Sous Vide Dill Pickles Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do sous vide pickles need to be refrigerated? ›

Store at a cool room temperature for up to 6 months.

Different vegetables have different water contents, different densities, and therefore different needs for canning. While it seems that sous-vide canning is safe enough for most high-acid cucumber pickles, it may not work as well for pickled carrots or green beans.

Kosher pickles are made according to Jewish dietary laws, while regular pickles may be made using any ingredients and processing methods. Kosher pickles are typically made with a salt brine and flavored with garlic and dill, while regular pickles may be pickled with vinegar and flavored with sugar and other spices.

Like most other foods, pickles should be left out on the counter for no more than two hours. Despite being preserved in brine, bacteria can still form in the pickle jar. Even in two hours, pickles' texture can start to change. Warm temperatures cause pickles to soften and lose their crunchy texture.

If you want to refrigerate or freeze any food that has been cooked sous vide, we recommend that it be brought quickly from the cooking temperature to below 41F/5C before storing. This process is called quick chilling.

Crispness can also be lost if cucumbers are stored longer than 24 hours in the refrigerator from harvest to pickling. Thoroughly wash each cucumber, especially around the stem area, where soil can be trapped. Any remaining soil may be a source of bacteria and can cause a soft pickle.

Add Tannins

Adding natural tannins such as grape leaves, black tea, or oak leaves can delay the softening process and keep your pickles firm. This is entirely optional and only works if your cucumbers aren't already soft.

Typically soft pickles are a result of boiling them too long in your hot water bath canner or from having the water too hot. The temperature for the hot water bath shouldn't be higher than 185° F (keep the temperature between 180F to 185F) or it may cause softening in your pickles.

Produce that no longer looks completely fresh or already smells strange is, of course, no longer suitable for the sous vide procedure. This particularly applies to fish and meat that is cooked at relatively low temperatures.

Are dill pickles good for your gut? ›

Fermented foods like pickles are basically probiotic superfoods, packed full of good bacteria that can support the health of your gastrointestinal microbiome and are good for your gut bacteria. Be sure to go for fermented pickles rather than vinegar-pickled.

Eating too much sodium can cause your kidneys and liver to work harder. Also, the high blood pressure that often follows diets high in sodium puts even more stress on these organs. As a result, eating too many pickles may be risky for anyone with liver disease or kidney conditions.

A person living with type 2 diabetes can eat pickles as a snack or as part of their meal. There are some exceptions to this rule, and people must still eat them in moderation. Dill pickles are generally the best option since they contain less than 2 grams (g) of carbohydrates in a 100-g serving.

Though it's not necessary, you can store unopened pickle jars in the fridge if you have the room, but the pantry is also just fine. And just in case you can't eat all of your pickles in the fridge before they start turning bad, freezing them can be an option.

An unopened jar of unrefrigerated pickles can sit on a room-temperature shelf out of direct sunlight for two years without having any problems — even if the "best by" date has already passed.

Fermented Pickles

But if you're using a crock, you'll want a separate container for storage. Either way, fermented pickles need to be refrigerated (see below); you could can them, but they'll lose their probiotic goodness and some of their crispness if you process them.

Refrigerator pickles, or quick pickles. These guys aren't shelf-stable (meaning that they need to stay chilled in the refrigerator rather than at room temperature), and they won't last as long as canned pickles, but then again they don't need to because they are so delicious, crisp, and versatile.