During our first round of grocery-ordering during COVID-19, we somewhat comically ended up with a whopping 1/2 pound bag of jalapeños. Apparently that is the bare minimum quantity of jalapeños for a Walmart pick-up order, even though I only needed one (half) pepper. Now I know.
Faced with the options of either eating them all in one week (probably not smart) or throwing them out (yeah they’re cheap, but that’s wasteful), we decided to quick pickle them.
So, if you’ve also accidentally hoarded fresh veggies (or jalapeños) during COVID-19, and you’re now wondering how to use them up before they rot: This post is for you! Read on for some general directions for quick pickling, as well as recipes for some of the quick pickles we’ve enjoyed making and eating over the years.
Pickled red onions / Pickled daikon, carrots, cucumbers
Pickled eggs / Pickled jalapeños
Basic directions for quick pickling
- Dissolve a small amount of sugar and salt in a 1:1 mixture of water and some type of vinegar (white, apple cider, rice).
- Heat this mixture until the sugar and salt have fully dissolved into solution.
- Immerse cut veggies in the brine, let sit for a few minutes.
- Transfer veggies to a jar with the brining liquid, sit jar out at room temperature c. 1 hour, then cover and refrigerate. You’re done!
Optionally, sprinkle the chopped veggies with salt, and let them sit for awhile to draw liquid out of them first. Drain the newly-generated moisture before immersing in brine.
Way back when we lived in Connecticut, we made this recipe to top these coffee-rubbed cheeseburgers. The pickled onions were such a hit that they’ve been immortalized in our go-to binder of recipes.
Now, with both of us out teaching in different states during the day (!), lunch prep has become a more serious game. As part of my weekly meal prep, I’ve found myself buying extra red onions and pickling one to add to salads and bowls throughout the week.
I discovered this Any Day Viet Pickle recipe by Andrea Nguyen as part of a triptych of Vietnamese-ish recipes in the Wall Street Journal last winter. The first time I made it, I followed her instructions exactly, including weights and types of vegetables used. They taste amazing on top of her quick rotisserie chicken soup (mì gà) recipe in the same article (and truthfully, on any kind of stir fry, ramen bowl, etc.).
Now, I still follow the total weight suggestion, but vary which vegetables get pickled based on what I have on hand. Instead of going bad, they last longer, taste more interesting than their non-pickled relatives, and we have a fabulous stir-fry or soup topper that lasts for weeks.
Favorite pickling victims have included carrots, cucumbers, scallions and onions. (And Napa cabbage, but that is a whole different story. We love Mark Bittman’s summer kimchi recipe, which is also a type of quick pickle!)
The past few years, I’ve made pickled eggs for Easter. If I have time, I follow some of the seasoning and color suggestions suggested by this recipe. Beet shavings in the brining liquid, as the Pennsylvania Dutch know, make for some beautifully-dyed pickled eggs!
I also really enjoy this Cooking Light recipe for turmeric-pickled eggs. The recipe is really for deviled pickled eggs, with madras (hot) curry powder added to the yolky filling. But, most of the time I make them, I don’t devil them. The pickled hard-boiled eggs add an interesting twist to a Niçoise or garden salad, and also help change up the afternoon snack routine when normal hard-boiled eggs get boring.
I’ve eaten pickled jalapeños before … at baseball games, on top of nachos and cheese. They probably came from a can. I never thought of pickling my own until COVID-19 craziness week 2 hit. (COVID-19 is making us all do some strange things.)
I used this recipe for pickling the peppers, then tossed them over chicken enchiladas for dinner. And, they tasted ridiculously amazing: simultaneously both spicy and sweet, and gloriously crunchy. I can’t wait to try them in more dishes! They’ll keep for weeks, maybe a few months, this way.
Which veggie(s) do you like to quick pickle? Leave me a comment below, and I’ll try it out!
