This Quick Pickled Cucumber, flavoured with dill, makes a delicious accompaniment to serve with IKEA style Swedish Meatballs, cured fish, burgers and cold meats.
The perfect accompaniment to Swedish meatballs
Last week I shared with you my love of IKEA meatballs and my recipe for Easy IKEA Style Swedish Meatballs. In IKEA I usually have their meatballs with mashed potatoes, creamy gravy and lingonberry jam. However, when I went on holiday to Malmö in Sweden last year, and had real Swedish meatballs in actual real Sweden, the meatballs there were served with pickled cucumbers.
I can’t quite put into words how well this went… except to say that it kind of felt like the missing piece of the jigsaw in that meal!
Homemade Quick Pickled Cucumber
On coming home from our holiday, I eagerly worked on recreating, not just the delicious Swedish Meatballs, but also the amazing pickled cucumber that I’d had on the side. It took a few goes to get it just right… but I am really pleased with the results.
It’s super quick to prepare too – just 5 minutes from start to finish. And you can eat it right away too! You can easily make this while your meatballs are cooking (though this cucumber pickle tastes even better if you make it a few hours earlier).
All you need to do is finely slice a cucumber and chop some dill, then half fill an old jam jar with apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar, if you prefer) and add a little sugar, salt and pepper, plus the dill. Finally add in the sliced cucumber and top up with extra vinegar, if needed. Give it a little shake and you are done!
How long will Quick Pickled Cucumber keep in the fridge?
You can eat this Quick Pickled Cucumber right away, but it tastes even better if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours. Just give it a quick shake before serving.
It will keep for up to a week in the fridge.
What to serve Pickled Cucumber with?
This Quick Pickled Cucumber makes a delicious accompaniment to serve with IKEA style Swedish Meatballs. But it also works really well with cured fish and cold meats… and even sandwiches!
It’s also a great relish to serve in burgers instead of gherkins.
Easy Homemade Swedish Meatballs (IKEA Copycat)
If you like my Quick Pickled Cucumber…
… you may also like:
- Easy Homemade Swedish Meatballs (IKEA Copycat)
- Easy Peasy Cranberry Sauce
- Easy No Mayo Coleslaw
- Braised Red Cabbage
Easy Peasy Cranberry Sauce
Quick Pickled Cucumber
Ingredients
- 100 ml apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 5 twists black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon dill chopped finely
- ½ cucumber sliced thinly
Instructions
- Take an old clean jam jar and add the vinegar, salt, sugar, black pepper and dill. Screw on the lid and shake until the salt and sugar have dissolved.
- Fill the jar with the sliced cucumber. Top up with a little extra vinegar, if necessary, so the cucumber is completely submerged under the vinegar.
- Screw on the lid and shake again.
- Either serve straight away or leave for a few hours in the fridge before serving for an even better taste!
Notes
- This Quick Cucumber Pickle will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
- Not suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Corina Blum says
I love lightly pickled vegetables and this quick pickled cucumber looks delicious! I can imagine it would go really well with Swedish meatballs too.
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Corina!
Choclette says
Ooh, your cucumber looks so vibrant and green. Love pickled cucumber and love it with dill. So I’m now thinking I need to get me those ingredients and make some tout de suite. Would go really well in my work cheese sandwiches.
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Choclette! I love the idea of putting these in cheese sandwiches 😀 Eb x
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
My mouth is watering at the sight of these as I love anything pickled and with dill too – yum!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Kat! Eb x
Jo Allison says
I do love anything pickled (I’m Polish after all) 😉 Your pickled cucumber sounds lovely. Cucumber and dill go so well together. Perfect little side dish!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Jo! Eb x
Michelle Rolfe says
Okay you had me at Ikea meatballs!:-) And I love a pickle, especially with dill in it. This one is ticking all the boxes for me. Thanks for sharing. Michelle #CookBlogShare.
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Michelle! Eb x
Monika Dabrowski says
This is so my kind of recipe, I adore dill and pickled vegetables, and these really are perfect with meatballs!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Monika 😀 Eb x
Jackie Holt says
My husband likes pickled cucumber. He remembers eating it at a friend’s house when he was 10 years old. We had an abundance of these so have followed several recipes since. I left my sliced cucumber in salt for 24 hours, sterilised my jars, washed the salt off and then followed your recipe. Could have saved myself some preparation time which I will do next time. Just wondering how long can I store these before eating?
Eb Gargano says
Hi Jackie – that’s great to hear! As this is a quick pickle recipe, it’s not suitable for long storage, so really you’d need to eat these up within about a week. But the good news is that it’s ready to eat straight away. If you are looking to store the pickles for longer, you probably want to use a recipe more like this one https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dill-pickled-cucumbers (not my recipe, so I can’t vouch for it, but generally BBC recipes are good!) Hope that helps!