Crunchy pickled daikon radish combines sweet and sour flavors. It’s a simple side dish to serve alongside your other favorite Korean dishes or simply enjoy as a light snack!
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When I go out for Korean-style food, I look forward to the banchan just as much as the rest of the meal!
When I was at the store and saw a gorgeous daikon radish, I thought, why not try to make a pickled daikon recipe at home? This recipe is super simple! It has a beautiful crunch and makes for a light snack any time of the day!
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Why This Recipe Works
Customization: Making this pickled daikon radish recipe at home allows you to customize the flavors to suit your taste preferences. You can adjust the sweetness, tanginess, and spiciness levels to create a perfect balance.
Freshness: Homemade pickled daikon radish is fresher than store-bought versions, giving you a crisper texture and a more vibrant flavor.
Healthy Snack: Daikon radish is low in calories and a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and other nutrients, and pickling preserves these nutrients.
Lasts A Long Time: Homemade pickled daikon radish can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks, allowing you to enjoy its flavor and crunchiness over time.
Easy to Make: Most of the time that goes into this recipe is allowing the radish chunks to marinate in the pickling juice.
Ingredients and Notes
Large Daikon Radish: Depending on the size of the radishes in your grocery store, you may need one or a few. You’ll need about one pound in total. Daikon is a white radish that is long in shape and resembles fatter carrots. Their flavor is milder, with a sweet and spicy finish than other varieties. They come in various colors, although white is the most common.
Organic White Sugar: I prefer organic white sugar to regular sugar because it is made without bone char. You need to use white sugar for this recipe and not brown sugar, coconut sugar, or another sweetener. Colored sugars or sweeteners will dye the daikon, and you want to keep it a bright white!
White Vinegar: For this recipe, I also recommend using white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar or other colored vinegar. If you don’t have white vinegar, rice vinegar would also work. This helps retain the bright white color.
Filtered Water: Always use fresh filtered water when making pickles for the best results.
Kosher Salt or Sea Salt: A touch of salt gives it flavor and bite!
How to Make Pickled Daikon Radish
Prepare Daikon: Clean and peel the daikon radish. Cut it into ¼ inch small cubes. If you prefer, you can cut the daikon into slices.
Dissolve Sugar: In a large bowl, combine water, white vinegar, sugar, and salt. Whisk until sugar dissolves.
Place in Jars: Add the daikon radishes to your mason jars.
Add Pickling Juice: Pour the vinegar mixture over the top. Seal the jar with the lid.
Store in Refrigerator to Pickle: Transfer to refrigerator. Allow pickling for 24-48 hours. It needs more than a couple of hours to get the best flavor. The longer you leave the pickled daikon radish in the liquid, the stronger the flavor.
Recipe FAQS
This side dish is low in calories. Although it uses sugar, it is dissolved in the water, and the extra sugar is discarded once drained. Daikon radishes are exceptionally high in vitamin C, folate, calcium, and magnesium. See the recipe card for complete nutrition information.
No, they are not the same thing. There are several varieties of white radishes available. A Korean radish, or Joseon radish, is shorter and fatter than daikon. It has a pale green coloring that starts at the top and goes halfway down the radish, while the rest is white. It has a more robust flavor and a more dense flesh. Daikon radishes, on the other hand, are longer and skinnier. They come in other color varieties. Their flavor is milder and sweeter.
In Korean, picked radishes are called chicken mu (치킨 무). They are often served with Korean fried chicken or other heavy foods as a light accompaniment.
Like Whole Foods, you can find them in most grocery stores with extensive produce sections. If you cannot find them in your local grocery store, you can find them at Asian grocery stores or Korean markets. If you prefer the Joseon Korean radish, you can substitute that type for the daikon. These are more difficult to find but should be available in Korean or Asian grocery markets.
Radishes will last in the refrigerator for 7-10 days when stored in an airtight container.
Allow pickling for a minimum of 24 hours. However, I recommend 48 hours for best results. The longer you leave the radishes in the pickling liquid, the stronger the flavor.
Serving Suggestions
Serve at room temperature or cold with any of your favorite Korean dishes! Or enjoy it as a light and refreshing snack. This pickled daikon is often served alongside heavy dishes like Korean BBQ because it is light and crunchy and contrasts nicely with spicy dishes.
Expert Tips
- Ensure sugar and salt are dissolved in the water and vinegar before pouring over the cubed radishes.
- Mason jars are easy to use and store.
- If you don’t want your radishes to become too strong, pour the liquid out of the jars after 48 hours.
- If you like the robust pickled flavor, allow the radishes to keep in the liquid. They will become more flavorful with each passing day.
- These are best enjoyed between days 2-4 but last for up to 7-10 days.
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Recipe
Pickled Daikon Radish
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Ingredients
- 1 lb daikon radishes
- ⅓ cup organic white sugar
- ⅔ cup white vinegar
- ⅔ cup filtered water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Clean and peel daikon radish. Cut into ¼ inch cubes.
- In a mixing bowl, combine white vinegar, sugar, water, and salt. Whisk until sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Add the daikon radishes to mason jars.
- Pour the pickling liquid over the top. Seal the jar with the lid.
- Transfer to the refrigerator. Allow to pickle for 24-48 hours. The longer you leave in the pickling liquid the stronger the flavor.
- Radishes will last in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. To stop the pickling, drain the liquid from the mason jars.
Notes
- Make sure sugar and salt is dissolved in the water and vinegar before pouring over the cubed radishes.
- Mason jars are easy to use and store.
- If you don’t want your radishes to become too strong, pour the liquid out of the jars after 48 hours.
- If you like the strong pickled flavor, allow the radishes to keep in the liquid. They will become more flavorful with each passing day.
- These are best enjoyed between day 2-4, but will last for up to 7-10 days.
Nutrition
Your Friend
I hate your site. Please cut out all the BS and make the recipe more accessible without scrolling past your memoirs and dumb FAQ. It’s a simple recipe.
Alison Corey
When I first read this unkind comment, I entertained the idea of not responding at all. However, I think it’s important for my readers to understand why I write what you call the “BS” and “dumb FAQ.” First of all, there is a Jump to Recipe button at the very top of the post. If you click this button it will take you directly to the recipe card where you will find the simple recipe so you don’t have to scroll through the entire post. Secondly, the reason that I write the posts the way that I do is so that the recipe can be found on Google. It’s called SEO or search engine optimization. If I didn’t write this information and only provided you with the recipe, you would never find it. Google ranks recipes that give detailed information for those readers that find it helpful. I know that not everyone wants to read all of the helpful information in the post, hence the reason for the “Jump to Recipe” button. If you don’t like the formatting of recipes on blogs such as mine, you are always welcome to purchase a cookbook where you’ll get the recipe and nothing else.
GB
Keep it up Alison! I tried other recipes and yours is the best and easiest. Just ignore the dumb and BS who doesn’t know how to read.
Sherri
I love to read your history of the recipe and don’t find it BS or Dumb!!! Just remember it is small people who have small minds. If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else. Please keep up the interesting stories.
Alison Corey
Hi Sherri,
Thank you so much for the support and kind words! I greatly appreciate it!
Suzy
We love trying new recipes and this hit it out of the park! Super easy!
Heather Johnson
Sounds great – I love the Banchan too! Can’t wait to add this to my BiBimBap next time I make it!
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
So delicious! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Michaela
I can’t believe how simple this pickled Daikon is to make. It’s truly perfect for snacking.