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Winter Tomato Salad (Lightly Pickled Vegetables) |  |
Memorable Homestyle Whole Food, Simply Prepared, Just a Few Vegetables, an Easy Pickling LIquid and 3-4 Hours in the Fridge. No Canning Required. Little Effort, Big Reward. Beautiful Color! Real Food, Fast & Flexible. An Easy, Healthy Side Dish. A New Addition to The Homemade Pantry, a Kitchen Parade Specialty. Easily Adapted to Your Family's Tastebuds. Budget Friendly. Great for a Portable Lunch. Perfect When Cooking for One or Two. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free. What're you waiting for?! So Good!!
Are These Local Tomatoes?
One February, we turned ourselves into "snowflakes" and headed for Florida. (Snowflakes? Yes, snowflakes. So-called "snowbirds" head south for the winter. We "snowflakes" head south for a few days.)
On the way back north, roadside stands beckoned: the "last" strawberries and the "first" tomatoes, the signs promised. Still, I was dubious about the claim of local tomatoes, in February.
"Where are the tomatoes from?" I asked gently. "Are they from here?"
"No! No!" said the woman with a shake of her head. "The tomatoes are from Immokalee!" Ha. Immokalee is a town about 300 miles due south but still in Florida.
So Immokalee, known for its agricultural tomatoes, might not meet the "100 mile" standard for local food but in February, Florida is Florida.
Unfortunately, those local Florida tomatoes were lackluster, not the juicy ripeness of sun-ripened garden tomatoes that grace our tables come late summer.
So I had no qualms tossing a few into a Mason jar with a few other vegetables and little more than vinegar. Good? No! Fabulous!
I wondered whether supermarket-variety Roma tomatoes would work and tried that too. Good? No. Fabulous!
A Winter Tomato Salad was born. Tis a wonderment.
Recipe Overview: Winter Tomato Salad
- This recipe lightly pickles usually unappealing winter tomatoes with other raw vegetables for a quick, healthy vegetable side with great crunch and color. The vegetables are mixed in a canning jar with a simple vinegar-based Pickling Liquid, then refrigerated for a few hours before serving. This is a "refrigerator pickle": that means no canning is required, just store Winter Tomato Salad in the fridge for a few days.
- When to Serve = This salad makes for a quick healthy lunch, either at the kitchen table with cottage cheese or in smaller jars for an on-the-go lunch salad.
- Diet Needs & Choices = The salad is gluten free and vegan.
- Distinctive Ingredients = Vinegar + All the Vegetables
- Short Ingredient List = all the above + sugar + evoo + salt + herbs
- For Garnish = another sprig or two of fresh herbs
- Kitchen Tools = a sharp knife and cutting board, a small bowl with a spout, a quart-size glass canning jar with a lid
- Hands-On Time = about 10 minutes to prep the vegetables & mix with the Pickling Liquid
- Refrigerator Time Before Eating = these pickles are only lightly pickled, just 3-4 hours in the fridge is plenty
- Tasting With Our Eyes = This is such a vibrant, colorful salad.
- Texture = The vegetables stay firm and fresh since they're only lightly pickled.
- Taste = The vegetables have a light vinegar essence vs full-on pickles.
- Techniques = The technique here is to wet vegetables with a light vinegar liquid, pickling them just a little. So these aren't shelf-stable pickles that you can just make and put in the cupboard for later. They need refrigeration.
- Time Friendly = This recipe is a time-friendly recipe, it takes just a few minutes to fill up a glass canning jar with veggies!
- Shop Your Pantry = This recipe is a pantry-friendly recipe, so many vegetables can work here. The real magic, however, is with the tomatoes.
- Watching Our Waistlines = This recipe is a calorie-friendly recipe, a half cup adds up to only 15 calories! Have two!
- Staying Cost Conscious = This recipe is budget-friendly recipe, it's a good way to enjoy a fresh, healthy salad lunch without a $10-15 pricetag.
- Makes 1 quart = that's about four cups, if that's too much, just cut the recipe back.
- Small Households = This recipe works especially well for those Cooking for One or Two.
- So good! I hope you love it!
- Not into so many vegetables at once? Check out one of my Refrigerator Pickles, just cucumbers and bell peppers.
- Not quite what you're looking for? Check out my other Jams, Pickles & Preserves (No Canning Required)
Why I Love This Recipe & You Might Too
- ... a great change of pace from winter's usual roasted vegetables
- ... easy to fill a jar on the fly, then add the pickling liquid 3-4 hours before serving
- ... such a bountiful mix of color, texture, taste
- ... a great way to use up small amounts of different vegetables all at once
- Ready to get started? Here's your recipe!
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WINTER TOMATO SALAD (LIGHTLY PICKLED VEGETABLES)
Refrigeration time: Time-to-table: 3-4 hours
Makes a quart jar (4 cups), about 8 servings, easily scaled up or down
-
PICKLING LIQUID
- 1/2 cup (115g) white wine vinegar or rice vinegar or another clear vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sugar or honey or something sweet
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (assumes Diamond Crystal)
-
VEGETABLES (about 1 pound/ 450g total, 3-5 different ones, such as)
- Roma tomatoes, cut up or mini tomatoes, halved
- Bell pepper, cut up
- Cucumber, cut up
- Zucchini, cut up
- Sugar snap peas, cut up
- Fennel, cut up
- Carrots, sliced thin
- Celery, sliced thin
- Shallot or sweet onion, thinly sliced, just a little goes a long way
- Fresh herbs, dill, oregano, rosemary, chive, tarragon, optional but nice
PICKLING LIQUID In a small measuring cup, preferably with a spout for easy pouring later, stir together all the ingredients. Let rest while prepping the vegetables, the sugar will dissolve.
VEGETABLES Cut up the vegetables (small or large, your choice) and herbs, it helps to lay them all out in piles on a cutting board to more easily layer the vegetable pieces into a quart-size mason jar or another container with a tight lid until full.
COMBINE Pour the Pickling Liquid over the vegetables, add a tight lid and upend a few times, distributing the liquid throughout. The Liquid will only partially fill the jar, you'll wonder about making more; don't worry, it's enough.
REFRIGERATE the jar for 3-4 hours, upending every so often if you think of it.
SERVE within about 3 days, it's freshest on the first day but becomes increasingly more pickly as time passes.
Aim for vegetables with different colors and textures, it just makes every bite so much more appealing and interesting. I tend to avoid broccoli and cauliflower, which can get a little skunky after a day or so, also radishes which stain the Pickling Liquid.
FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more.
If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2025/01/winter-tomato-salad.html .
Old Points 0 & PointsPlus 0 & SmartPoints 0 & Freestyle 0 & myWW green 0 & blue 0 & purple 0 & future WW points
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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.
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