Pickled Veggies: Starter Recipe for Kids

After the rich and abundant summer harvest, fall is the best season to roll up our sleeves and preserve some fresh food by pickling it. That's how our ancestors prepared for the winter—especially before refrigerators!

Inspired by them, we’re sharing an easy Eastern-European recipe to try out with your child. In addition to being very delicious, pickled veggies are a superfood that is extremely gut-friendly! You can eat them on their own, add them to sandwiches, hotdogs, and salads, or use them as a side dish to your salmon meals—the options are endless.

You’ll need:

  • A few empty and clean jars

  • Veggies:
    There’s so much freedom and flexibility when pickling vegetables. You can literally use any types that you love or that are seasonally abundant in your area — this could include cauliflower, small cucumber varieties, chilis, garlic, green tomatoes, and even mushrooms! The biggest crowd pleasers are usually red bell peppers and carrots, which is why we focus on them in the recipe below. But don’t forget to try out some other vegetable combinations as well!

  • 4 red bell peppers

  • 4 carrots

  • 2 green bell peppers

  • 2 yellow bell peppers

  • 8 sticks of celery

  • 2 red onions

  • A thin slice of horseradish per jar

For the Marinara

  • 6 cups of water

  • 3/4 cups of white sugar

  • 1/3 cups of table salt

  • 1 1/3 cups of apple cider (at least 6%, without any additives)

  • 2 teaspoons of mustard seeds

  • Dill, garlic, and parsley per taste

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Start by washing the veggies, peeling the skin of the carrots, and preparing the celery for use by cutting off the ends.

Step 2: Cut the onions into thin slices and then chop everything in the shape you would like! We prefer super thin sticks but you can let your kids go wild by cutting stars, hearts, or any other shapes.

Step 3: Mix everything together and start to fill up the jars. After you fill them, put a slice of horseradish into each jar and on top of your vegetable mix.

Step 4: Now, it’s time to prepare the marinara, which is extremely easy! All the spices, the sugar, and the vinegar are mixed with the water. Then the water is boiled for 4 minutes and after that it's poured into each jar. The jars should be closed immediately and should stay for 5 days at warm temperatures. After that, your pickled veggies are ready to be enjoyed! We love adding them to our salmon hot dogs. How do you like to eat them?