Quick-Pickled Cucumbers With Rice Vinegar

A quick Japanese-style rice vinegar cucumber, perfect for serving with rice or stuffed into Pork Belly Buns.

By
J. Kenji López-Alt
Kenji Lopez Alt
J. Kenji López-Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
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Updated December 21, 2023
Several pork belly buns with lettuce on a white platter, topped with quick pickles.

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Why It Works

  • Rice vinegar is mild, but adds enough tartness to keep things bright.
  • This sweet, quick pickle is perfect on pork belly buns.

When making pork buns at home, there are a few things best picked up at the store (like the buns). Pickles, on the other hand, are something you can make better than store-bought at home. Much, much better. For applications like this, I like to use a quick, 15-minute pickle. They retain a bit of fresh bite and more of their crisp, light, cucumber flavor. Rice vinegar and sugar add just a touch of acidity and sweetness to them.

These pickles go great in these sous vide pork belly buns with pork braise mayonnaise.

October 2013

Recipe Details

Quick-Pickled Cucumbers With Rice Vinegar Recipe

Prep 5 mins
Cook 15 mins
Active 10 mins
Total 20 mins
Serves 16 servings
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup rice wine vinegar

  • 1 cup water

  • 3/4 cup sugar

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

  • 4 cups thinly sliced Japanese or English cucumbers (about 3 Japanese or 1 English)

Directions

  1. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat. Add cucumber slices and stir. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or a double layer of heavy duty paper towels, pressing down until towel is saturated with liquid and in direct contact with the cucumbers. Let rest 10 minutes, then transfer cucumbers to a sealable container. Top up with liquid and discard the rest. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
22Calories
0gFat
5gCarbs
0gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16
Amount per serving
Calories22
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g0%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 122mg5%
Total Carbohydrate 5g2%
Dietary Fiber 0g0%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 0mg2%
Calcium 4mg0%
Iron 0mg0%
Potassium 26mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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