Pickled Vegetable Sandwiches with Cream Cheese

Looking for a tasty sandwich bursting with flavour? Try these pickled vegetable sandwiches with cream cheese using the quick pickling method.

If you want to try a new sandwich that's a bit different, try this quick pickled vegetable sandwich.

The combination of toasted garlicky bread, with thick, velvety cream cheese, topped with pickled vegetables with a hint of sweetness and topped with salad and a tasty drizzle of sauce is rather fabulous.

A flavour-packed quick meal for lunch or dinner.

Jump to:

• 👩🏻‍🍳 How to pickle vegetables
• ⏲️ Extra quick sandwich pickles
• 💬 Why are quick pickled vegetables so good?
• 🥫 How long can quick pickles be stored?
• 🥕 Which vegetables can be pickled?
• 💭 Quick pickling FAQ
• 🍞 Which type of bread?
• 🥪 What you need to make quick pickled vegetable sandwiches
• 🍶 Different drizzles
• 🥣 Vegan cream cheese
• 🥗 Other fillings
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Related Recipes
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Serving suggestions
• ⭐ Want new recipes delivered to your inbox?
• ⭐ Save your favourite recipes for free!
• 👩🏻‍🍳 How to make pickled veg sandwiches
• 📖 Recipe
• Comments

👩🏻‍🍳 How to pickle vegetables

Traditional pickles have a long ferment to help preserve vegetables, but quick pickles can be made in minutes.

The quick pickling method is a much easier and quicker process and the result is much fresher.

1. Vegetables are chopped, shredded, finely sliced or peeled and added to a clean jar
2. A mixture of with vinegar, sugar, salt and seasoning or spices, which have been heated until the sugar has dissolved is added.
3. The pickles are ready to use in 10-15 minutes.

Try these 10-minute red pickled onions or quick pickled red cabbage for sandwiches and tacos. They are both utterly delicious in sandwiches.

I use them in my Festive Falafel & Cranberry Sandwich.

⏲️ Extra quick sandwich pickles

When pickling vegetables to add to a sandwich, I use an even quicker method.

Peeled slices of vegetables (carrots, cucumber and courgette are good for this) are placed in a mixing bowl and a smaller mixture of vinegar, sugar and seasoning is added, than when doing normal quick pickling.

Then they are given a good mix.

This can be set aside while you toast the bread and prep the other fillings, and then it's ready to use.

When ready, just lift the pickle veg to the side of the bowl using a fork, so excess liquid will drain off before adding them to your sandwich.

💬 Why are quick pickled vegetables so good?

Pickled vegetables are rather fabulous, but in case you aren't convinced yet, here are some of the reasons why these pickled veggies are so good.

• Fast - quick pickles are very quick to make with no fuss
• Cheap - you don't need many ingredients or expensive ingredients to make quick pickles, especially the super quick sandwich pickles
• Versatile - you can pickle a wider range of vegetables
• Crunch - vegetables are much fresher and still retain some crunch
• Instant - you can eat them pretty much right away
• Leftovers - they are a great way to use up leftover vegetables or washed vegetable peelings
• Adaptable - you can use different flavoured vinegar and spices to change the flavour each time
• Sweet and sour - you can adjust the amount of sugar to achieve a sweetness or sourness that suits you
• Flavour-packed - these pickles add so much flavour to sandwiches, tacos and burgers.

🥫 How long can quick pickles be stored?

Quick pickles will keep in a jar in the fridge for a week or two and the flavour will improve as they sit.

However, do take them out a few minutes before using them to take the chill off them from the fridge.

Quick sandwich pickles (used in this recipe), which are not steeped in a deep vinegar mixture, but just coated, can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or two.

They are better made fresh to use and as it's such a speedy recipe, why not?

🥕 Which vegetables can be pickled?

You can pickle all sorts of vegetables and salad, here are a few ideas.

1. beetroot - grated or finely sliced
2. bell pepper - thinly sliced
3. carrots - grated or peeled slices
4. chilli pepper - deseeded and finely sliced
5. courgette (zucchini) - grated or peeled slices
6. cucumber - peeled into slices
7. fine green beans - topped and tailed, then chopped or left whole
8. mangetout (snow peas) - left whole
9. radishes - thinly sliced
10. red onion - thinly sliced

These are just a few examples, there are lots of other vegetables you could pickle, so get creative and try different flavour combinations to add to sandwiches and salads.

Basically, any that can be eaten raw, can be pickled.

I love the way peeled and pickled slices of carrots, courgette (zucchini) or cucumber can be placed on a sandwich in waves and give a wonderful tangy flavour.

🍍 Can you pickle fruit?

You may be surprised to learn you can pickle fruit and it makes a fabulous sandwich pickle.

Here are a few fruits that would work particularly well.

• apple - thinly sliced or peeled into slices
• pear - thinly sliced or peeled into slices
• pineapple - thinly sliced

💭 Quick pickling FAQ

🍞 Which type of bread?

Toasted or grilled bread works really well with the fillings in this tasty plant-based sandwich.

Here are a few types of bread that work particularly well.

• Bloomers - a soft white bloomers bread with a good crust
• Sourdough - the classic bread for a toasted sandwich
• Tiger bread - with it's colourful crust

You could also serve up this tasty dairy-free sandwich in a baguette or pitta bread.

🍞 Garlic up that bread!

For that extra flavour boost, garlic up your bread?

What exactly do I mean by that?

Once you have toasted bread, rub a peeled clove of garlic over the surface of the bread to impart a wonderful flavour.

I do this when I make pa amb tomaquet, which is a tapas dish from Barcelona, where a flavoured tomato mixture is heaped on top of garlic-rubbed toasted bread.

🥪 What you need to make quick pickled vegetable sandwiches

Here are the simple ingredients you need to make these vegan cream cheese and vegetable sandwiches.

• Bread - bloomers bread. tiger bread or sourdough bread
• Garlic - just a clove
• Cream cheese - vegan cream cheese
• Carrot
• Cucumber
• Vinegar - I used white wine vinegar, but you can use what you have
• Sugar - caster sugar or brown sugar
• Salt & pepper - to season
• Salad leaves
• Tomato
• Sriracha - optional

Find the full recipe and method below after the step-by-step photos.

For more sandwich inspiration check out 101 Vegan Sandwiches - Back to School Kids Lunch boxes.

🍶 Different drizzles

A drizzle of sriracha finished off this sandwich filling, but you can swap it with a different drizzle. Here are some ideas:

• Balsamic drizzle
• Hot sauce
• Sweet chilli sauce
• Vegan salad cream
• Yellow American mustard

🥣 Vegan cream cheese

The first layer of this gorgeous vegan sandwich is a thick layer of vegan cream cheese.

It works really well with the pickled veg.

However, there are so many different dairy-free cream cheese available now, it can be hard to choose one.

My husband loves Violife cream cheese, but doesn't like the vegan Philadelphia.

For this sandwich, I used this garlic and herb soft cheese from Tesco, which has a wonderful cream texture and a really nice flavour.

I think this is my favourite.

👩🏻‍🍳 Related Recipes

Looking for more tasty vegan sandwich ideas? Try these recipes:

👩🏻‍🍳 Serving suggestions

Here are a few serving suggestions to make this sandwich more of a meal. Serve these dishes on the side of your veggie sandwich.

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👩🏻‍🍳 How to make pickled veg sandwiches

These step-by-step photos will show you how to make these quick pickled veggie sandwiches. Keep scrolling for the full printable recipe (with full ingredient list, calories and nutritional info).

Step 1 - Pickling veggies

• First, make the pickled veggies.
• Add the veg to a mixing bowl with the pickling liquid (full recipe below) and seasonings.
• Mix well, then set aside.

Step 2 - Making the sandwich

• Toast the bread and rub each slice (one side) with a clove of garlic.
• Add a thick layer of cream cheese to one slice and a thinner layer to the other.
• Now add a layer of salad leaves to the slice with a thick layer or cream cheese, then add a layer of the pickled vegetables (draining as much liquid off as possible as you lift them out of the bowl with a fork).

Step 3 - Finishing touches

• Add a layer of sliced tomato and season with black pepper, then finish with a drizzle of sriracha (look at my tips above for other drizzle ideas).
• Top with the other spread slice of toasted bread and cut in half before serving.
• Make another sandwich with the same filling.
• Enjoy!