Who knew you could pickle cherry tomatoes and make them taste so good!
Last week Ben came home with a bag full of Thai goodies after shopping at Bangkok Center Grocery in Chinatown.
It’s by far the best place to go to in Manhattan for authentic Thai ingredients, plus the staff is so helpful and nice! I usually get a couple of bags of fresh kaffir lime leaves and a couple of bags of fresh Thai chilies that I keep in the freezer for future use.
Along with those ingredients Ben bought fish sauce (we go through fish sauce like nobody’s business!), lemongrass, galangal and the ever elusive green papaya. Green papaya is so hard to find around here that it’s always a surprise to see it on a store shelf or, better yet, in a grocery bag at home!
And if you love som tam (green papaya salad) as much as we do, you know you’re about to have a really good meal at home!
The idea of pickling cherry tomatoes came about after seeing the beautiful amber colored sauce, chilies and few remaining slices of green papaya floating at the bottom of the salad bowl.
It was a wonderful dinner indeed; I served the green papaya salad with a spicy tom yum soup, a side of ginger jasmine rice and our favorite Thai ground chicken with lime and cilantro recipe.
The next day I took the leftover cherry tomatoes and used a pickling technique I learned from one of Harumi Kurihara’s cookbooks: I pricked each tomato with a skewer to help the flavors penetrate inside the flesh.
This is a very easy technique that infuses the tomatoes with plenty of goodness!
It works especially well if you let the tomatoes pickle for more than a day because it takes a while for the flavors to stick. But once they do I promise you will be converted! Pickled cherry tomatoes make an excellent condiment for many Asian inspired dishes.
I like to slice them in half or chop them into a relish I then use in sandwiches (like this chicken banh mi), pastas, added to Vietnamese bun cha, and the list goes on…Forever!
Pickled cherry tomatoes are incredibly easy to make and you can use the pickling sauce on its own to add to rice dishes and soups. Add a chili for more heat or no chili for no heat.
We are all over this condiment because there is SO much you can do with it, and I bet you too will get hooked on these beautiful pickled cherry tomatoes!
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Pickled Cherry Tomatoes (Thai Style)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: PIckles
- Method: Marinating
- Cuisine: Thai
Description
Who knew you could pickle cherry tomatoes! This recipe for Thai Style Pickled Cherry Tomatoes is a little spicy, pungent and acidic, and only takes 10 minutes to prepare!
Ingredients
- 30 cherry or grape tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 Thai chili (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl.
- Prick the tomatoes a few times using a skewer or toothpick.
- Put tomatoes in a tupperware container or pickling jar and pour marinade over.
- Refrigerate for at least a day before eating and for no longer than 4 days.
- Serve as a topping for salads or with fish, chicken or beef.
Notes
The marinade is absolutely delicious on its own as well! You can use it as a sauce for meats and fish and eat it with the tomatoes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5 cherry tomatoes
- Calories: 22
- Sugar: 2.9 g
- Sodium: 710.8 mg
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 0.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Can this be canned for long term storage?
Hi Kathryn,
These tomatoes are not made for long term storage. They will keep for up to 4 days 🙂
I used brown sugar substitute for the sugar in this recipe. I substituted a jalapeno for the Thai chili. I doubled the pickle. Delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing Jennifer! 🙂
Why no longer than 4 days? They will go bad or they will become too strong in flavor?
Will try making these this weekend
Hi Tobias! It’s more of a textural thing, the tomatoes taste best when fresh 🙂
Can these be processed in a canner for longer shelf life. Want to do a large batch and couldn’t eat them all in 4 days.
Hi Suzanne, I don’t know if these would work canned. Unfortunately I haven’t tried. You could turn the cherry tomatoes into a sauce for fish, tofu or meats though and freeze it.
These look so delicious. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! I love pickled cherry tomatoes but haven’t made them in so long! Definitely snagging the ingredients to make these the next time I head to the store. Can’t wait!
correction that should read ‘not enough’
Hi! I found the amount of liquid no enough to cover the tomatoes, so I made double the amount of the liquid. I also had no white sugar (my wife and I are diabetic} so I used brown sugar and did not read the instruction and used 1 and a half teaspoons instead a half. Fingers crosses it turns out Okay. Oh! I ran out of rice vinegar so I topped it up with about five mils Of white pickle onion vin’. I’ve got 24 hours to go before sampling and I’m salivating and it’s your fault for making it sound so yummy.
All the very best,
Poppie John, yes I’m very old.
I’m sure the tomatoes will taste great, very creative of you to use pickled onion vinegar! I would have never thought of that 🙂
Hi. Why is the max days to keep 4, or can they last longer being in the fridge?
Cheers, Matt
Hi Matt! I put 4 days because I noticed they get mushy inside, not very pleasurable on a textural level. You can of course keep them for longer but I personally prefer them when they are fresh 🙂
This is looking delicious, but the problem is cherry tomatoes aren’t available in every season. I think I should give a try.
Hi Ashley! We have cherry tomatoes all year round in New York, maybe you can find them in smaller shops? Otherwise you can use this pickling recipe for other veggies such as cucumber, carrots and daikon (maybe even pickled eggs!).
could you can these you think?
Hi Emma, I don’t think you can because the tomatoes do eventually get mushy but I haven’t tried. Keep me posted if you do!