Easy Pickled Cabbage Salad (video)
A refreshing and crunchy pickled cabbage salad made with zucchini, carrots, mushrooms and red bell pepper. The vegetables are pickled in a simple pickle juice and the salad is ready overnight! It’s a great dish to enjoy for lunch, or serve it as a side dish for dinner. Try this pickled veggie salad with spicy peppers, yellow zucchini, and even tomatoes! It keep well in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks.
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The Best Veggies for a Pickled Salad
Like any good salad recipe, this pickled cabbage salad tastes best with the best, farm-fresh ingredients! If you have a summer garden, this salad should be right up your alley! I recommend using a variety of firm vegetables, such as carrots, radishes (watermelon radish, too!), zucchini, cabbage, celery and mushrooms. Tomatoes and cucumbers would also work but make sure to go with tomatoes that are less ripe; same for cucumbers.
Easy Pickling Juice
To get the vegetables perfectly pickled, I use a simple pickling recipe that requires just 5 ingredients: water, sugar, oil, salt and vinegar. The amount of sugar can be adjusted to as low as 2 tablespoons. The original salad recipe can a bit on the sweet side for some people. I also like to add tons of garlic and pepper corns! The garlic and pepper both add a spicy and zesty kick to the pickled vegetables!
Storing the Pickled Salad
Once you have the salad assembled in glass jars, allow it to cool on your kitchen counter completely; this could take several hours. This will allow the warm pickle juice to soften the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate the salad. It will stand well in the fridge for a good two weeks. Do not use metal pots or containers, unless stainless-steel! The acid in the pickle juice will strip certain metals, resulting in a metal aftertaste.
From My Cookbook!
Find this salad recipe in my newly released cookbook, Beyond Borscht, featuring 75 traditional Eastern European recipes! This cookbook has it all – appetizers, soup, salads, main entrees and of course, dessert!
More Recipes!
Loved this pickled cabbage salad recipe and looking for more? Check out some of my other recipes you’re sure to enjoy!
- You’ll love my crunchy and refreshing ‘Cucumber Cabbage Salad’ with dill and toasted almonds. It’s always a hit!
- And, this ‘Kale Pomegranate Salad’ is my all-time favorite salad recipe!
- My ‘BLT Salad’ is seriously amazing! With smoky bacon bits, creamy avocado and cheese!
- Braised Cabbage with Sausage – easy, one-pan braised cabbage with zucchini, peppers, smoky sausage and more! Perfect for busy weekdays!
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Supplies/Tools
Need some supplies to make this recipe? You can get them here (Amazon affiliate links):
- I love my Wusthof Ikon knives – the best investment ever! I used this classic chef’s knife for this video recipe.
- These Epicurean cutting boards are the best. Plus, they’re dishwasher safe!
- Use these glass storage containers for storing the salad in the fridge.
Pickled Cabbage Salad (video)
Ingredients
- 1 large cabbage
- 1 to 2 red bell peppers
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 to 2 zucchini
- 8 to 10 white mushrooms
- 2 large carrots
- 2 tbsp fresh dill
- 6 garlic clove, sliced
- 1 tablespoon whole black pepper
- 8 cups water
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup salt
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables first. Peel away the first layer of leaves off the cabbage, cut and discard the center core and any hard, fibrous leaves. Cut the cabbage into 1-inch pieces. Peel and slice the carrots; chop celery, peppers and zucchini; quarter the mushrooms.
- Clean 3 to 4 mason jars with hot water and soap and find fitting lids. Drop about 10 whole peppercorns, 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh dill and 2 sliced garlic cloves into each jar. Layer the vegetables alternating with cabbage, packing the vegetables tightly into the jars.
- Prepare the pickling juice. In a large pot, combine the water, cider vinegar, oil, sugar and salt. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, then remove from heat. Use a ladle to pour the hot pickling juice over the vegetables, filling the jars to the brim. Cover each jar with a lid, then set the salad into the refrigerator. Allow the salad to pickle for at least 6 to 8 hours, or best if left overnight. Salad will keep well for 1 to 2 weeks.
Amazing salad! I let it sit in the fridge for 2 days before we enjoyed it. And it tasted perfect! its all gone, now gotta make more. 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it! It gets better after a few days 🙂
Can cu cucumbers be used in place of zucchini?
Yes, cucumbers should work well for this recipe, too!
I’m not a fan of apple cider vinegar, have you ever used any other vinegar in its place or is ther another vinegar you would recommend?
Hi Becky! Regular, white table vinegar will also work. If you want to use a more flavorful vinegar, try using champagne vinegar 🙂
Can this be canned
Hi Melinda! You know, I’m not sure! I don’t know of any reason why not except you would have to follow different preparation steps for canning. I’m not much of a canner so I don’t have any tips; so sorry!
Ohhh, this sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it. One question though: what size mason jars do you recommend? It sounds like maybe it’s quarts?
It’s so easy and delicious! I hope you enjoy it! You can use any size jar. My mom would use one of those huge glass gallon jars; I prefer the smaller quart-sized jars.
This was so delicious!! A bit sweeter than I thought it would be, but that’s probably why my 3-year-old ate 2 bowls of it! I halved the recipe, and just used what I had on hand- cabbage, carrots, a tomato, ground pepper, garlic, and dried dill. I also used plain white vinegar instead of the apple cider vinegar, and it still turned out really well. Definitely a keeper, especially since I’m trying to find new ways to use cabbage!
Hi Rebecca! That’s awesome! I’m so glad the recipe was a huge hit with your family and the little ones! Feel free to change up the veggies, too. You can add just about anything. Thanks for leaving a review!