Sous vide pickled vegetables are ready to eat in hours instead of weeks. The vegetables maintain a delightful crispness while taking on the bright flavors of pickling aromatics and spices.
Be sure to check out my sous vide pickled onions. They are perfect with copycat chipotle carnitas, sous vide flank steak fajitas or any of your mexican inspired dishes. Check out my quick pickled red onions too!
What vegetables can be pickled using sous vide?
Any vegetable that you would pickle using a refrigerator or canning method can be pickled using the sous vide method. For this recipe I am going to pickle a combination of:
- green beans
- pearl onions
- bell peppers, orange and yellow
- cauliflower flouters
- baby carrots
- radishes
What type of container should you sous vide the vegetables in?
I am using glass quart canning jars for this recipe but you can also use a freezer zip top bag or even a vacuum seal bag. I like the glass jar because they are able to be stored in the pantry when cooled and they make for a lovely gift. But if I am in a hurry or don’t worry about presentation, I will use a freezer zip top bag.
Let’s talk about pickled vegetable brine.
A pickled vegetable gets pickled from spending time in a brine of vinegar, salt, water and flavors. The acidity of the vinegar needs to be 5% and most vinegars found in the grocery stores are at 5% but be sure by checking the label. The reason you need to have the vinegar at 5% acidity is that food pathogens can’t grow below 4.0 pH and the pH of 5% vinegar is 2.6. So the combination of the 5% vinegar and the sous vide cooking, your pickled vegetables are shelf stable.
This brine that I use also has sugar, bay leaf, dill weed, peppercorns, mustard seeds, red pepper flake and salt. You can adjust this recipe to your tastes easily. Making your own special recipe of pickled vegetables is a lot of fun.
How long at what temperature?
Sous vide cooking is all about specific time and temperature. When cooking pickled vegetables using sous vide you want a lower temperature at a longer time. I like 150 for 2 hours. But if you want a jar to seal properly, cook at 180 but cook for 1 hour.
In each jar add:
- garlic, thinly sliced
- bay leaf
- dill weed, dried
- mustard seeds
- pepper corns
- red pepper flakes
Make a brine of:
- Vinegar
- Water
- sugar
- salt
To each jar add clean, chopped vegetables:
- green beans
- pearl onions
- cauliflower
- bell peppers
- radishes
Sous Vide Pickled Vegetables
Equipment
Ingredients
To each jar add:
- 1 clove of garlic thinly sliced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dill weed dried
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper corns
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Make a brine of:
- 1 2/3 cup Vinegar
- 1 2/3 cup Water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoon salt
To each jar add clean, chopped vegetables:
- green beans
- pearl onions
- cauliflower
- bell peppers
- radishes
Instructions
In each jar add:
- garlic, thinly sliced
- bay leaf
- dill weed, dried
- mustard seeds
- pepper corns
- red pepper flakes
- Combine the water, vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Fill the quart jars with the clean vegetables and packing them tightly.
- Fill the quart jars with the brine mixture.
- Close the jars with clean lids and a canning ring.
- Finger tighten the jar.
- Lower into the sous vide bath. Heat the sous vide water to 150. Set the timer for 2 hours.
- Remove from the bath when cooked. Allow to come to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Sarah Mock
CEO/Owner/Founder/Culinary Blogger
Sarah Mock is a classically trained Chef and graduate of Johnson & Wales University. A culinary blogger for 12 years Sarah helps the home cook prepare her recipes with professional results.