crunchy cucumber pickles

きゅうりのポリポリ漬け - crunchy, munching, and oh so delicious

9 ingredients•Prep: 30 mins

Kenji Morimoto•

October 1, 2025

This cucumber tsukemono is a variety of shoyuzuke, or pickled in a soy sauce based brine. As with many of these pickles, there's a beautiful balance of acid from the apple cider vinegar, sweetness from mirin (and of course, the sugar), and umami from the soy. The aromatics are strong with this one - add more to your own personal taste.

Note the type of cucumbers I used for this - larger water bound varieties are not ideal (usually also have thicker skin and more seeds). Also, you'll note that I used a paper towel when pickling - this is a common Japanese trick to keep everything submerged to ensure a more consistent brining.

Ingredients (9)

Cucumber(600 g, sliced into bite sized pieces)
do not use "normal" large cucumbers - opt for baby or small pickling cucumbers (or Asian varieties)
Salt(½ tsp)
Soy sauce(60 mL)
use a Japanese variety
Mirin(60 mL)
Apple cider vinegar(60 mL)
other varieties such as white vinegar or rice vinegar can work
Sugar(60 g)
Ginger(1 knob, julienned )
Dried chilis(1 pinch)
omit if you would prefer it less spicy
Spicy broad bean paste(½ tsp)

Instructions

In a bowl, salt the prepared cucumbers for a few hours and upwards to overnight. Keep the salty brine from the cucumbers.
For the brine, mix all of the other ingredients in a small pan over low heat and remove once the sugar dissolves. Let this cool slightly before pouring it on top of the cucumbers. The brine does not need to be cool and can be poured on when warm.
Let this pickle in the fridge for at least one day and enjoy!