How to Make Pickled Asparagus
Your Practical Guide To Self Reliant Living
Pickled asparagus is a real treat, and while asparagus season is short-lived, homemade asparagus pickles are delicious all year round.
Preserving asparagus can be a bit tricky, and it’s one of those crops that’s usually eaten fresh in season. Frozen asparagus tends to get a bit stringy, and while I’m personally a fan of pressure canning asparagus spears, most people don’t like the results.
Tricky doesn’t mean impossible and there is one preservation method that works exceptionally well…
Pickled Asparagus!
The added salt in the brine helps asparagus maintain a firm texture, and a bit of acidity from the pickling vinegar really helps the fresh flavor of asparagus shine through.
I know what you’re thinking, won’t asparagus pickles be soggy?
Nope.
They actually hold up a lot better than cucumbers, in both texture and flavor.
Making pickled asparagus is pretty simple, and starts with preparing the asparagus.
Slice off the woody bottom ends of the asparagus, and then measure the height of your remaining spears against the jar. If you’re canning the pickled asparagus, be sure to pick a jar type that’s approved for water bath canning. If you’re making refrigerator pickles just about any heat-safe jar will do.
Be sure to leave at least 1 inch of headspace above the asparagus spears, so don’t leave them too long.
It takes just over a pound of asparagus to fill a wide mouth pint jar (or about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 lbs for an extra tall pint and a half jar like the ones I’m using). This assumes you’re using storebought asparagus, where the bottoms are often a bit woody and need a lot of trimming. Freshly harvested homegrown asparagus is often tender all the way to the base, so the yield will be much higher.
Most recipes recommend starting with 7 pounds of asparagus to make 6 pints of pickled asparagus. I’ve given a range, and suggest somewhere between 6 and 8 pounds depending on the freshness of your asparagus.
Chopping the spears into 1 or 2-inch chunks is fine too if that’s your preference.
Pack the spears into the jar, trying to get them as tight as you can. They’ll shrink when the hot brine hits, so the jars will look half-empty if they’re not packed tight at the start.
Add the whole pickling spices directly to each jar so that you ensure that each one get’s the same amount of whole spices.
Prepare a pickling brine in a small saucepan according to the recipe you choose (details below), including vinegar, water, salt, sugar and any ground spices.
Bring the brine to a full rolling boil, and then pour it over the asparagus spears in the jars. Be sure to cover them completely before sealing the jars.
There’s a good bit of variation in pickled asparagus recipes, and like cucumber pickles, it all comes down to personal preference.
To actually pickle the asparagus, your brine must be at least half vinegar (the other half can be water or juice). Some recipes use all vinegar, which results in has a stronger flavor and works well when balanced with a bit of sugar.
Beyond starting with a brine that’s at least 50% vinegar, the rest of the ingredients are flexible.
The choice of spices, salt or sugar is for the most part up to you, but there are a few tried and true asparagus pickling recipes that will ensure success.
Pickled Asparagus in three different pickling brines. Bread and butter (left), Basic (center) and spicy (right).
I’ve based this recipe on my homemade dill pickles recipe but omitted the dill. I’d welcome you to add dill seeds or fresh dill if you’d like, but I find that the flavor of the asparagus comes through better without dill.
Simple pickling spices like mustard seed, onion and garlic help bring out the fresh flavor of the pickled asparagus without overwhelming it.
It’s made with a 50/50 ratio of vinegar and water, so the finished pickles don’t come out too sour. A bit of salt brings out the flavors, and sugar is omitted all together so they’re a good choice for people following paleo/low carb/diabetic diets.
An old school favorite, bread and butter pickles get their name from their overwhelming popularity. A variation of this brine makes some of the very best pickled eggs in the world, and it also adapts beautifully to bread and butter pickled asparagus.
The base is an all vinegar brine, that’s balanced with quite a bit of sugar. The result is a sweet and sour pickle that’s the perfect balance of both.
Turmeric adds a bright yellow color, while whole mustard and celery seeds add warmth and savory flavors.
For spice lovers out there, the addition of red pepper flakes adds heat and complexity.
The recipe is similar to the basic pickled asparagus recipe, but the brine includes a bit of sugar to balance the peppery heat.
Feel free to add more pepper flakes, or other spicy elements (jalapeno, etc) if they suit your taste for heat.
While you can just make quick refrigerator pickled asparagus for immediate consumption, you’ll need to actually can these pickles if you want to enjoy them year-round.
Provided you’re using a brine that’s at least half vinegar with 5% acidity, your homemade pickled asparagus is perfectly fine for canning. The amount of salt/sugar doesn’t impact canning safety, just the vinegar.
Be sure to check the acidity of your vinegar. Most commercial vinegars are standardized to 5% acidity, but some makers are now producing milder vinegars for modern tastes. You’ll see rice vinegar standardized to 3 or 4%, and even some cider vinegars diluted to well under 5% acidity. Please check the label to ensure canning safety.
Start by preparing a water bath canner.
Wash and trim the asparagus, then pack it into canning jars leaving 1-inch headspace.
Prepare the pickling brine on the stove, bringing it to a full rolling boil. Pour it into the jars, completely covering the asparagus but leaving a 1-inch headspace.
Cap the jars with 2 part canning lids and process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes (for pints, tall pint & a half jars, and quarts).
Home-canned pickled asparagus, when properly sealed, should last in the pantry for 12-18 months.
For refrigerator pickles, just skip the canning step. Allow the jars to cool on a towel on the counter before storing them in the refrigerator. Refrigerator pickles should be consumed within 1 month.
A quick note on jar sizes…
For asparagus, in particular, I’d recommend using wide mouth jars without shoulders because that allows the asparagus to stand straight up in the jar.
While you can use standard wide-mouth pint jars if you trim the asparagus very short, I love the extra tall pint and a half jars that ball makes for tall pickles.
They’ll let you keep the pickled asparagus spears tall and make a beautiful presentation.
Wide mouth quarts work wonderfully too.
Regardless of the jars size, process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes (if canning).
Pickled asparagus is a real treat, and while asparagus season is short-lived, homemade asparagus pickles are delicious all year round. These recipes work for both refrigerator pickles as well as home canning.
Yield: It usually takes slightly over 1 pound of asparagus for a pint of asparagus pickles. Recipes usually call for 7 pounds asparagus for 6 wide-mouth pint jars. This assumes you’re trimming quite a bit off the bottom, which is often necessary with store-bought asparagus. If you’re using fresh garden asparagus, the bottoms will be more tender and your yield much higher.
The above recipe has 3 different variations, each starting with 6-8 pounds asparagus to yield roughly 6 pints per batch (or 4-5 pint and a half jars).
Canning Safety: Do not lower the amount of vinegar used in these pickles. You must use at least half vinegar for the brine (5% acidity), and anything less will not properly pickle the asparagus. Spices, sugar and salt can all be adjusted to your taste. And of course, feel free to increase the amount of vinegar used, replacing water in recipes with all vinegar for a more tart pickle. Also feel free to substitute other types of vinegar (Cider vinegar, etc) so long as they’re 5% acidity. Check labels, some varieties (balsamic, rice vinegar, etc) are diluted to lower acidity.
Hot Pack v. Raw Pack: Some sources recommend that you blanch the asparagus before canning and “hot pack” it into jars. Hot packing supposedly makes for a prettier jar of pickles, but I find this completely unnecessary and it overlooks the asparagus in my opinion. (It also makes it nearly impossible to pack the jars since the asparagus is hot!) All these pictures were raw packed, and I think they’re awfully pretty, so no need to bother with the hot pack.
Looking for more simple homemade pickle recipes? Read on…
Don’t forget to check out my complete list of canning recipes too!
Love pickled asparagus !!!!
I followed the recipes for the basic pickles and the bread and butter pickles. I made both at the same time, processed the jars together, and the bread and butter asparagus came out super wrinkly. The basic asparagus are all fine. Any idea why that is? They’re still cooling down, I haven’t tasted them yet. Thank you!
Interesting…probably because that has a lot more salt/sugar/vinegar that drew it out more during processing? I haven’t had that happen, but I wonder if they’ll puff back up given a bit of time for the salt balance to equalize. Let them sit a week and I imagine they’ll de-wrinkle.
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I’m an off-grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self-reliant. Read More…
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