Pickles or Pickle Juice

Pickles and pickle juice are popular while doing keto, mostly because the salt helps balance our electrolytes, but also because most people really like pickles. You can make your own pickles or pickle juice in minutes.

You can make any refrigerator pickle recipe and just swap the sugar for sweetener (if needed). Most recipes start with 2 cups water to 1 cup vinegar. 1-2 Tbsp of salt and a little sweetener. You can add dill, garlic horseradish, peppercorns, mustard seed, pepper flakes, cloves…whatever you like.

You can just make the brine (pickle juice) and drink it or use it in recipes, or you can add cucumbers or other vegetables to make your own pickles….just how you like them.

I usually add sliced onions and sliced cucumber to the original batch for flavor and because they taste good, I just don’t add enough to fill the container, so I get more juice than pickles.

Pickles or Pickle Juice

This is a small batch recipe, but could easily be doubled.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup vinegar (apple cider or white are fine)
• 1/3 cup sweetener (optional) Start with half and add to taste.
• 1 to 2 teaspoons salt (If you do half salt and half NuSalt or No Salt, you can get your potassium in too)
• Sliced cucumbers (about 2 cups)
• Sliced onion or green onion (about 1/2 cup)
• Additional vegetables as you like (bell pepper, whole cherry tomatoes, etc.)

Instructions:

• In a small bowl add the water, vinegar, sweetener, and salt. Stir to combine and until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion. Taste and adjust the ingredients to your liking.
• All the cucumbers should be covered in the brine, if you have lots of cucumber or are making a big batch, make more brine.
• Let the mixture rest in the fridge until you are ready to eat. The flavors develop over time, so an overnight soak is great but mine are normally gone by dinner.

The pickles will last at least a week in the fridge but get less crisp as time goes on.

You can reuse your brine a time or two, just add more cucumbers!

Bread & Butter Pickles

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Tbsp salt
• 1/2 cup sliced sweet onion
• 1/4/-1/2 cup sweetener
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp brown sweetener sub
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp celery seeds
• dash of tumeric

Instructions:

• Mix all ingredients in sauce pan, simmering and stirring until sweeteners are dissolved.
• Pour over sliced cucumbers
• Let cool at room temp for an hour
• Refrigerate for 24 hours and serve.