This Spiralized Zucchini Pickles recipe makes tangy, crunchy, and sweet zucchini pickles that are delicious right out of the jar, on sandwiches and salads!
How to pickle zucchini, you ask? Well, I’m going to show you!
Remember how in Monday’s summer squash bread post I told you all about how I shredded up a truckload of squash and zucchini to make bread?
Well, I fibbed a little bit. I saved some of the smaller zucchini to make spiralized zucchini pickles!
Just like the squash bread, this recipe experiment was created out of necessity. I got really excited when I planted my garden this year and expected that I’d have a TON of pickling cucumbers by now. I bought some canning books. This one is by far my favorite, and written by a fellow blogger.
I dug all of my mom’s old canning equipment out of the closet, and started dreaming about all of the pickles I was going to eat.
Unfortunately, my cucumber plants decided to be total jerks and each have only grown one weirdly curly fruit. But, what I lack in cucumbers, I more than make up for in zucchini. Probably because the zucchini is so easy to grow.
Right, so, I wanted pickles and I had a lot of zucchini. I didn’t like the idea of pickled zucchini chips, so I decided to whip out the good old spiralizer attachment.
Within minutes I had a whole mess of spiralized zucchini just ripe for the pickling. I salted them to remove excess moisture, patted them dry, then stuffed the curls into hot jars along with some Ball Pickle Crisp.
Next I boiled some pickling brine and ladled it into the jars. I followed the instructions in my America’s Test Kitchen Fool Proof Preserving Cookbook for zucchini pickles by processing the jars in a hot water bath for 30 minutes.
If you need a canning kit, here is a good one that is not expensive.
The spiralized zucchini pickles came out tangy, crunchy, and sweet; just how I wanted them! I absolutely love them on sandwiches, but mostly I just eat them straight out of the jar with the refrigerator door open.
If you’re not into the whole canning zucchini thing, you can always make these as refrigerator pickles instead – I’ve made some notes in the recipe below that should help you out.
Ready for some crunchy zucchini pickles? Then print this recipe and make some today!
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Spiralized Zucchini Pickles Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds zucchini - spiralized
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 3 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Ball Pickle Crisp
Instructions
- Toss the zucchini with the salt in a large bowl. Chill for 3 hours in the fridge, then drain and pat dry with a paper towel.
- While the zucchini is chilling, prepare for canning as follows: Place a canning rack in a large pot and put four pint jars (lids removed) onto the rack. Add enough water to cover the tops of the jars by 1 inch. Set the heat to medium and allow the water to come to a simmer. Turn off the heat.
- Use a jar lifter to remove the hot jars from the pot of water and place them upside down on a clean dish towel. Once dry, turn them upright and add ⅛ teaspoon pickle crisp to each jar. Pack each jar tightly with the drained zucchini.
- Place the vinegar, sugar, water, mustard seeds, turmeric and red pepper flakes in a medium saucepan. Set the burner to medium-high heat and allow to boil. Use a funnel and a ladle to fill each zucchini-packed jar with the hot brine. Be sure to leave 1/2-inch of head space. Use a clean butter knife or wooden skewer to run along the inside of each jar to remove any air bubbles. If any of the jars have more than the 1/2-inch of head space after the air bubbles pop, top them off.
- For Refrigerator Pickles: Cover with lids and rings, let cool to room temperature and chill in the fridge before serving.
- For Canning: Wipe the rims of the jars clean with a paper towel. Add the lings and screw on the rings until just barely tight (don’t over-tighten!). Heat the water that remains in the canning pot until it reaches 120 degrees. Use the jar lifters to place the jars right-side-up onto the canning rack. Bring the water to between 180-185 degrees and maintain it for 30 minutes. Carefully remove from the pot and set on the kitchen towel to cool for 24 hours. Remove the rings and check to ensure each lid has sealed. Store for up to 1 year.
Nutrition
Wondering if it is possible to makes these dull in lieu of sweet?
Hi Luann,
Yes, you can try this dill recipe at foodie crush: https://www.foodiecrush.com/spiralized-refrigerator-quick-dill-pickles/
– Linda
These look delicious! Do these stay as crunchy and crisp as cucumber pickles? I’ve always wanted to try making zucchini pickles but was worried they would be mushy or not have the same crunchiness I love out of all of my other pickles. Thank you so much for sharing!