These tasty, crunchy, homemade pickles have just enough sweetness to balance the delicious vinegary tang.
Perfect party food
- you can make them in advance, and
- you can keep the leftovers (if there are any)
Everyone will ask you for the recipe!
Don’t be Scared to Pickle
I always found the whole pickling thing a bit intimidating, but it’s actually really easy, and once you have the right jars you’re good to go.
Get pickling jars with a wide mouth. Much easier to fill, and less messy.
Wide Mouth Jar on the left: Smart & Final, Target, or even your local grocery store
Veggies
You can use any combination of veggies that you like: zucchini (baby marrow) and green and yellow beans work well too. I found raw mushrooms to be a bit slimy.
I used to use baby carrots, cauliflower florets and other veggies in bite sized pieces, and my least favorite part of the process was trying to stuff all the veggies into the jars.
Cutting them into long strips makes stuffing the jars much easier, with less wasted space.
Hostess Gift Idea
Bring a bottle of homemade pickles!
What are your favorite veggies for pickling?
Cool Tools
- Kerr Wide Mouth One Quart (32-oz) Pickling Jars
- Kitchen Tongs for removing garlic
- Mini serving tongs
Yummy Homemade Pickled Veggies
Ingredients
- 4 Persian cucumbers ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise
- 6 young carrots peeled and cut in half lengthwise, or quarters if large (trim ends if taller than the jar)
- 6 scallions roots and dark green tops trimmed
- 1 red pepper cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch strips
- 1 orange or yellow pepper cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch strips
- ½ can baby corn whole spears rinsed and drained
- A few cauliflower florets to tuck wherever they fit
Sauce
- 2 cups white vinegar recommended: Heinz
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup ketchup
- 4 cloves garlic two cloves will go in each jar when sauce is made
- 4 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice about 2 medium lemons
- 4 teaspoons dried oregano origanum
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- Mix all sauce ingredients together in a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to low and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat. Remove the garlic with tongs and place two cloves in each jar.
- Pack two wide-mouth 1-quart, clear glass pickling jars full of vegetables, as tightly packed as possible. Tip: Start with the carrots and cucumbers; the corn, peppers and scallions can be fitted in the nooks and crannies. Leave the cauliflower for last. (You can start packing the jar while the sauce is simmering, but leave room to tuck the garlic into the jar.)
- Bring the sauce back to a boil, pour over vegetables to cover completely. (Do this in the sink or on a tray, because it can get messy.) Seal immediately, allow to cool. Wipe jars clean and refrigerate. (I set them down on paper towels in the refrigerator.)
- Ready to eat within 24 hours, but better after a couple of days.
- Place in a serving dish, discarding the liquid and garlic.
4 Responses
That looks so colorful and delicious! You can probably add fresh dill and other herbs to the liquid before it is boiled for extra flavors. Beautiful
Great idea Sarah! I’m actually not a huge oregano fan – this is the only recipe I use it in. But the pickles taste really good with it. I do LOVE dill, so next time I’ll definitely substitute it for the oregano. I know you make delicious jams – do you make pickles as well? xo Orna
Hi Orna, I made the eggplant with Bruchetta sauce and I have questions. By the way, it was delicious and I used some left over mozzarella cheese also. But, I used small japenese eggplants so there was a lot of outside pieces with the rind on, do I use them also or just the meaty slices? Thank you for all your hard work.
Hi Faye, I did use up all the outside pieces too, since the skin is tender and tasty in baby eggplants and Japanese eggplants. If you were serving it for company and wanted the whole dish to look completely even—with no ends, you could buy an extra eggplant and leave off the end pieces, but more for aesthetics than taste! Glad you liked it. 🙂