let’s make pickled vegetables, it’s so easy!
In the summertime, I just want to make pickled vegetables and add them to almost everything! They are so easy to make and they will keep for a week or two in the refrigerator.
What are some of the best vegetables to pickle?
Well, almost any kind of vegetable you can think of, but here’s a list we’ve made over and over!
- carrots (small or matchsticks in a bag)
- red onions
- cucumbers (English or Japanese)
- asparagus
- radishes
- green beans
- bell peppers
- fennel
What else will you need?
- jars- I used repurposed mustard jars and these from The Container Store
- rice vinegar
- sugar
- herbs (thyme, mint, dill)
- peppercorns
Special Equipment Needed for making pickled vegetables
You really don’t need anything but a few jars and a sharp knife. I like to use an inexpensive mandoline, but that’s completely optional.
If you do decide to get a mandoline, I always suggest a knife glove! The blades are so sharp and even if you are using the guard when you get to the last few slices, it’s always tempting to slice them without the guard. The knife glove saves you every time! I keep mine in the same drawer as the Mandoline! There’s a reason they sometimes call it a NoCry Cut Resistant Glove!
easy pickled vegetables
This recipe can be easily adapted.
Ingredients
- one red onion
- 1/2 bag matchstick carrots
- 4–6 Japanese Cucumbers
- 2 bottles of rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 10–15 peppercorns
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife or a Mandoline, slice the onion into thin slices.
- Using a Mandoline or a sharp knife, cut very thin slices of cucumber (unpeeled).
- Peel carrots if using small carrots, or I like to use the matchstick carrots in a bag.
- Blanche the red onions and the carrots by pouring boiling water over the vegetables (separately) in a mesh strainer.
- add the vegetables to jars
- Heat the vinegar and add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and then pour the hot vinegar over the vegetables, filling the jars.
- Add peppercorns or fresh herbs if used and leave the lids off until they cool.
- Once the vegetables are at room temperature, add lids and store them in the refrigerator.
- Use on rice bowls, burgers, sandwiches…you name it!
12 Creative ways to use pickled vegetables
- burgers
- salads
- rice bowls
- pizza
- pasta salad
- charcuterie boards
- spring rolls
- sandwiches
- omelets
- deviled eggs
- hummus
- soup garnishes
2. More favorite Vegetable talk
Okay, this is the furthest thing from pickled vegetables, but it seems we are all a bit obsessed with mushrooms lately. I’ve had my eye on one (or a pair, if I’m being honest) from Beck & Cap. I wrote about them in this post. See the tabletop mushrooms here.
Then, there’s this adorable lidded mushroom mug from the World Market and these darling Maddalena Mushroom Stools from Target. How cute would these be around a Saarinen coffee table? This lamp from Schoolhouse Electric has mushroom vibes too, and I kinda love it!
3. A dining room that is too good not to share
Maybe you have already seen this dining room that belongs to Lindsay (The White Buffalo Styling Co.) Lindsay created a beautiful and functional dining room and in the process made it look old, in a good way! The dining room in her new home looks like it is in a home that’s at least 100 years old. Go check out her posts that talk all about how she did it and how she uses the space!
4. A few shop favorites
First, let me say that I am overwhelmed with the response and enthusiasm I’ve received on Shop Most Lovely Things! It has been a dream of mine for years to open a shop, but the idea of all the hours that I would physically need to be at the shop just never seemed manageable. Now, I can open a shop with the help of Shopify! My husband Brent set up the entire thing and we worked together photographing all the products trying to remember where each piece came from in the US, France, or Italy.
A couple of our favorite things this week: Bowls! Why use an ordinary bowl for chips or fruit or salad when you can use a vintage bowl?
A glass bowl made in France
This bowl is the perfect size for a salad bowl or use as a fruit bowl on your kitchen counter! It’s amazing how this bowl shows some signs of age, but no chips! You can find out more details at Shop Most Lovely Things.
A medium Roseville Bowl
We love this bowl for many uses. It’s the perfect size for serving many things. Top of mind, potato chips. The earthiness of the chips is the perfect thing for this bowl in shades of brown. This bowl does not have the Roseville stamp on the bottom which means it was made between 1927 to 1935. You see more here!
5. A new show we found on Pinterest!
On Friday I was on Pinterest and happened to see an ad for a series on Acorn TV. It’s called Signora Volpe. It takes place in Umbria and we were hooked from the moment it started. We usually go to Tuscany, but this show and Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy episode featuring Umbria, has us planning our next trip to Italy. Let me know if you’ve seen it or if you check it out! Okay, those are my five favorite things. Let’s go see what Cindy and Mary Ann found this week! They are both getting settled in their new homes in new cities, so no doubt they have lots to share!
Always enjoy your posts for the various subjects you cover. Today I especially thank you for the streaming recommendation of Signora Volpe. We are always looking for something to watch after dinner & this hits the right buttons. (Love Stanley Tucci’s series too!) Have traveled to Italy numerous times (pre-covid, of course). One of our favorites was a hiking/walking trip to Umbria…through olive groves and vineyards, truffle hunting with a farmer & his dog but also seeing Assisi, Spoleto, Perugia and Orvieto topped off with a fabulous stay at a cousin’s villa near Castiglione del Lago, near where Signora Volpe is filmed…gorgeous and not as “discovered” as Tuscany. It is a must!
Hi! I am dying to take a trip to Umbria…we keep going back to the exact same place in Tuscany. I am so interested in Umbria now after seeing Stanley Tucci’s episode in Umbria! What an experience to go truffle hunting. Did you find any? Hiking through the olive groves sounds dreamy too!
Actually, yes, we did find truffles and went back to the farmhouse for a fabulous lunch that included pasta with truffle sauce. OMG!!! Delicious!
Great post, gonna order some mushrooms, pickle some veggies and read a new blog. I watched Signora Volos, hope they film more episodes. We spent a week in Umbria and loved it.
Hi Gayle, the wooden mushrooms from beck & Cap?? Aren’t they amazing! All of his work is so creative! I hope they film more episodes too! We are the third and last one tonight! Makes me want to book a trip to Umbria right this very minute!
Pickled veggies!!! I love them and make them all of the time! In face we made the Momofuku Bossam last weekend and in addition to the sauces we made Korean chickpeas and pickled carrots. I personally love to add picked red onion to my avocado toast.
I’ve wanted on of these Beck & Cap mushrooms for eons, they are so cool!
Congratulations again on the new shop!
Elizabeth! Korean chickpeas sound wonderful. And pickled red onions on avocado toast would be wonderful and so pretty!
Hello there, lovely post as usual, but a quick question – are you pickling each vegetable in a separate jar? And the two bottles of rice vinegar (355 ml each??) are for the 3 jars? What size are the Maille jars? Thank you!
Hi Patricia,
Yes, we made 2 jars of each vegetable. We used the small or regular size of the Maille Mustard jars and then we used three jam jars. We needed every bit of the 2 bottles of rice vinegar. I think they were 10 ounces.
Thank you so much for your reply! I’ve made pickled daikon and that was delicious, so I’ll try this recipe soon.
I love pickles but never think to pickle anything else! I love how modern it all looks, yet old school at the same time – trying!!!!
modern and old school…a winning combination in my book!