These pink pickled turnips take four days to pickle and last a whole month in the fridge. Make these homemade pickled turnips with turnips, beet, cauliflower, carrots, vinegar, salt, spicy red pepper, and a pinch of sugar.
These spicy pink pickles are a mixture of crunchy, salty, sour, and spicy all at the same time. Pickling takes time, but these turnips are relatively quick (although not as quick as Egyptian refrigerator pickles). They take 30 minutes to prepare and four days to pickle.
Pink pickled turnips have a gorgeous pop of color due to small pieces of beet. Add different root vegetables for variety. Control the level of spice with the quantity and type of chili pepper.
Ingredients Notes
- Vegetables: The main ingredient for this recipe is large turnips. A small beet is used to turn the brine pink. Other root vegetables, like carrots and cauliflower, add variety.
- For the brine: Use distilled white vinegar, white table sugar, and salt (or sea salt). Don't substitute any other type of vinegar. The amount of vinegar might need to be adjusted slightly depending on the size of the jar.
- For spice: Be careful when adding fresh red peppers, because the spicy level can differ. Fresno peppers are also a great red chili pepper to use.
How To Make Pickled Turnips
Prepare the vegetables. Peel the carrots and turnips. Chop the turnips, carrots, and cauliflower into similar-sized pieces.
Blend the spicy peppers and salt using a food processor. Add the blended spicy peppers and salt to the sliced vegetables.
Let vegetables sweat. Add 5 tablespoon of salt to the raw vegetables in a large bowl. Let the vegetables sit for about 2 hours. The vegetables will sweat. Don't discard the liquid.
Add the vegetables and liquid to a large glass jar (or multiple jars). Add around 10 tablespoon of vinegar, 2 tablespoon sugar, and 5 tablespoon more salt.
Pro Tip: Use a clean jar and lid to pickle the turnips. However, the jars do not have to be boiled as you would for shelf-stable preserving.
Boil water. Completely cover the vegetables with boiling water. Taste the vinegar brine and adjust the salt and vinegar as needed.
Close the pickle jar and keep it at room temperature for 4 days in a cool dark place. Once the turnips and vegetables have been pickled (after the 4 days at room temperature), store the jar in the fridge.
Pro Tip: These pickled turnips are not shelf-stable and need to be stored in the fridge once the four-day pickling process is completed.
Tips and Tricks
- This pickled turnip recipe turns the white turnips into pink turnips by using a red beet. The vegetables change colors as the homemade pickles sit for a few days.
- Serve with baba ganoush, chicken shish tawook, falafel sandwiches, chicken shawarma, hawawshi, and foul mudammas.
- This quick brine liquid is easy to make. It just needs distilled white vinegar, a lot of salt, sugar, and boiling water.
- Make sure to use a clean, sterilized jar.
Substitutions
- Add some garlic cloves to add some garlic flavor to the pickling brine.
- Use different sizes of pickle jars.
- Change the pickled vegetable. Use all turnips or a combination of root vegetables.
📋 Recipe
Pink Pickled Turnips
Ingredients
- 8 turnips
- 8 whole carrots
- ½ head of cauliflower
- 1 small beet
- 5 spicy large red peppers
- 10 tablespoon salt sea salt ** see notes
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 10 tablespoon white vinegar see notes
- boiling water enough to cover the vegetables
Instructions
- Wash the vegetables well. Peel and cut the turnips, carrots, and beet. Cut the cauliflower. Cut the stems off the spicy red pepper. Cut the spicy red pepper into thirds.
- In a food processor, blend the spicy red pepper and 5 tablespoon of salt.
- In a large bowl add all of the chopped vegetables and the blended spicy pepper. Mix the vegetables well. Allow the vegetables to sit at room temperature for 2 hours and sweat out the moisture. There will be a few cups of liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
- Add the vegetables into an airtight container or multiple airtight containers (I used 2 half-gallon size mason jars). Pour the liquid on top of the vegetables (that sweated out). Add 10 tablespoon (this is the total amount) of white vinegar. Add 5 tablespoon of salt.
- Boil water. Pour the boiling water into the jar fully covering the vegetables. Seal the jar and shake it. Open the jar and taste the liquid. Don't put the spoon back into the jar! Adjust the salt and vinegar depending on the vinegar brine taste.
- Seal the jar and keep it at room temperature for 4 days. After 4 days once the vegetables have pickled, move the jar to the fridge. Keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.
Equipment
Notes
- Depending on the salt used for this recipe, the quantity will change. I used crystallized sea salt, however, if using iodized table salt, the quantity will be less. I recommend tasting the vinegar brine and adjusting it.
- Depending on the size of the jar, the amount of hot water and vinegar will change as well.
Nutrition
FAQs
Pickled turnips are pink because of the beetroot. After a few days of pickling, the vinegar salt brine, and pickled vegetables turn a light pink color.
Keep pickles refrigerated for up to 1 month in the fridge (after pickling).
Pickled turnips take 4 days to pickle at room temperature. After 4 days, move the jar to the fridge.
Sarah says
These were crunchy, spicy, and delicious. It made a large amount, so I had to give some to the neighbors.