Pickled Pumpkin Recipe

Pumpkin season is around the corner and soon pumpkins will be everywhere! If you’re growing your own veggies, you know that pickling is one of the best ways to preserve them for out-of-season times. This is a quick and easy recipe for Pickled Pumpkin—perfect for making during the fall season. It’s slightly tart from the vinegar and adds a lot of crunchiness to dishes. With some pumpkin, olive oil, vinegar, herbs, and spices, you can easily make your own pickled pumpkin. The pumpkin slices are simply boiled in vinegar and then canned with herbs and olive oil. As easy as that! Serve it on Thanksgiving or over the Christmas holidays and make sure you never run out of pumpkin. This is the perfect side dish for any meat-based meal!

How to make Pickled Pumpkin

For this recipe, you first need to peel and slice the pumpkin. You can use any type of pumpkin for this recipe. We used butternut squash. Once sliced, the pumpkin is salted and left to drain overnight to remove excess moisture. The next day, it is boiled with vinegar and spices. The pumpkin slices are removed and left again to drain to dry completely. They are then added to sterilized jars and topped with spices and olive oil.

What to do with Pickled Pumpkin

Serve the pickled pumpkin with hearty meat dishes, cold meat sandwiches, and even salads. They also make a great accompaniment to burgers!

If you want to dice the pumpkin instead of slicing it, just make sure to dice it very small.

There are many different variations you can make:

• Sweet and sour: Add sugar to the vinegar during the boiling period.
• Sweet and spicy: use 1 pumpkin with 1 cup vinegar, ½ cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce.
• Italian: add Sicilian flavors like garlic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar with oregano.
• Japanese: add flavors like ginger, sake, and soy sauce.
• Estonian: add sugar, cinnamon, black peppercorns, cloves, allspice berries, fresh ginger, and vinegar.

How to store Pickled Pumpkin

If stored in a cool dry place, the unopened pumpkin will last up to 6 months. Opened jars should be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Instructions

Peel and cut the pumpkin into thin slices.

Place in a colander with salt. Add a pot of water to weigh it down and let it drain overnight.

Pour water and vinegar into a pot, add a bay leaf, and wait for it to boil.

Add the pumpkin slices.

Wait for it to boil and leave for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to drain on a paper towel.

Fill a glass jar with pumpkin and in between and add slices of garlic, oregano, chili powder, salt, and fill with oil.

Notes

Make sure to properly sterilize the glass jars whenever you’re making pickled veggies. Boil the jars and the lids for at least 10 minutes.