Quick Pickled Radishes

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.

4 Pickled radish jars

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

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.

Sliced radishes on a cutting board

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.

Quick pickled radishes in jars

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:

How do you like to use quick pickled radishes? Let me know in the comments!

Pickled radish recipe

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.

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Pickled Radishes

rate this recipe:
4.95 from 20 votes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Serves 8
This pickled radish recipe is so simple and delicious! Enjoy the crisp, tangy radishes as a snack, or top them onto burgers, sandwiches, tacos, etc. Find more serving suggestions in the post above.

Ingredients

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 stir in the peppercorns and mustard seeds. 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.

Notes

Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

25 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Jessica Pennings
    07.19.2023

    How much is “4 bunches”? We have them growing in our garden so would be helpful to know how many to pick.

    • Lianne
      12.27.2023

      Would like to know how much 4 bunches are as well. Thanks!

  2. Marissa
    07.18.2023

    5 stars
    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!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.19.2023

      Aww, I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂

  3. Suzanne D
    07.17.2023

    4 stars
    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)

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.19.2023

      Hi Suzanne, I’d try letting the brine cool a bit before pouring over the radishes. That’ll help retain the color.

  4. Daphne
    07.08.2023

    5 stars
    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.

    • Gwen
      07.14.2023

      What kind of vinegars/vinegar blends do you recommend? Is it completely up to personal taste?

  5. Jenn
    07.01.2023

    Can these be canned? Would you pressure can or water bath?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.03.2023

      Hi Jenn, I’m not experienced with canning so I’m not sure.

    • Het
      01.03.2024

      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!

  6. taylor
    06.27.2023

    can we use pickling salt instead of we don’t have sea salt?

  7. Matt
    06.24.2023

    How many radishes is “4 bunches” by weight?

  8. Jessica
    01.23.2023

    5 stars
    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?

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      01.26.2023

      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!

      • Jessica
        02.17.2023

        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!

  9. Loganee Naicker
    07.21.2022

    5 stars
    Love these pickled radishes. So yummy and easy to make. Thank you for the recipe.

  10. Laura
    07.10.2022

    5 stars
    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.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.12.2022

      I’m so glad you’ve been loving the radishes and also the book!

  11. Stacy N
    07.10.2022

    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?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.12.2022

      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.

      • Michelle
        08.04.2023

        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?

  12. Coco
    03.26.2022

    5 stars
    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!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      03.27.2022

      Ha ha, I’m so glad you loved them!

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.