Wondering what to do with too much celery? Make quick pickled celery! It's great in salads and sandwiches or alongside buffalo cauliflower.
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Do you ever find yourself buying a whole head of celery and only needing a few of the stalks? Girl, SAME. I got tired of watching all of that celery go to waste, so I decided to pickle it!
Quick pickles are a little bit different from hot water canned pickles. Also called refrigerator pickles, these are not shelf stable. But they will keep for around four weeks in the fridge. What you give up in shelf life you make up for in ease. There's no boiling jars or sterilizing utensils with quick pickles.
This quick pickled celery recipe is adapted from my recipe for sweet pickled onions. It's delicious chopped up into salads like vegan chicken salad, mashed chickpea salad, and vegan egg salad. It adds a tangy crunch!
You can also serve it with anything buffaloed, like my vegan buffalo chicken wraps, buffalo tofu tacos, or buffalo cauliflower tacos.
Anywhere you'd use fresh celery, pickled celery adds a burst of extra flavor and pickled tang. I'll show you how to pickle whole spears and sliced celery. It's so easy!
💖 Why You'll Love this Recipe
- great way to use up leftover celery!
- easy to make with simple ingredients
- versatile! Add to green or mayo-based salads or serve with anything involving buffalo sauce.
- naturally gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free
✓ Ingredients and Substitutions
- celery and garlic - These are your veggies. You want to wash the celery well, then trim it to be about as tall as the jar or slice it up. Slice the garlic thinly.
- vinegar - Apple cider vinegar brings acidity, which is what preserves the celery and gives it that great tang! You can use the same amount of white vinegar, if you prefer.
- sugar and salt - For flavor and extra preservative power!
- whole spices - Mustard seeds, black peppercorns, and coriander seeds bring a ton of extra flavor. Feel free to use other whole or ground spices or fresh herbs of choice, like red pepper flakes, fresh dill, celery seed, etc.
🔪 How to Make Quick Pickled Celery
Wash your celery well and trim it to be about the height of your jars or slice it. Or do one jar of each! Slice the garlic thinly. Divide the sliced garlic between your two pint jars, then stuff the celery into the jars.
Combine the brine ingredients in a small saucepan, and heat them until they boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. This should only take a few minutes.
Turn off the stove, and pour the hot brine into your jars. The heat from the brine will soften the celery. Depending on your jar, you may need to add a splash of extra vinegar, so the brine covers the celery completely.
Screw the lids onto your jars loosely, and set them on the counter to cool. Once they're cool enough to handle, you can tighten the lids and stick the jars into the fridge.
💡 Helpful Quick Pickling Tips
- If possible, use wide mouth jars, because pouring the pickling brine onto the celery can be messy! I also like to throw a kitchen towel under my workspace, so cleanup is easy.
- Make sure that your jars are heatproof! The brine you are pouring is boiling hot, and flimsier glass can shatter, which is not what we are trying to do today.
- You can eat these as soon as they're cool enough to handle, but they're even better if you can wait about 24 hours, to give the celery time to soak in that beautiful brine!
🫙 Storage Directions
Quick pickled celery will keep for three to four weeks in the fridge. Do NOT store in the pantry. I recommend writing the date on the jar, because I hate playing, "When Did I Make These, Again?"
🍴 More Refrigerator Pickles
📖 Recipe
Quick Pickled Celery
Equipment
- 2 Pint Jars - or other tall, heat-proof glass jars that are around a pint each
Ingredients
Veggie Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic sliced thinly
- 1 pound celery cleaned and trimmed to the height of your jar or sliced
Brine Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 ⅓ cup water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
Instructions
- Wash your celery well and trim it to be about the height of your jars or slice it. Or do one jar of each! Slice the garlic thinly. Divide the sliced garlic between your two pint jars, then stuff the celery into the jars.
- Combine the brine ingredients in a small saucepan, and heat them until they boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. This should only take a few minutes. Turn off the stove, and pour the hot brine into your jars. The heat from the brine will soften the celery. Depending on your jar, you may need to add a splash of extra vinegar, so the brine covers the celery completely.
- Screw the lids onto your jars loosely, and set them on the counter to cool. Once it's cool enough to handle, you can tighten the lids and stick the jars into the fridge.
Got a question? Tried this recipe? Leave a reply!