Home » gardening » Organic gardening » How to Make Refrigerator Pickles, Green Beans, and Fried Green Tomatoes

How to Make Refrigerator Pickles, Green Beans, and Fried Green Tomatoes

ByJennifer
2 Comments

My kids love any kind of pickles. They will eat them anytime, anywhere, with anything. Refrigerator pickles are so easy to make from all of your extra garden cucumbers, green beans, or any veggie you like pickled…even cauliflower. And they are the perfect meal companion or snack.

how to make refrigerator pickles with extra cucumbers

Making refrigerator pickles is so easy and uses left over pickle juice!

You know how there’s always half a jar of bright green liquid when you fish out that very last pickle and it seems like such a waste? By  washing, cutting and dropping cucumbers into the leftover juice of pickles and waiting a day or so, they will be ready eat and then keep for up to a week. I find giving your veggies a quick blanch in boiling water to kill off garden bacteria gives them a better taste (except for cucumbers, don’t do those.)  before putting them in the left over pickle juice.  A hard veggie like cauliflower you might consider boiling it until it softens a little, unless you like that hard crunch. We love all of those veggies at our house. I grow them every year and love that they trellis climb to maximize my garden space.

Green beans for refrigerator pickles

When we first tried this, we tried the green beans first. My kids actually ate them too! So of course after that, we just started dropping things in and waiting to see how they tasted just for the heck of it…Carrots..mmm, not bad. Plain cucumbers.. tasted like pickles (who knew?)… onions , and green tomatoes.. I liked the onions, they didn’t. Sliced pickles are such a great side dish for a light lunch!

Sliced homemade refrigerator pickles as a side dish

 

Make sure they stay in the fridge the entire time, and if at any point they don’t seem right or smell off, when in doubt, toss it out! Here is a recipe from Martha Stewart if you want to make a pickle brine from scratch.

Refrigerator Green Beans

Speaking of Tomatoes, we love fried green tomatoes in our home. It’s such a great way to use them up when you have too many ripe tomatoes already, and make a great side dish. We love the tangy zing they have, and they are a great option for all of those tomatoes that haven’t ripened at the end of the summer too. Did you know you can make more tomato plants by rooting them in water?

To Make Fried Green Tomatoes

Slice tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick. Make a 1/2 egg, 1/2 milk dip. Coat tomato in the egg dip  and  then bread with Italian seasoned bread crumbs (or a gluten-free crumb coating). Fry on medium in a skillet in vegetable oil until golden brown on each side until the tomato gets a green translucent look (always be extra careful when frying with oil and keep an extinguisher handy!).
Fried green tomatoes

Put on paper towel to blot off extra oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Eat!  A large tomato will serve 2 people. I know you’re going to love them!

Fried green tomatoes using end of the season tomatoes

 

Many year ago, My mom and I went to Kentucky and we had a fried green tomato BLT. It was fantastic and such a nice twist on an old classic! So good! If you love pickled foods and want an easy dinner, check out this steak salad meal with this pickled beet recipe!