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Pickled ginger adds an irresistible sweet and spicy taste to any meal—and now you can make it at home! Yes, you already love it as a condiment for sushi, but it’s also excellent for adding zip and pep to stir-fries and meal bowls.
If you ask for extra pickled ginger when you get sushi, I have good news for you: you can make a whole jar of it at home!
While pickled ginger, or gari, is typically served alongside sushi as a palate cleanser between bites, its tangy-sweet flavor makes it a tasty addition to so many dishes.
You only need four ingredients and 10 minutes to make this quick pickled ginger recipe.
If you’re using mature ginger, the end flavor will be the same, but you can color it pink if you’d like. Add a red cabbage leaf or a slice of beet to the vinegar mixture while it cooks. Or, use 1-2 drops of pink or red food coloring.
Pro tips/recipe notes
- To peel the skin from the ginger, you can use either a vegetable peeler or a spoon. I prefer a vegetable peeler for the larger smoother parts, and then I clean up around the nooks and crannies with a spoon.
- This recipe has a balanced sweet and salty flavor, but if you need to tame the bite of fresh ginger, you can increase the sugar a bit.
Easy Quick Pickled Ginger
Ingredients
- 2 cups ginger, peeled and sliced {~1.5 pounds}
- 2 tsp table salt
- 1 cup rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup white sugar
Instructions
- Peel and carefully slice ginger into the thinnest slices possible. A mandoline slicer is ideal, or a sharp paring or chef's knife.2 cups ginger, peeled and sliced
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine ginger and salt. Toss to combine and let sit for 30-60 minutes.2 tsp table salt
- In a colander, briefly rinse ~50% of the salt from the ginger.
- In a small saucepan combine rice vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir, cooking until the sugar has dissolved.1 cup rice vinegar, 1/3 cup white sugar
- Reduce the temp to medium and add the ginger to the hot vinegar. Stir occasionally, cooking for 5 minutes.
- Carefully pour the hot vinegar and ginger into a jar. Place a lid loosely on the jar.
- Let the ginger cool to room temperature, and then tighten the lid.
- Store the ginger in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.
Notes
- Only young ginger will turn pink like the ginger at your favorite sushi restaurant. Most traditional grocery store ginger is mature and will stay white/beige. You can usually find young ginger at well-stocked international markets.
- You can color mature ginger pink if you’d like. Add a red cabbage leaf or a slice of beet to the vinegar mixture while it cooks. Or, use 1-2 drops of pink or red food coloring.
- If you freeze whole peeled ginger root for ~20 minutes, it will be easier to cut into thin slices.
- Be sure to use unseasoned rice vinegar, not seasoned.
- If you’re not able to cut paper-thin slices of ginger, cook it in the brine for at least 6 minutes. Allow a slice to cool a bit and then try it to see if the texture is soft enough.
- Refrigerate the ginger in a tightly closed jar for 3-4 weeks.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great idea, the most readily available pickled ginger here in Aberdeen (Scotland) have sweeteners in them which I don’t like. Not sure I can eat a whole jar in 4 weeks though, so will have to reduce the quantities.
Hi Mhairi, I can’t wait to hear what you think about it! In the printable recipe card, next to the photo, you’ll see a little section that says “servings”. If you hover over it, a slider will come up and you can adjust the number of servings to reduce the recipe to best fit your needs.