt - or ½ tablespoon of any other salt, including Morton kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sweetener
- 2 garlic cloves - peeled
- 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon whole coriander
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Place the cauliflower, green beans, and mini peppers in a 20-ounce glass jar or a lidded glass storage container. Make sure the container is made from thick glass that can withstand near-boiling water. Pack the vegetables in tightly, leaving ½-inch of space at the top.
- Prepare the brine: In a small saucepan, combine the water, vinegar, salt, sweetener, garlic, peppercorns, coriander, and bay leaf. Stir to dissolve the salt and sweetener. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
- Allow the brine to cool slightly, and then pour it over the vegetables. It helps to pour the brine into a spouted measuring cup first. The brine should cover the vegetables completely. If it doesn't, you'll need to make more.
- Close the jar tightly, cool it to room temperature for about 30 minutes, and then refrigerate the pickles for 6 hours or overnight.
- Serve with any meat or poultry dish. They are especially good with burgers!
Notes
- In the nutritional info, I assumed the vegetables absorb ½ of the vinegar and salt. This is just a rough estimate, though.
- The sweetener is needed to balance out the strong acidity of the brine. I don't recommend skipping it.
- This recipe is just a guideline. It's fun to change things up! For example, you can change the vinegar you use. I like to use champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar. However, I don't recommend using raw apple cider vinegar, especially the unfiltered kind with "the mother," which has a stronger, more pungent aroma and flavor.
- You can make these pickles spicy by adding two hot chili peppers to the pickling jar. Just make sure no one actually tries to eat them!
- You can refrigerate these pickles in an airtight glass jar or container for about a week. Being homemade, they don't contain preservatives, so they won't last as long as store-bought pickles.
Nutrition per Serving
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Most recipes are low-carb and gluten-free, but some are not. Recommended and linked products are not guaranteed to be gluten-free. Nutrition info is approximate. Please verify it independently. The carb count excludes non-nutritive sweeteners. Please read these Terms of Use before using any of my recipes.
Jennifer says
Hi, would apple cider vinegar work? I usually have that on hand.
Thanks
Vered DeLeeuw says
Hi Jennifer,
Apple cider vinegar works and it's delicious, but it will darken the pickles. So it might not be as aesthetically pleasing.