Get ready to fall in love with this quick pickled radish recipe! The crunchy, tangy, salty veggies are perfect for jazzing up tacos, toast, salads, and more.
If you opened my fridge right now, you’d see jars upon jars of these quick pickled radishes lined up inside. They’re so pretty and pink that it’s almost a shame to eat them. I love the vibrant patterns the radishes create against the glass, all those circles and stripes. The natural beauty of these humble root veggies never ceases to amaze me.
Still, eat them I will. Tangy, salty, and delightfully crisp, they’re an addictive snack or topping for toast, tacos, bowls, burgers, salads…just about anything you like! This pickled radish recipe is easy to make (the fridge does most of the work for you), and the radishes keep for weeks. I love having a jar on hand for jazzing up all sorts of spring dishes. I think you will too!
Pickled Radish Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this pickled radish recipe:
- Radishes, of course! I call for red radishes here, but other varieties would work well too. Experiment with Easter Egg, watermelon radish, or daikon radish. Whatever you do, don’t toss the tops! Learn how to use them here.
- White vinegar and water – They make up the tangy base of the brine.
- Cane sugar – It’s the perfect sweet complement to the assertive vinegar, making these quick pickles well-balanced and addictive.
- Sea salt – It helps preserve the radishes and adds necessary salty flavor.
- Whole peppercorns and mustard seeds – They add unique depth of flavor to this simple brine.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Quick Pickled Radishes
This pickled radish recipe is super simple to make! Here’s what you need to do:
- First, prep the radishes. Wash the radishes well, trim off the tops, and thinly slice or halve them. If you want to slice the radishes, I recommend using a mandoline. It will make the process go way faster and yield even, paper-thin slices. Divide the radishes among 4 (11.5 ounce) jars, or whatever lidded jars you have.
- Then, make the brine. Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 1 minute. Allow the brine to cool at room temperature before pouring it over the radishes in the jars. Finally, add the peppercorns and mustard seeds, cover the jars, and refrigerate.
The quick pickled radishes are ready to eat when they are bright pink, tangy, and complex, with subtle depth from the peppercorns and mustard seeds. Thinly sliced radishes taste great after just an hour in the fridge, while halved radishes are best after a day. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Pickled Radish Serving Suggestions
If you’re anything like me, you’ll have a hard time not devouring all these radishes straight from the jar. Of course, you should snack on them as much as you like, but there are all sorts of other ways to use them too:
- On tacos or nachos. Top them onto my Sheet Pan Nachos or swap them in for the pickled onions in this Sweet Potato Taco recipe.
- On a sandwich or toast. They add a delicious crunch and a bright pop of flavor to my Egg Salad, Vegan Egg Salad, and Chickpea Salad sandwiches. They’re great on avocado toast, too!
- On a veggie burger. Pile them onto this veggie burger, this black bean burger, a portobello mushroom burger, or a BBQ jackfruit sandwich.
- In a salad. Replace the regular radishes in my Bright Spring Salad or Healthy Taco Salad with pickled ones!
- In a grain bowl. They’d be excellent in my Buddha Bowl or Veggie Power Bowl.
How do you like to use quick pickled radishes? Let me know in the comments!
More Homemade Pickles
If you love this pickled radish recipe, try one of these easy pickling recipes next:
Love radishes? Check out this radish salad or these roasted radishes.
Pickled Radishes
Ingredients
- 4 bunches red radishes, tops removed
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 2½ tablespoons cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon mixed peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
Instructions
- Thinly slice the radishes (or halve them, if you prefer), and divide between 4 (11.5-ounce) jars or equivalent. The amount of radishes and brine used may vary based on the size and shape of your jars and how you slice your radishes.
- Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 1 minute. Pour the brine over the radishes, then divide the peppercorns and mustard seeds among the jars. Let cool and chill until ready to use. Pickled radish slices will be ready to eat in about 1 hour, radish halves are best when pickled overnight.
Can you water bath can these?
Opened the jar after 24hrs in the fridge
Smells a bit ‘cabbagy’ . Have I done something wrong ?
Tastes ok.
nope! Put them on something and they’ll be just fine. Radishes have a funky cabbagey scent.
I made this. I used canning salt instead of sea. Probably more sodium but it was handy. I also simmered the rainbow peppercorns in the brine and added a few mustard seeds as well. If you are truly canning 4 pint size jars, double the brine recipe. 2 bag of radishes cut in half filled 2 jars and the brine recipe about was perfect to fill the jars to the top.
It seems like they should last longer in the fridge than 2 weeks. Do they get slimy or change flavor? They are so delicious !!
Hi Bev, you could probably go longer than 2 weeks if you want! If they start to smell or taste off, then I’d toss them.
Can you store them in a fridge for along time
She said about 2 weeks
Can I use Steevia instead of sugar? I am diabetic.
Hi Carol, I think that would work fine.
Hi Carol.
Great way to use use up radishes!
Here in the UK, as probably in North America too, you can buy them in the Supermarket in little bags of about 20 or so.
I used a few in a salad and thought I’m never going to use the rest before the “Best by” date and was about to throw them in the compost bin.
Suddenly had a light bulb moment and found out exactly how to use them up with this great pickled radish recipe of yours.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Jeanine.
My apologies for calling you Carol.
Was looking at a post from Carol and had a “Senior moment!”
Roger ?
How much is “4 bunches”? We have them growing in our garden so would be helpful to know how many to pick.
Would like to know how much 4 bunches are as well. Thanks!
I love this recipe! My kids eat these by the handfuls out of the jar. I use a mandolin to slice them when they’re crisp. Thanks for a great family staple recipe!
Aww, I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂
I would like to know how many is 4 bunches? I have around 10 medium size radishes, would this recipe work?
Hi Kim, a bunch usually has about 5 to 7 radishes. I would make half of the brine recipe and it should be enough for your 10 radishes.
Hi all, tried and done, verdict is we like it, that being said, we did not expect it to lose it’s nice bright color, still a nice rosy color though! Will make again despite (y)
Hi Suzanne, I’d try letting the brine cool a bit before pouring over the radishes. That’ll help retain the color.
This is a great base recipe that is good as is, but also cheap enough to experiment with to find what suits individual tastes. If you understand acidity and sweetness of vinegars, and aren’t afraid of your spice rack, you can yield amazing results.
I blanch whole cloves of garlic for mine, and I tend to use up whatever vinegars I have on hand (often blending different ones) and adjust the sugar accordingly.
I prefer to shred my radishes instead of halving or thinly slicing them (great for tacos and brats).
But whatever you do, never *ever* skip out on the mustard seeds or peppercorns.
What kind of vinegars/vinegar blends do you recommend? Is it completely up to personal taste?
Can these be canned? Would you pressure can or water bath?
Hi Jenn, I’m not experienced with canning so I’m not sure.
Jen, you can can these. Anything pickled can be water bath canned. The heat does make the a bit more soft but at least you’ll have sm’ stored for later use!
can we use pickling salt instead of we don’t have sea salt?
yep!
How many radishes is “4 bunches” by weight?
These are SO GOOD! Even my 4yr old devoured them. They didn’t even last a week. About to make another batch. But actually wondering if we could reuse the leftover brine? Or what to do with it! Any suggestions?
I’m so glad you loved them! You could add more radishes to the brine to make another batch of pickles. After the second batch, though, I’d toss the old brine and start fresh!
We actually used it in our canned chicken and made a chicken salad with it. Added the leftover brine and some cut celery and it was so good! Thank you so much!
Love these pickled radishes. So yummy and easy to make. Thank you for the recipe.
Love this simple receipe! They have kept well in fridge to a month. ? your cookbook use it as a staple all summer long!thank you for all the delicious recipes.
I’m so glad you’ve been loving the radishes and also the book!
I’m curious why the recipe calls for slicing the radishes first and then making the brine. The brine must cool, correct? So would it not make more sense to make the brine first, then prep radishes while the brine is cooling to room temp?
Hi Stacy, actually, there’s a mistake in the recipe – we pour the brine warm, then let the jars cool before covering them and transferring to the fridge. Fixing that now. You could still make the brine first, if you prefer.
But earlier in the comments you suggested to let the brine cool before pouring to allow the radishes to retain their color. Is this still OK to do?
I literally are them straight out of the jar! These are delicious and I’m actually on my third round of making them. This time I will “try” to use them on tacos, fish tacos, Korean pork belly tacos and avocado toast. LOVE THEM!
Ha ha, I’m so glad you loved them!