If you’re doing your best to add fermented foods, gut-healthy probiotics and prebiotics as well as filling fiber to your diet, this easy-peasy healthy pickled veggie relish recipe is a total winner. It’s easy to make, requires absolutely no cooking and tops just about every dish you’re tempted to eat. The light fermentation takes just a few days and then goes to work sprucing your gut up like a champ.

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Seriously, we’ve tried it on sandwiches, cooked bean dishes, crunchy rice, steaks, fish and just about everything else. And wow, topping a burger with this? *chef’s kiss*

Oh, and definitely try our spicy pickle hot sauce recipe if you love this one.

Note: You’ll need a large glass jar for this recipe. If you have one on-hand, great! Reuse and recycle! If you don’t have one, we’re obsessed with these large glass pickling jars that are fairly cheap on Amazon. You can also make kombucha in ’em.

Ingredients

4 whole bell peppers (red and orange are my faves, but yellow also works nicely here)
1 large handful fresh cilantro
1 large handful fresh parsley
2 whole small, spicy green peppers (your choice of variety and heat)
3 whole celery stalks
3 whole medium sweet red onions (or two large)
6-7 whole cloves of fresh garlic
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 whole lemon
2 tbsp kosher salt
1.5 cups hot water
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Chop all your vegetables finely and layer in large glass jar (please don’t use plastic or metal)
Pour olive oil on top of your chopped veggie mixture
Squeeze juice of one whole lemon and add to the jar
Add black pepper
In a separate bowl or large mug, add 1.5 cups of boiling water to your salt and mix until the salt is fully dissolved
Allow the salt water mixture to cool for about 5 minutes until it’s warm, but no longer hot
Add it to the top jar and place the lid on, shaking the contents a bit so every chopped veggie bit is coated in salt water and lemon juice
Leave the mixture on your counter for 2 to 4 days with the lid only partially screwed on, because fermentation creates lots of gas that needs a way to escape
By the fourth day, your relish will be partially fermented and should be moved to the refrigerator (some people prefer to let this ferment more fully and go a full two weeks, but we could the flavor and texture is the most crisp with only light fermentation)