Why it is easy
A traditional pickle has to be acidic enough to sit on a shelf for a year, which is a food-safety question with a specific answer. A quick pickle lives in the fridge and gets eaten within days, so it only has to taste right.
That freedom means the brine can be adjusted purely for flavour: more sugar for something to cut through fat, less for something sharp, more water for a gentler pickle.
It also means the vegetables stay crisp. Long pickling softens; a few hours does not. A quick-pickled red onion is still crunchy, which is most of the point.
The basic method
Adjust the brine to taste, and keep it in the fridge. FoodHQ does not publish acidity figures, brine strengths or keeping times, and does not say which pickles are safe unrefrigerated. Those are safety numbers set by a food safety authority; in the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority. Use a recipe from it or from a body with the same standing, and treat this page as the explanation of what the method is doing.
- Slice the vegetables thinly and evenly. Thin slices take on the brine in an hour; thick ones take a day.
- Pack them into a clean jar. Push them down — they should be snug rather than floating.
- Make the brine: vinegar, water, sugar and salt warmed together until the sugar and salt dissolve. A common starting point is equal vinegar and water, with sugar and salt to taste.
- Add aromatics to the jar or the brine — bay, peppercorns, coriander seed, dill, chilli, garlic, mustard seed.
- Pour the warm brine over the vegetables until they are covered. Warm brine works faster than cold; boiling brine softens them.
- Let it cool, then refrigerate. Most quick pickles are good within an hour and better the next day.
- Keep them in the fridge, and treat them as a fresh food rather than a preserve.
What to quick-pickle
- Red onion, sliced thin. The single most useful one — on tacos, sandwiches, salads, curry, anything rich.
- Cucumber, in thin rounds, with dill and a little sugar.
- Radish, which turns pink and stays crunchy.
- Carrot and daikon, julienned, for a Vietnamese banh mi.
- Fennel, sliced on a mandoline, which is excellent with fish.
- Chillies, sliced, which mellows their heat and gives you a jar of sharp heat to use.
- Cabbage or red cabbage, shredded, which is quicker than a proper pickle and nearly as good.
- Shallots, ginger, cauliflower, green beans, courgette — almost anything firm.
Adjusting the brine
- Sharper
- More vinegar, less water. Good for cutting rich food.
- Gentler
- More water, more sugar. Good for eating on their own.
- Vinegar choice
- Cider and white wine vinegar are the most useful. Rice vinegar is mild and suits Asian dishes. Malt is assertive and suits onions and eggs.
- Salt
- Always some. A pickle without salt tastes thin and sweet.
- Speed
- Thinly sliced vegetables in warm brine are ready in an hour. Thick pieces take a day or more.
Common questions
How long do quick pickles keep?
They live in the fridge and are eaten within days. Keeping times and whether anything is shelf-stable is a Food Standards Agency question.
Do I need to sterilise the jar?
For a fridge pickle eaten within days, a clean jar is the usual practice. For anything kept longer, follow Food Standards Agency guidance.
Warm or cold brine?
Warm works faster and is the usual choice. Boiling brine softens the vegetables.
Which vinegar?
Cider or white wine for most things. Rice vinegar for Asian dishes. Malt for onions and eggs.
Can I reuse the brine?
For a second batch of the same vegetable in the fridge, many people do. It weakens each time.
Try this next
- Pickling the method, in full
- Fermented or pickled? the distinction that matters
- Vinegar the varieties and what each suits
- How to make pickled onions the traditional shelf-stable version