If you really like pickling, you’ll love our refrigerator pickles. They’re also made with a simple homemade pickling liquid, just like this recipe.

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes Recipe

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Pickled Cherry Tomatoes Ingredients:

You can get the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card below.

• Cherry tomatoes – We use the flavor bomb cherry tomatoes, which add a little extra flavor to the pickled tomatoes.
• Basil – Fresh basil adds an herbal flavor to the tomatoes.
• Garlic – Fresh garlic helps to balance the sweetness of the tomatoes.
• Peppercorns – The spiciness of the peppercorns balances the sweetness of the pickling liquid.
• Apple cider vinegar – Vinegar is the base of the pickling liquid. Apple cider vinegar adds a sweetness to it, but you could substitute white vinegar as well.
• Water – Water dilutes the vinegar in the pickling liquid, so it’s not as acidic.
• Sugar – This adds just a tiny bit of sweetness to balance the pickling liquid.
• Salt – This brings out the flavors in the pickling liquid.

How To Make Pickled Cherry Tomatoes:

Wash the cherry tomatoes.

Stick a skewer through the tomato, creating a hole at the top and the bottom.

Piercing it will help the pickling liquid to get inside the tomato and penetrate through the skin. The tomato skin will crack when pickling if you do this, which also helps to add more flavor.

Fill the glass jar halfway with the tomatoes.

Add half of the fresh basil into the glass jar.

You don’t have to cut the basil. Put it in the jar whole.

Peel the garlic and add it to the glass jar.

You don’t have to cut the garlic. Just add the whole cloves straight into the jar. This actually pickles the garlic as well, so you can eat that.

If you chop or smash the garlic before adding it, it’ll be harder to eat than if you left the cloves whole.

Add the rest of the tomatoes into the glass jar, filling it all the way to the top.

Add in the rest of the basil.

Pour in the peppercorns.

Don’t worry if the peppercorns are sitting on top of the tomatoes right now. When you add the pickling liquid, they’ll fall and start to distribute throughout the glass jar.

Add the apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to a medium-sized pot on the stove top.

Bring it to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, so the sugar and salt incorporate into the liquid.

Remove it from the heat when it reaches a rolling boil and pour it into the glass jar, stopping near the very top.

Quick note: Pour the liquid from the pot into a measuring cup with a spout and use that to pour the hot liquid over the tomatoes in the glass jar. I also do this in the sink so that if any of it spills, it’s into the sink for easy cleanup, rather than all over the countertop.

You may not use all of the pickling liquid, but you probably use about 90% of it.

Immediately put the top on the glass jar and close it tightly.

Let the tomatoes cool completely.

I set the jar on a trivet while it cools. This gives it a little more air from the bottom. It’s also good because if the bottom of your jar is really hot, you don’t want it sitting directly on the countertop.

When the jar is cooled to room temperature, put it in the refrigerator and leave it for at least 48 hours. This will allow the tomato skin to crack and absorb the pickling liquid, causing the tomatoes to pickle.

After they’re done, you can eat them by themselves as a snack or pair them with burrata cheese.

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes: Frequently Asked Questions

More Tomato Recipes:

If you bought too many tomatoes and you have some left over, we have a great list of fresh tomato recipes that you can use the rest in.