You’ll want to use these flavorful, crunchy bits of pickled radish to dress up salads, tacos, corn bowls, sandwiches and burgers. They provide a salty-sweet crunch that takes an everyday dish to a new and pleasantly surprising level.
Quick pickled radishes are a sensation overnight! Marinate thinly sliced radishes in the refrigerator in a brine of vinegar, sugar, and pickled spices for 8 hours or more for a crunchy, salty, sweet, and tart homemade condiment.
Quick pickles are part of my DNA. My grandmother always kept a jar of sliced cucumbers in her fridge and would pull them out to add to a plate of interesting tidbits or spread on a liverwurst sandwich (!), like grandmother, daughter and now granddaughter (me), quick pickles are always on hand for a snack or hors d’oeuvres.
Simple tip!
We’ll focus on radishes here, but the idea can be applied to other sliced veggies (think beets, cucumbers, carrots, onions, as well as blanched green beans and asparagus).
The Quick Pickle Sole
Quick Pickles are designed to have a shorter shelf life in the refrigerator than canned pickles. The brine is usually half sugar and half vinegar, but you can adjust the sugar to vinegar ratio and add your own spin with a choice of vinegars like cider, white wine or rice vinegar. I like to dress them up a little bit with pickled spice and dill, but they’re still so easy to make.
Balsamic and aged vinegars are not good choices; They’re dark in color, which isn’t attractive for a quick pickle, and their strong flavor can overwhelm the veg.
Simple tip!
To dissolve the sugar and speed up the process, heat the vinegar, sugar, and other ingredients together on the stove and stir until the sugar dissolves. Then stir in the ice water (along with the ice cubes) and the brine will cool just enough not to wilt the radishes.
How I flavor my brine liquid
Although grandmother’s pickles were the essence of simplicity, a little embellishment never hurts. Whole spices such as this curing spice and fresh herbs such as dill, fennel fronds, rosemary or thyme also add to the taste.
Cut your radishes however you like!
Slice radishes as you like! I used a mandolin to thinly slice the radishes here. First, cut off the root ends of the radishes, trimming the stems so that you can only grab a small tail when cutting.
For a little extra crunch, hand-slice them a little thicker, or halve or quarter them for tasty little bites.
What to do with pickled radishes
My favorite way to eat these radishes is probably on a thin slice of thick, buttered rye bread with fresh cucumber slices, topped with the pickled radishes. They make easy, crunchy nibbles that can be served alongside wine glasses.
- Add them to tuna or egg salad sandwiches for some pizzazz
- Top tacos or nachos with it
- Place them on top of your avocado toast with sliced hard boiled eggs
- Use them for topping on burgers
- Put them in grain bowls
- Of course, you should also add them to your salad!
Quick pickled radishes
ingredients
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1 Cup white wine vinegar
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1/2 Cup sugar
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1 teaspoon kosher salt
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2 bay leaves
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2 teaspoon pickling spice
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4 small branches fresh dilldivided
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4 bundles (approx 2 lb with leaves) radish
special equipment
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2
pint glasses
method
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Prepare 2/3 cup ice water:
Place 3 to 4 ice cubes in a 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Add enough cold water to measure 2/3 cup.
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Heat the ingredients for the brine:
In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, salt, bay leaves, pickle seasoning, and 2 sprigs of dill. Bring to a boil and stir, about 1 minute, or until the sugar dissolves.
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Cool the brine:
Remove pan from heat and stir in ice water and ice cubes. Let cool until lukewarm.
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Slice radishes:
Using a mandolin or a thin, sharp paring knife, cut the radishes into thin slices. Pack them into 2 (1 pint) jars.
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Add the brine:
Remove the wilted dill from the brine with tongs. Pour the brine and pickling spices over the radishes, completely covering them. Add the remaining sprig of fresh dill to each jar.
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Refrigerate:
Cover the jar with a lid and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before eating.
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Save on computer:
Refrigerate the pickled radishes for up to 2 weeks.
Did you like the recipe? Let’s star down!
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 37 | calories |
| 0g | Fat |
| 8g | carbohydrates |
| 0g | protein |
