Pickled Turnips are the pickle of the Middle East, vinegary, a bit of heat and completely addicting and they are the perfect complement to your favorite gyro, falafel, roast chicken or kebab.
Pickled Turnips get their gorgeous hue from hanging out with a handful of sliced beets for a week. They’re incredibly easy to make and they add the perfect vinegary, slightly spicy (from the garlic) bite for your favorite Middle Eastern meals. And, if I can just add, the perfect accompaniment to these delicious Pickled Turnips?
Some small hot chili peppers and the most awesome Armenian Zankou’s Garlic Paste with pita bread. A tip on the pita bread? If you can and you have one available, go to your nearest Middle Eastern grocery store to get authentic pita bread. I promise it is 100% different than the ones put out by sliced bread makers. My favorite brand is Toufayan, they’re old school awesome and Armenian.
Oh, hey there Mr. Falafel, looks like you’re got a colorful pickled friend there!
Pickled Turnips really make the PERFECT accompaniment to your Falafel sandwich.
- Don’t eat the garlic. Trust me, it’s been hanging in vinegar for five days and it will be STRONG.
- You can totally eat the pickled beets, but the texture will be different than the turnips, less crunchy, more chewy.
- You can let them sit for longer than five days if you want, but however long ahead you prepare them, refrigerate them before serving. They taste so much better cold!
- Don’t, I repeat DON’T use table salt. It will taste awful. Stick to Kosher salt.
Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips
Pickled Turnips are the pickle of the Middle East, vinegary, a bit of heat. They're the perfect side to your favorite gyro, falafel, roast chicken or kebab.
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1/3 cup Kosher salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 2 pounds turnips , peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick batons
- 1 small beet , cut into 1/2 inch thick batons
- 2 cloves garlic , roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot, add the water, Kosher salt and bay leaves.
Heat on medium heat, stirring until salt is completely dissolved, 3-5 minutes.
- Let cool completely then add the vinegar.
- In a large container with a tight fitting lid, add your turnips and beets.
- Add the garlic (this can be a very rough chop, you don't eat the garlic, it is only for seasoning so it doesn't need to look pretty).
Pour the liquid into the container.
Let sit for 5 days.
- Before serving, they are best refrigerated.
- The pickles are usually good for about a month (they normally last about a week in our house because I eat them with everything!).
I have made these every year for the past 4 or 5 years, and they are SOOOOOOOO good! I just used up the last batch of beets and winter radishes to make a fresh jar of quick pickles. (These work great with winter radishes as well as turnips.) I think the recipe is 100% perfect exactly as written. Thank you!
Thanks, Holly!
I see that some people have found it too acidic and I always make it half and half with water.
Always reminds me of my many happy years in the Middle East.
Soo good!
Thanks, Bella!
The first time I made this recipe it was way too salty.
I made it a second time using 3T salt instead of 5.3T per the recipe.
It is much better. Plus you can always add more salt.
Sabrina – thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I love, love, love making these! Another person asked you for a garlic sauce. I am absolutely ADDICTED to the tahini sauce that often comes on or with Mediterranean wraps, plates, etc. I’m am dying to be able to make it myself but want something not too time extensive. I figure you gave us easy pickled turnips…maybe you had an easy but quality tahini sauce recipe you could recommend?
I love the MidEast brand. You usually can get it at an authentic Armenian grocer.
Also agree, I love the ratios on everything but the salt. Even using kosher salt, there’s wayyyy too much! I prefer it reduced to 1/4 cup or even a little less. I also add fresh garlic to the salt water before it boils to mellow the sharpness and infuse the liquid.
Do I leave the bay leafs in the jar with the liquid? I’m making them right this minute! Can’t wait to try them!!
Yes, you’ll want to leave the bay leaves in the jar. Enjoy!
Not nearly enough liquid for amount of turnip.
It’s the real thing, baby! These are perfect. My falafel would be naked without them! Thanks for sharing.
I found this to be way too salty for my tastes. I ended up draining off about 1/3 of the brine and replacing it with plain water. Also added a small piece of a pickled hot pepper to give it some zing!
Hi Sabrina, I don’t have Kosher salt, but I have course sea salt OR course himalayan pink salt. Would either of those work? I hear from others that 1/3 cup makes them very salty? Would your recommend adjusting?
I think those would work too. If you’re worried about the salt content, feel free to adjust to your liking. Enjoy!
Thank you, Sabrina. This recipe took me right down memory lane! I was lucky to grow up in Fresno and my first job (1969) was as a waitress at a little Armenian restaurant called the Shish-ka-Brau. (German Hoffbraus were all the rage at the time!). The food was delicious and they made bulgar wheat and and rice pilaf and pita bread and lamb shanks every day. I never found a recipe that was so close in flavor and texture to the turnip pickles they served until I tried yours! Tasting them was like standing in the dining room again with that sweet old couple. I can’t remember their names, but they were super in love after fifty years. It was a kindly, and beautiful, and delicious place to be!!
Oh my gosh, I love it!!
WAY too salty, had to adjust to taste, hoping to not lose two half gallon batches. Great guideline, didn’t translate well at all.
So is that correct on the amount of sodium per serving? Over 2400 mg per serving or is that for the whole recipe? Also you say that they are best refridgerated before serving so what do you do with them for the 5 days before serving? Are they safe to be left out?
It’s safe to leave at room temperature for those 5 days prior.