We adore the cool, sweet and tangy crunch of pickles so much that we often find ourselves wishing that we could just make a meal out of them. Well, we’ve come pretty close! This Refrigerator Cucumber Salad uses the same process for making a quick refrigerator pickle and adds a few other veggies for a healthy and yummy side dish that you can keep coming back to.
A refrigerator pickle is a method of pickling a vegetable without out any of the hassle of canning. You create a simple brine and pour it over your veggies and stick the whole thing in your fridge. Voila, pickles!
This salad borrows that basic method which is absolutely wonderful because it means that this stuff will keep in a jar in the fridge for two months. We doubt it will stick around that long (it sure never does around here) but it’s awfully nice to have a healthy snack or side in the fridge to heap on your plate any time of day.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s super tasty either. Tangy, sweet, and crunchy, the cucumbers and peppers in this salad stay wonderfully crisp. The longer it sits, the more deliciously pickled it becomes, but we find we can’t help opening up that jar for a few bites as soon as it becomes chilled.
This lovely little salad is comforting in its scrumptious simplicity. It’s fresh, easy, and while it could last for months, we find there’s just never quite enough for that to happen!
INGREDIENTS
- 5 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
PREPARATION
- In a medium bowl or a half gallon mason jar, toss together cucumbers, onions, peppers, and salt and set aside.
- Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, and pepper flakes in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, remove from heat and add 2 handfuls of ice.
- Once ice has melted, pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers. Cover and store in refrigerator. Will keep for 2 months.
