Quick Pickled Vegetables

August 17, 2026

These quick pickled vegetables use any veggies you have on hand to make one tangy jar. No canning required, just hot brine and 24 hours in the fridge!

If you love pickled vegetables but don’t want to worry about hardcore canning, these mixed vegetable quick pickles are for you. Refrigerator pickles are simple to make and don’t require a canning machine or any fancy sterilization techniques!

This recipe is an adaptation of my classic dill pickles recipe, but they’re mixed pickles that include cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, and peppers. You can use any vegetables you’d like, and can likely find a good variety at your local farmer’s market. These jars always disappear very quickly at our house!

Why I Make Pickled Vegetables On Repeat

No canning equipment needed. These are refrigerator pickles, so there’s no water bath, no sterilizing.
About 20 minutes of hands-on work. The fridge does most of the work!
Endlessly flexible. You can use any veggies you like, and they work on sandwiches, grain bowls, cheese boards, and more!

What Is Quick Pickling?

Quick pickles are any blend of vegetables that have been pickled in a mixture of vinegar, salt, sugar, and water. They’re usually lighter in flavor than regular pickles and need a few days in the fridge to pickle. This works best with fresh veggies, not ones that are bruised or going bad.

While you can’t store them on your cupboard shelf, they last for up to 1 month in the refrigerator, which is much longer than they ever make it at our house! I gobble them up too fast!

The Best Vegetables For Pickling

Many of the ingredients for these mixed pickles are spices and other pantry staples. For these quick pickled vegetables, you’ll need:

Best vegetables: Kirby cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, radishes, red onion, peppers, fennel, asparagus
Vegetables to pickle whole: cherry tomatoes, okra, jalapeños
Vegetables to handle with care: Zucchini and summer squash soften fast; slice thick and eat sooner
Vegetables to skip: leafy greens, mushrooms, anything already watery or wilted

How To Make Pickled Vegetables

Making these mixed vegetable quick pickles requires no fancy equipment. You’ll need two quart-sized mason jars for this refrigerator pickle recipe, and that’s really it! Here are the basic steps (or go to the full recipe below):

Wash the jars thoroughly and air-dry them.
Cut the vegetables however you like. We prefer carrots and cucumbers to be sliced length-wise, but you can make them any shape you want.
Put the mixed vegetables into mason jars. It’ll take some elbow grease to get everything into the jars, but you want the veggies to be snugly packed in along with the herbs and spices.
Make the brine. Heat the ingredients over the stove to allow the kosher salt and sugar to dissolve fully. Once the brine starts to boil, remove it from the heat and carefully pour it over the veggies. Close the jars and refrigerate!
Allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before tasting them.

Storage And Food Safety

Store sealed jars in the refrigerator, where pickled vegetables keep for up to 1 month. Use a clean fork and keep everything covered in the brine.

Because these are refrigerator pickles, they are not shelf-stable and must not be stored at room temperature. For jars that store in the cupboard, follow a tested canning recipe.

Ways To Serve Pickled Vegetables

Thanks to their classic pickle flavor, these pickled mixed vegetables can easily be used in place of regular pickles. A few of our favorite ways to use these pickles are:

On a sandwich: Try my Easy Chickpea Salad Sandwich, Egg Salad Sandwich, Rainbow Vegetable Sandwich, or Vegetarian Banh Mi
Chopped into potato salad, like my Best Potato Salad
On a cheese board: see my Ultimate Cheese Board

Dietary Notes

This pickled vegetables recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, dairy-free, and vegan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to boil vegetables before pickling?

No! The vegetables go into the jar raw; only the brine gets heated. Boiling them first makes very soft pickles that don’t have any texture.

What is the best ratio of vinegar to water for pickles?

Equal parts is the standard for quick pickles.

Are pickled vegetables the same as fermented vegetables?

No. Vinegar pickling uses acid and takes 1 day; fermenting uses salt and time to cultivate beneficial bacteria over a week or more. Sauerkraut and kimchi are fermented.