This time of year with all the rich, hearty foods we enjoy, I often find myself craving something light and refreshing. Something to kind of cut through the heaviness of winter comfort food. Often I satisfy that need with a salad. Sometimes with a piece of citrus fruit. And sometimes, all I need are pickles!
These Quick Pickled Cucumbers are easy to make and the ingredients are available all year round. With this recipe, there’s no need to wait until cucumber season since it uses the English hothouse type cucumbers and there’s also no need for canning equipment. These are stored in the fridge and used within a few days. Just to make sure you understand – this is not a shelf-stable pickle recipe. It’s meant to be made, refrigerated, and used quickly.
We especially enjoy these sweet, tart pickles with rich stews, roasted meats, and even on sandwiches. They’re a great addition to a leftover turkey sandwich.
Quick Pickled Cucumbers - easy to make with ingredients available all year round. Click To Tweet
Combine the water, vinegar, sugar, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove it from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Note: I most often use a sugar substitute such as Splenda in this recipe. The results are excellent.
Slice the cucumber as thinly as possible using a mandoline or very sharp knife.
Place the cucumber slices in a colander and sprinkle with the salt, tossing the cucumber slices so that the salt is well distributed throughout. Allow the cucumber slices to sit for about 30 minutes. Rinse well and squeeze out as much moisture from the slices as possible.
Place the cucumber slices in a clean quart jar and pour the cooled pickling solution over them. Cover and refrigerate for 6-8 hours before serving. Best used within 2 days.
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Quick Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
-- Adapted from a recipe by Marcus Samuelsson
More quick pickle recipes you might enjoy:
- Mixed Vegetable Quick Pickles from A Couple Cooks
- Quick Pickled Zucchini from 101 Cookbooks
- Pickled Red Onions from A Farm Girl’s Dabbles
- How to Quick Pickle Radishes from Eating Richly
- Quick Pickled Fennel from French Revolution
What I was up to…
- One Year Ago: Mocha Eggnog Sundae
- Two Years Ago: Roasted Veggie Pizza
- Three Years Ago: White Chicken Chili
- Four Years Ago: Old Fashioned Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze
- Five Years Ago: Turnip Greens and Corn Pone
Gosh I love how you mandolin-d the cucumbers. They look so translucent in the brine. I love pickles. I like it that you made them with white wine vinegar which is a first for me. I will definitely try it soon. Happy Holidays, Lana!!
The white wine vinegar is so good in these! Hope you enjoy them, Shulie.
I’ll give them a try!
I agree with switching it up with something light in the winter sometimes – all that comfort food can get to be a little much sometimes! :) Great idea.
Oh my gosh – you’re absolutely right! This is like a fresh taste of summer in the middle of winter! Looks wonderful!
Thanks, Martha. Just a little bit of something fresh and light goes a long way in the winter.
I could polish off the whole jar, I love how thin they are! Absolutely refreshing and now I’m ready for summer. :-)
My kids were so upset I didn’t make any pickles this summer — I cannot wait to surprise them with these!
Hope they enjoy them, Sarah!
I’m totally making these as a surprise for my husband in the next few days. I’ll let you know how he likes them! :)
Please do, Erin. I’d love to know how he likes them!
Made them! But I’ll write my review down below since that’s where other people will look for feedback. :)
I love refrigerator pickles, and such a great idea to have them on hand at this time of year to add a bit of brightness in the midst of all the heavy sweets.
Just a few of these go a long way toward brightening heavy comfort food, Heather!
I love anything and all things pickled!!
Me too, Meseidy.
These are the prettiest pickles ever! They shimmer. A great gift idea for the fooide in our lives!
No joke, I’d eat that entire jar in one sitting! Looks SO GOOD!!
I would eat this whole jar. I love pickled foods so much and these look delicious.
I’ll bet these would taste great on a sandwich! I’ll have to try these, Lana. They look delicious…and easy!
These remind me of the thin slices of pickled cucumber that my mum always serves with roasted salmon. I really need to make these!
These would be perfect with salmon, Dara.
I love a good quick pickled anything!
I love quick pickled anything! I will happily eat them plain or placed on a burger :)
I love pickles!! I make them all summer but hadn’t considered making them this time of year. You’re right about them cutting through all the heaviness though. Good call!
I made these today for my husband as his little Advent calendar surprise thing that we’re doing this year instead of tons of presents on Christmas. He was really, really happy with this present. :) I don’t like cucumbers or pickled anything so I didn’t even try them but he ate 1/4 of the jar in one sitting and said to tell you that he enjoyed them. :) I forgot to rinse the cucumber slices after letting them sit for 30 minutes and was worried that they’d be too salty but he was happy with it! Thanks so much for the easy recipe. :)
Lovely! My Swedish grandmother used to make something similar :)
If you could only see inside my fridge. I always have at least 3 different homemade pickled veggie combinations. It’s kind of a problem, I’m addicted. This looks like a great straight forward recipe to try, thanks. And thank you for sharing my red pickled onions. I can never be without those! :)