With just a few simple ingredients, you can make this easy recipe for crunchy and refreshing Japanese Pickled Cucumbers. They make a tasty palate cleanser to serve alongside your dinner or lunch meal.
Today I want to share the easy Japanese Pickled Cucumbers (Tsukemono) that you can make at home with ingredients you already have in the kitchen – salt and sugar (and preferably Japanese karashi mustard). There are so many ways to make Japanese pickles and this is just one recipe that we enjoy regularly at our house.
Varieties of Pickles in Japan
Tsukemono (漬物) or Japanese pickles are an essential part of the Japanese diet. They are served typically with a meal, alongside rice and miso soup. Pickles are used as a garnish, relish, or digestive food. It is also considered as a palate-cleansing side dish or we call Hashi Yasume (箸休め), literally meaning “chopstick rest” in Japanese.
Varieties of Tsukemono in Japan
Salt (shiozuke 塩漬け)
The simplest and most common types of pickles with the crisp texture and mild flavor of fresh vegetables. Pickled Japanese plums (umeboshi) used in onigiri (rice ball) are one example of the shiozuke.
Rice Bran (nukazuke 糠漬け)
Whole vegetables are fermented in a mixture of roasted rice bran (the hard outer skin of rice that is removed when polishing the rice grain), salt, kombu, and other ingredients from a day to several months. The pickles are crisp, salty, and tangy.
Sake Lees (kasuzuke 粕漬け)
Pickles preserved in a mixture of sake lees (the yeast mash that is left over after filtering sake), salt, sugar, and mirin ranging from several days to several years. The pickles have a strong alcohol flavor and smell especially when it’s pickled for a long time.
Soy Sauce (shoyuzuke 醤油漬け)
Pickles are preserved in soy sauce-based marinade and have various flavors. Some are light colors with crispy texture while others are dark colors with a salty and sweet taste. Fukujinzuke (relishes served with Japanese curry) is one example of shoyuzuke.
Vinegar (suzuke 酢漬け)
Pickles brined in rice vinegar resulting in a crunchy texture and sweet and sour flavor.
Miso (misozuke 味噌漬け)
Similar to nukazuke, this method uses similar vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, and eggplant. Whole vegetables are covered with miso. The pickles have salty complex miso flavor with a crisp texture.
What Kind of Cucumber to Use for Japanese Pickled Cucumbers
I recommend using Japanese cucumbers or Persian cucumbers to make this pickles recipe.
They’re crunchier and don’t have a lot of seeds in the middle. The cucumbers are best when you pickle them for 1-2 days, but you can certainly pickle for just a few hours. Cool, crisp with a nice crunch, these Japanese pickled cucumbers make a wonderful counterpart to any grilled dishes in the summer. Once you try it, you will be hooked.
If you don’t like cucumbers and prefer other alternatives, you can replace cucumbers with napa cabbage, cabbage, carrot, celery, turnip (kabu in Japanese), and eggplant. Depends on the vegetable, adjust the pickling time to your preferred taste. Choose a vegetable and enjoy making pickles to serve with rice this week.
Other Palate Cleansers
We eat pickles between dishes to change the flavors and textures of dishes and to refresh our palate. Besides pickles, Chawanmushi (steamed egg custard), Sunomono (a light salad made with sweet and sour vinaigrette), Aemono (vegetable, meat, or seafood dressed up in some sauce), and Suimono (soup) are also considered Hashi Yasume.
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Japanese Pickled Cucumbers
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (0.4 oz, 10 g)
- 3 Tbsp sugar (1.1 oz, 30 g)
- ½ tsp Japanese karashi hot mustard (0.1 oz, 4 g; optional; you can substitute Chinese mustard powder or Colman’s English mustard that are made from a hot, yellow mustard seed similar to Japanese mustard)
- 3 Japanese or Persian cucumbers (9.2 oz, 261 g)
Instructions
- Combine 2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 3 Tbsp sugar, and ½ tsp Japanese karashi hot mustard (optional) in the resealable plastic storage bag and mix well together.
- Cut off ½ inch from the ends of 3 Japanese or Persian cucumbers. Rub them together on the ends to get rid of the bitter taste.
- Put the cucumbers in the bag, squeeze out the air, and seal the bag tightly. Rub the cucumbers well with the mixture. Pickle for a few hours (my preferred taste) or up to 1–2 days in the refrigerator.
To Serve and Store
- When the cucumbers are ready, discard the liquid and slice the cucumber before serving. Store the cucumbers in the refrigerator and consume within 2–3 days after removing from the pickling solution.
Another winner, Nami! I agree with you–1 day pickling was enough for me. I experimented and the 2 day pickle was too salty for me as well. But 1 day was perfect.
I didn’t have Japanese mustard, but ground up some Indian yellow mustard seeds in my spice grinder and was happy with the results.
Thanks again for the great recipe!
Hi Gllyflower! Ohhh Indian yellow mustard! Thanks for your tip! Maybe some other JOC readers will take your advice! Thank you for your kind feedback and for trying this recipe! 🙂
Hi there,
I made the pickled cucumbers and they turned out great. I’d like to try the same method with eggplant, but I’m wondering if you leave the eggplant whole (like the cucumbers), or leave it whole but pierce the skin, or cut them into pieces. I’ve got two very small, skinny , dark purple Japanese eggplant from the farmers’ market, about the same diameter as the cucumbers I pickled. Advice will be much appreciated!
Hi Jennifer! I’m glad to hear you liked the recipe! I’d cut into 4-6 wedges lengthwise, sprinkle salt, massage a bit, and squeeze water out. Then pickle. I hope you enjoy!
I used japanese cucumbers. Kept in fridge for 3 days. Is the cucumber suppose to let out water in the process?
Hi Alexia! Thanks for your response! I’ve pickled up to 3 days before without a problem, and maybe it can depends on the freshness of cucumber (moisture content). I highly recommend to taste test during pickling process. When you reached to your liking, you have to remove the liquid so you won’t be further pickling.
This recipe is called “pickled” cucumber, but the flavor is very bland. Should there be vinegar?
Hi Christine! Japanese “pickles” (we call it Tsukemono, but English translation used for this dish is always “pickles”) don’t always require vinegar. We do have vinegar kind, but very rare. I would say Western pickles and Japanese pickles are quite different, so if you were looking for more like vinegar style “pickles” this might be bland for you. It is supposed to be salty than sour. Salt is used as a way to preserve vegetables and this dish is served as a small side dish for steamed rice. Hope this helps!
Hi!
Can i use cut cucumbers? I was overzelous and cut them before i pickled them!
Hi Kris! In that case, pickle for less time as middle part will absorb too much and it can get salty.
I love tsukemono long time since study in japan.
Tank you for informations tsukemono try to own style.
Hi Phyo! I hope you enjoy this Tsukemono recipe! 🙂
When I get oshinko out at a restaurant all the description ever says is Japanese pickled vegetables. What exactly am I eating? This is my favourite kind of pickle, but I can’t buy a jar of it here so I am hoping I can learn to make it.
Hi Lee! Do they change the kind of oshinko (like of like Soup of the Day)? I wonder that’s why they don’t mention the details. Usually we serve different kinds of pickles so we don’t eat the same kind all the time. Hope you enjoy this recipe (or other pickle recipes I have on the blog). 🙂
Its always the same thing. I’m thinking its daikon and it seems maybe a little yellow. I will try some of these with daikon as I love it and our first crop of it is growing well (its hard to buy here). After getting your response I noticed your reply to Megumi above, maybe its “Takuan or Takuwan”. Would that be popular in sushi restaurants (our only source of restaurant Japanese food here)?
On a side note, my wife and I love Japanese food, but its strictly from scratch around here unless you want sushi. That’s why we love your site so much. You teach us how to cook homemade when we can’t go with store bought sauces etc. Thank you!!!
Hi Lee! It sounds like the yellow daikon tsukemono/oshinko is Takuan (sometimes called Takuwan). 🙂 It’s used it in sushi roll – Takuan Roll (narrow roll) and Futomaki (thick roll) etc.
I am glad to hear you enjoy reading my blog. Thank you so much. I’ll try to keep my recipes authentic and try to make things from scratch as much as I could for those of you who can’t find the sauce/ingredients. Thank you for following my blog!
Do you have a recipe for shoyuzuke?
Hi Amanda! Not this time, but I’m definitely interested in making in the future! 🙂
Would this work with summer squash?
Hi Carl! I have never had eating summer squash raw and I have never pickled summer squash. I’ve seen western pickles with summer squash though (like this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/pickled-squash-recipe.html) but it involves cooking. I am not sure how summer squash would work for this recipe. If you try, would you please let us know the result? 🙂
I love pickled cucumber!
It’s so delicious and a refreshing dish to any meal.(…that’s my humble opinion :))
I did not know of this recipe, though.
I will definitely try this one!
By the way, would you add some slivers of Ginger to this? Can I?
Hi Ayako! Yes I agree, it’s very refreshing and great small dish to enjoy between different kinds of dishes during the meal. Yes, you can add fresh ginger. It’s a very nice addition. 🙂
Sweet, sour, hot, spicy….. I love the fact that these shared recipes can teach me how to really enjoy food the healthy way. Japanese all the way!!!. Have a safe trip home. I glad you had a happy time. LP
Hi LP! Thank you so much for your kind words. Glad to hear you enjoy Japanese recipes! We’ve arrived safely and trying to recover from the jet lag. 😀
Hi! I love tsukemono!
Are you using table salt or kosher salt? And I guess this question goes for all your recipes–what kind of salt do you use? Thanks!
Hi Jeff! I do not use table salt and use kosher salt or sea salt. When I sprinkle at the end, usually it’s sea salt, but when I season while cooking, it’s kosher salt. Thank you for asking!
Oh, I know I’ll be making this soon! I love anything with cucumbers–kimchi, namasu. I usually make a cabbage tsukemono with a recipe handed down from my grandmother. It needs to be pressed for several days. Your recipe is so much easier. Thank you for sharing this!
Hi Donna! I hope you enjoy this tsukemono. Your grandma’s recipe is a treasure! 🙂
I am not familiar with the Japanese Karashi mustard that is used in this recipe? Where can this mustard be
purchased ? Is this mustard prepared from a dry powder? Can prepared wasabi be substituted for the Japanese Karashi mustard?
Thank you in advance for the information.
Hi Edwin! Japanese supermarkets carry them, usually next to Wasabi paste (S&B and House company sells both and they are usually sold side by side). It looks like this:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/karashi-mustard/
I made this once for a dinner party now I get asked for it all the time. And it’s so easy to make. Hard to find the right cucumber in South Africa so I normally alternate between Mediterranean or English.
Hi Kate, Thank you for sharing your cooking experience from South Africa!
Is this technically “takuwan”?
I always get confused with all the tsukemono… :p
Hi Megumi! Takuan or Takuwan is the kind of pickle that is yellow and made of daikon. It’s pickled in nuka and salt. 🙂