Vanilla Bean Pickled Strawberries

These vanilla bean pickled strawberries are super simple to make and are the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. Serve with yogurt or ice cream or even throw them on a salad. You’ll love this easy springtime recipe!

This post is sponsored by Nielsen-Massey. All opinions and thoughts are 100% my own.

I’m so happy strawberry season is HERE! I’m always happy because those bright little berries come popping up JUST as I start to really crave the tastes of spring and summer. Even though I love eating them plain I’m always looking for fun ways to use them. This time around I combined vanilla beans and apple cider vinegar to give you my new favorite strawberry recipe – vanilla bean pickled strawberries. They are perfect for yogurt, ice cream, and even salad!

I mean, we all know that anything pickled is the best but it’s even better when you throw in a little Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans!

I have worked with Nielsen-Massey a few times in the past (remember my grapefruit Campari cocktail, vanilla sweet potato casserole and my vanilla peach bourbon milkshake) but this year when they reached out to work together I was SUPER PUMPED! They wanted me to come up with an idea that was a popular food trend for 2018 and give it my own personal spin. Since pickled and fermented foods are still SUPER popular I decided to take one of my favorite fruits and give it that trendy pickled flavor and mix it with some delicious vanilla beans and peppercorns. Totally baller and crazy addictive.

If you’re not familiar with Nielsen-Massey, they’re a family owned and managed producer of premier vanillas and flavor extracts. Their products are all natural, GMO-free, certified gluten-free, certified kosher and allergen-free. Plus their vanilla beans are examined BY HAND, bundle-by-bundle to ensure each bean is perfect. That means when you order whole beans you’re not only getting that perfect vanilla flavor, you’re getting super high quality.

Oh, and if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you’ll notice I ALWAYS use vanilla bean paste which is one of my favorite products from Nielsen-Massey. Seriously, it’s life-changing. {Make sure you follow Nielsen-Massey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest for more recipe inspiration!}

Now, back to these vanilla bean pickled strawberries. If you’re on the fence about pickled berries I’m begging you to just give these babies a try. They are SO good and SO easy! They sit overnight in the refrigerator and in the morning you’ll be rewarded with the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

Looking for more vanilla packed recipes? Try my vanilla spiced apples, vanilla bean plum butter, vanilla bean strawberry jam, vanilla bean horchata iced coffee, vanilla bean Dutch baby, vanilla pear sauce, vanilla sugar peach crisp, vanilla maple glazed carrots or my vanilla bean apple crisp.

Vanilla Bean Pickled Strawberries

These vanilla bean pickled strawberries are super simple to make and are the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. Serve with yogurt or ice cream or even throw them on a salad. You’ll love this easy springtime recipe!

Yield: 1 pound pickled berries

Prep Time: 15 minutes plus overnight resting

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes plus overnight resting

Ingredients:

• 1 pound strawberries, small berries halved and large berries quartered
• 2 Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans, cut down the middle
• 1-1/2 teaspoons peppercorns
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) water
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) honey
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

In a large jar add berries, vanilla beans, and peppercorns. For a more intense vanilla bean flavor scrape out 1 of the halved beans.

In a medium-sized saucepan add apple cider vinegar, water, honey and kosher salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and pour over the berries.

Put the lid on the berries and cool to room temperature.

Place in the refrigerator and let sit overnight.

Enjoy over ice cream, yogurt or in a salad.