Have you tried pickled okra? It's delicious and it's simple to make. Find out how here.

Easy Refrigerator Pickled Okra

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In the south, okra is a staple food. It’s super easy to grow in the summer heat and its delicious in many different ways. Have you tried pickled okra? We love it! There are so many yummy vegetables to pickle, you’re going to love them all. For more ideas on what to do with excess okra from the garden, check this article. 

pickled okra in a jar on a bed of rocks and some on the counter.

Okra is one of the easiest garden vegetables to grow, so making easy refrigerator pickled okra is bomb. Check out how to grow okra here. If you live in a really hot summer climate, it will do spectacularly. It will not grow well in a cool place.

Once you plant your okra seeds and they germinate, they won’t really take off and grow well until it’s really hot.

Pickled okra without canning

Making refrigerator pickles is so easy and takes just a few minutes, but it can preserve your garden produce for months. I love pickling a bunch of vegetables at the end of the garden season. It’s a great way to enjoy fresh okra a little bit at a time and be able to taste one of the best things in summer for months longer. 

I store the jars in the back of my refrigerator and pull them out one at a time all throughout the fall. I can still enjoy the fresh vegetables we grew until Christmas time or even longer. I love saving food that way.

okra growing in the garden

Picked okra recipe without canning

We don’t can food because we’re not allowed to feed the daycare kids home-canned food, so we come up with other ways to preserve food like freezing, dehydrating, and refrigerator pickling. This technique is simple and just takes a few ingredients. Some white vinegar or apple cider vinegar, salt, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, and dill are all you need to make okra pickles out of your okra pods.

It’s an easy recipe with a little kick that makes your veggies into a new kind of delight. One of my favorite ways to enjoy the bounty from my okra plants. For more ways to preserve your garden produce without canning, click here.

You don’t need any special equipment, just a medium saucepan, and some pint jars or quart jars, and your pickling brine to make these little gems of flavor which are one of our favorite things. 

canning jar on counter top filled with okra ready to make refrigerator pickled okra

The first step: Make a simple brine, which the recipe for is included below. Then you allow it to cool and pack your jars full with okra. I like to use the smaller pods because they are more tender.

The okra pictured in this article is Star of David okra so it’s fatter than what you usually see. We prefer Star of David because it has a better flavor and is slightly less slimy in texture. I love the fatter pods because it’s easier to make more food for all these hungry kids!

Once you have your jars packed as full as you can get them, you add the brine and then the lid. Easy peasy. It’s one of the simplest ways to prepare food.

pouring brine onto jar of okra for pickling
fresh jar of pickled okra on the counter with the lid off, you can see garlic cloves, spices.
jar of refrigerator pickled okra sitting in some rocks

Easy pickled okra

Have you tried pickled okra? It's delicious and it's simple to make. Find out how here.
Print Recipe
4.43 from 38 votes

Refrigerator Pickled Okra Recipe

Simple pickling recipe for fresh okra. No special equipment needed as you store it in the refrigerator.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: okra, pickled okra, refrigerator pickled okra
Servings: 8
Author: Christina

Ingredients

  • 4 c okra
  • 2 c white vinegar
  • 2 c water
  • 1/4 c sea salt
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

  • To make the brine, combine vinegar, water and salt in a sauce pan.
  • Cook on medium heat stirring until salt is completely dissolved.
  • Allow brine to cool.
  • Pack okra into jars as tight as you can.
  • Divide garlic among jars.
  • Add dill and red pepper flakes to brine and pour into jars until they are full.
  • Place lids on the jars tightly and store in refrigerator.
  • Okra will be ready to eat in about two weeks but will last in the vinegar for a month or two.

This refrigerator pickled okra will last 3-6 months in the refrigerator. The vinegar keeps them from collecting bacteria, so you can enjoy them for a long time. 

Easy pickled okra refrigerator spicy

If you want to add a little spice to your pickled okra, all you have to do is add some hot peppers. 

You can use jalapenos, habaneros, or whatever kind of peppers you have on hand or enjoy eating. Just take your knife and poke a hole through the whole washed pepper. Stab it all the way through so the juice can permeate it from both sides. And push it down into the jar with the other ingredients.

It will spice the liquid and everything in it. If you want a lot of spice, add several peppers and if you want a little, just add one.

You can also make variations of this recipe if you want to add mustard seed, balsamic vinegar for your vinegar brine, or some other flavor that your taste buds prefer. If you like butter pickles, grab a recipe for bread and butter pickle brine and make a batch of pickled okra with it.

It’s a good idea to enjoy your okra, either homegrown or from the store or farmer’s market in whatever way you love. Try it with any unique flavor you like. We love the dill pickle flavor, so we flavor our pickled orka in that way. The best pickles are the pickles you love. Feel free to experiment and find out the best ways you like it. 

There are also easy ways to make quick pickled okra. Use boiling water over medium heat and make your brine, but speed up the pickling process by pouring it over the okra hot. Your okra won’t be as crisp and fresh as it is with the cold process, but it won’t be as soft as it would have been in hot jars with the hot water bath method.

Canned okra is a little bit softer and we feel like we get the best results with the crisp freshness of the cold process of refrigerator pickles. It’s all a matter of personal preference, and how much time you have available. 

If you want to read the full story of how we got started growing our own food at Little Sprouts and get all the basics to start yourself, check this out. The Journey of the Little Sprouts: A Guide for Growing a Better Tomorrow.

Fermented okra

Okra can be fermented in a similar way. You can use the same recipe but use filtered water. Fermenting vegetables gives them another layer of benefits such as probiotics for gut health that comes from fermentation.

Once you’ve made your pickled okra, what do you do with it? You can eat it from the jar just like regular pickles and we do that a lot. But it can also be served as a side dish. We do that a lot too. It’s gorgeous on a cru de te or on a charcuterie board.

You can also put the smaller ones on a skewer with some cheese cubes and even ham cubes for a great little appetizer your guests can grab with their hands.

Pickled okra is super healthy. Okra is full of nutrients such as Vitamin C and K. It’s also full of fiber which helps regulate blood sugar and digestion. In addition, the slimy texture of the okra binds impurities in the body and removes them as well as cholesterol from the body.

Refrigerator pickled vegetable recipes:

And try this recipe for pickled brussel sprouts that you can! They sound delish!

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4.43 from 38 votes (24 ratings without comment)

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24 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    My mom did this recipe and they were really tasty. She passed the recipe on to me, but she cut off the stems on hers and she put the brine in hot after dipping her jars into hot water. She said that the brine needs to be hot to cook the okra. I’d assume she then let the jars cool on the counter before putting them in the refrigerator.

    Do I leave the stems on and actually let the brine cool before putting in the jars? The okra doesn’t need to cook?

    1. 5 stars
      Hi Julia, The okra doesn’t need to cook. The pickling process in similar to the cooking process, but it’s fine to do it either way. If you want them softer, you can do it hot. I like my pickles crunchy, so we don’t use any heat on ours. And the stems pickle with the okra and are edible too. I like them. And I’d be afraid if I cut them too short, the okra slime would come out into the brine. I like them on. But you can do whatever you enjoy. If you do decide to use hot brine to soften the okra, make sure the jars and their contents are completely cooled before they go in the refrigerator for sure. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and I hope you enjoy how fun and easy it is to make it too! Thanks for checking it out.

      1. 5 stars
        I am going to try it your way for sure. Her’s were oozing slime and I would rather have mine crunchy too. Thank you so much.

  2. I made these two weeks ago and I’m so excited to try them! I wanted some more clarity before I crack one open- Once opened, how long will they be good for? And if I leave a jar in my fridge unopened what would the shelf life be for that? Thanks!

    1. Hi Jessica, all the research I have done says 2-3 months is how long they are good for, but we have eaten them nearly year round and they are delicious still. Since they aren’t canned or sealed, it doesn’t make a difference if they are opened or not. The salt and vinegar preserves them. So whether you open them or they are unopened, they will still be good for at least 3 months. They are so delicious! I’m excited for you to enjoy them. Thanks for using our recipe. We absolutely LOVE it and make it every year.

  3. 3 stars
    My brine turned into a syrup. I made it all was well packed it and left it for a few weeks. And when I opened it up it was a syrup. I’m not sure what I did wrong.

    1. Okra has a slime if it is punctured or cut, possibly a piece of it leaked the slime out? That would be the only thing I can think of that would make the brine thick. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you.

  4. 5 stars
    We love this recipe. We have made probably over a gallon of these so far. We have eaten a lot of it. I have even gaven some away along with the recipe.

    I made a quick batch, at 11:00 last night. That is how quick you can make it. I am going to add peppers tonight to make it hotter for my husband.

    1. Hi Renetta,
      I’m SO glad you enjoy the recipe. We do too. It’s wonderful how easy it is. We do peppers in ours sometimes too (not for me, but for my husband) and he loves it! Thank you for letting us know it’s working well for you.

    1. Hi Cheryl, Yes, you could substitute dill seeds in the recipe. They have a great flavor too. Thanks for checking out the recipe.

    1. Hi Bill,
      The okra is slimy on the inside but not the outside. It’s just like any other pickled okra. Thanks for checking it out.

  5. 5 stars
    So, I made three batches of this, and let it “cure” In the fridge. I shared some jars with my daughter, and she didn’t even wait the full two weeks to taste! We love it!!! Worth taking the time to do, plus we used some of the plentiful okra out in the garden. Want to make more next week, so glad I have two fridges, Thanks for sharing. M

    1. I am so excited you’re enjoying it. Thank you for checking it out and for letting me know how it turned out for you. We just love it. Thanks for the review also! Have a great rest of your growing season.

  6. 5 stars
    This is very close to what I used to make and put into a water bath…just don’t feel up to canning in 106* Ca heat, so going to try this. Brine is cooling, and I can’t wait to get it in the fridge. Looking forward to that first bite in a couple of weeks…..if I can wait!

    1. Yummy, you’re making me hungry. I’m glad this will work for you. Thanks for checking it out.