Fermented Pickles: Benefits Plus 8 Recipes
Pickles: you either love them or hate them.
Pickles are a crisp, satisfying food to snack on, adorn your charcuterie boards, or top your sandwiches, which have lots of probiotic benefits, depending on how they’re prepared!
You can buy pickles in your local grocery store, but keep in mind that those on the shelf are prepared differently than those in the refrigerator section. The ones on the shelf are pickled with vinegar, giving them a long shelf-life; refrigerated ones are prepared with a salt and water brine and undergo fermentation.
During this fermentation process, which can take 4-10 days, cucumbers will sit in the brine, and the starches and sugars convert into lactic acid by the bacteria lactobacilli, which makes pickles a great probiotic!
Because of this, fermented pickles have numerous health benefits, including the following six:
1. Can Help Aid in Weight Maintenance
Because fermented pickles are a probiotic, they can help maintain and achieve weight loss. It’s heavily documented that gut health directly affects successful weight loss and maintenance. And probiotics are directly linked to better gut health, which means eating fermented pickles can help with weight loss goals!
2. Can Prevent Muscle Cramping
Some studies suggest that pickle juice can help prevent muscle cramps and be used as a pre-workout supplement, thanks to its high levels of electrolytes.
3. Can Help Support the Microbiome
Your body has what’s called a microbiome, which is a blend of symbiotic bacteria in the intestines that help keep your digestive system on the right track. Having the right (and enough) probiotics helps keep the microbiome happy, which keeps the central nervous system happy.
4. Can Reduce Anxiety and Depression
A happy nervous system is essential to helping maintain both gut and mental health and can help lessen the effects of depression and anxiety. SO much of your mental health is associated with your overall physical health, and being healthy inside is just as important as the outside.
5. Can Benefit Healthy Skin
Probiotics are also linked to healthier and brighter skin. They can be an important tool in avoiding and improving skin diseases, decreasing oxidative stress, suppressing inflammatory responses, and keeping immune effects.
6. May Help Reduce the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
There’s a direct correlation between Parkinson’s Disease and your gut health. Because of this, eating good, probiotic-dense foods can help keep your gut healthy and aligned with the rest of your body. Therefore, keeping your belly healthy can help prevent diseases like Parkinson’s.
As you can see, keeping fermented pickles can have many great health benefits! But in addition to those benefits, they also taste fantastic.
So, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite recipes that include pickles! Check them out:
1. Homemade Refrigerator Pickles
I love to make these quick refrigerator pickles using my garden veggies. They are super delicious to add to just about everything. Salads, sandwiches, and especially snacking!
2. Tangy Dill Pickle Hummus
Hummus is a great and healthy snack made from garbanzo beans. But paired with fermented pickles, dill, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and coriander seeds, this unique take on the classic dip is sure to be a hit at your next party (or just your next snack time!).
3. Quick + Easy Pickle Sandwich
A pickle sandwich is a fun lunch or snack idea that can easily be made to fit your personal taste preferences. You can always make the meal early, so be sure to save this one for your next busy week!
4. Sweet Potato Meal Prep Bowls
Sweet potatoes are a great vitamin A, fiber, and minerals source. Lean ground beef is an excellent source of protein and iron. And the pickles on top will give you a boost of probiotics and electrolytes. It’s a win-win all the way around!
5. White Bean Tuna Salad
An incredibly tasty Mediterranean Inspired spin on a healthy tuna salad. This stuff is perfect to make on Sunday for meal prep and keep in your fridge for quick lunches and snacks throughout the week!
6. Quick Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
Here’s a delicious, clean alternative to your basic cheeseburger. Swapping out a carb-y bun for a leaf of lettuce will give you an added crunch without sacrificing the classic flavors you love!
7. Pickle Lover’s Chicken Salad
In the same vein as tuna salad, chicken salad is a great snack or meal, and our recipe is a yummy clean alternative. The flavors, colors, and textures are impressive for such a quick meal idea.
8. Pickle Juice Marinated Chicken Tenders
Not sure what to do with the pickle juice left over from your fermented pickles? Try using them as a marinade for these yummy chicken tenders!
Heating any pickled vegetable burns off the probiotics, but it’s still a great way to use leftover pickle juice and pack a flavorful punch.
Whether you like the taste of pickles or not, there’s no denying the health benefits of fermented pickles.
Remember, only pickles found in the refrigerated section at the store have been fermented; those on the shelves have not and, therefore don’t have the same probiotic benefits.
Read your labels, and enjoy all the delicious benefits of fermented pickles!
Let me know your favorite way to enjoy pickles in the comments below!
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