A platter of crudités with spicy cashew dip.

If you’re wondering how you might up your crudité game, here’s a thought: pickle some of the vegetables. For very minimal effort, pickling transforms vegetables from simply being raw to being raw with a bite and a brightness. It softens them ever so slightly, too, rendering them less snappy in texture, but still crisp and fresh.

This time of year, I particularly love pickled carrots and cauliflower, but radishes, turnips, and fennel are good options, too. In combination with un-pickled spears of endive, sturdy Romaine lettuce leaves, wedges of radicchio (or Treviso if you can find it), your crudité platter will never be so delicious or look more inviting.

Simple Refrigerator Pickles How-To:

You can scale this recipe up as needed — I often make 4x or 6x the recipe — and if you wish to add other seasonings such as garlic or pepper flakes, go for it … more and more I can’t be bothered 🙂

  1. Bring to a simmer: 1 cup each vinegar and water with 2 teaspoons each salt and sugar.
  2. Pack vegetables into clean, glass jars.
  3. Pour pickling liquid over top. A funnel helps with this. Let cool to room temperature.
  4. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours (though longer is better) before serving.

Pickled vegetables are delicious on their own — so nice to have on hand when you need a little snack — but especially good with some sort of dip. This *almost* ranch dip made with Greek yogurt has become a favorite, but I have another cashew-based one to share soon (stay tuned).

A board with whole carrots and a head of cauliflower.
Here’s the play-by-play: gather your vegetables: I love using carrots and cauliflower.
A board with halved carrots and cauliflower florets.
Slice the carrots lengthwise in half; cut the cauliflower into large-ish florets.
Glass jars filled with pickled crudité.
Pack the vegetables into glass jars… whatever you have on hand.
A pot filled with water, vinegar, salt and sugar.
Bring to a simmer: 1 cup each water and vinegar, 2 teaspoons each salt and sugar. Note: I’m doing 6x the recipe here.
Pickled crudité in glass jars, one with a funnel.
Use a funnel to pour the pickling liquid over the top of the vegetables. Let cool completely. Then refrigerate overnight.
Overhead shot of pickled carrots and cauliflower in glass jars.
A tea towel drying off pickled carrots and cauliflower.
Lightly dry off before arranging onto a platter.
Components to pickled crudités platter.
Gather other vegetables: Romaine leaves, endive, radish, radicchio (or Treviso).
A platter of crudités with spicy cashew dip.
Heap everything onto a platter and serve with your favorite dip.
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A platter of crudités with spicy cashew dip.

Simple Pickled Crudité

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Description

This is a simple formula adapted from David Lebovitz’s pickled radish recipe.  It can be scaled as needed and used to pickle many a vegetable: peppers, onions, fennel, cauliflower, broccoli, shallots, turnips, kohlrabi … you name it.

Notes:

  • Most recently, I pickled 1.5 lbs carrots and 1 large head cauliflower. For this amount of vegetables, I did 6x the recipe, which comes out to be: 6 cups each water and vinegar, and 1/4 cup each salt and sugar.
  • Look for slender carrots if possible: halving them lengthwise before pickling makes for a nice presentation.
  • I like to cut cauliflower into large-ish florets, also for presentation purposes. 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup vinegar (white, apple cider, white balsamic, champagne—any white vinegar)
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 4 cups (roughly) thinly sliced or roughly chopped vegetables: onions, carrots, turnips, radishes, peppers, fennel, shallots, cauliflower etc.

Instructions

  1. In a large non-reactive saucepan, bring the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil, until the sugar and salt are dissolved. (See notes above for scaling this recipe up.)
  2. Meanwhile, place the sliced vegetables in glass jars.
  3. Pour the brine over top. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Store for weeks in the fridge if not longer.
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Category: Pickle
  • Method: Refrigerator
  • Cuisine: American