Pickled bean sprouts are a quick and easy condiment that can be served with many Asian rice dishes. It is super cheap and a great way to add some vegetables to your meal.
Pickled Bean Sprouts
Pickled bean sprouts are a popular Tet (Lunar New Year) dish. It adds a burst of acidity and texture to traditional Tet dishes like Thit Kho (Vietnamese Braised Caramelised Pork). It is a very simple recipe and that is made one day in advance, and can be stored for up to a week.
To make pickled bean sprouts:
- Make up a pickling solution of water, vinegar, sugar and salt.
- Toss together some bean sprouts, carrot and garlic chives.
- Put the vegetables in a pickling jar, top with the pickling solution.
- Leave in the fridge for a day to pickle.
Fresh Bean Sprouts Are Best
It is very important to use fresh ingredients for this recipe for best results, particularly the bean sprouts. Older bean sprouts have an unpleasant taste, and won’t have a nice crunch.
When you are buying bean sprouts look through the packaging to see if the sprouts are:
- long and whole.
- crispy enough that when you snap one in half it makes a sound and breaks cleanly.
- white in colour.
Avoid bean sprouts that:
- appear soft and wilted
- are broken
- are brownish or any colour that is off white
- have a strong smell
- have water collecting at the bottom of the packaging
Store bean sprouts in the vegetable crisper section of your fridge. Never freeze them, and be aware they can freeze if stored in a colder part of the fridge – the vegetable crisper is always the safest spot.
Do not use bean sprouts that have been frozen as they will be soft after being thawed and won’t be good for anything!
Garlic Chives, Carrot and Bean Sprouts 
Prepped Vegetables to be Pickled
Pickling Jars
A pickling jar is any glass jar. You don’t necessarily have to go out and buy one, look around your kitchen and see if there’s anything you can repurpose, like a large coffee jar.
Things to look for in a pickling jar:
- Use one as close as possible to the 1.25L capacity recommended in this recipe. The idea is to get something that will just fit the vegetables and liquid after gently packing them in a bit. Using something too big/small will impact the taste, and using something too small may mean crushing the vegetables too much when trying to pack everything in.
- Choose a jar with a wide opening to avoid breaking up the bean sprouts.
- Sterilising is not necessary. No harm done if you want to sterilise, but I find just thoroughly cleaning the jars is enough.
Pouring in the Pickle Water
It is OK if the pickling solution does not completely submerge all the veg. The vegetables will slowly wilt and become more compacted over time.
You can push the vegetables down with a spoon to make sure they have at least been dipped in the pickle water.
Carefully adding the vegetables into the pickling jar 
Pouring over the pickling solution
Storing
Pickled bean sprouts should be stored in the fridge at all times. To be on the safe side, use within a week.
What To Eat Pickled Bean Sprouts With
- Thit kho (Vietnamese caramelised braised pork)
- Vietnamese Caramelised Ginger Chicken (Ga Kho Gung)
- Simple Pork and Black Fungus Mince
- Cheap and Easy Chinese Soy Sauce Chicken
Other Similar Recipes to Pickled Bean Sprouts
- Fermented Cabbage (Vietnamese Version)
- Pickled Chillies
- Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon – Do Chua
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Scruff and Steph
Pickled Bean Sprouts (Dua Gia)
Equipment
- Pickling Jar (1.25L capacity)
- Medium Saucepan
Ingredients
Pickling Solution
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 4 tbsp white sugar
- 2 tsp salt
Vegetables
- 250 gm bean sprouts washed
- 100 gm carrot (roughly 1 carrot), julienned
- 5 garlic chives cut into 3cm / 1 in lengths
Instructions
- Place the pickling solution ingredients into a medium saucepan and heat on medium, uncovered. Stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved and the liquid has come to a gentle boil. Take off the heat and let it cool for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the vegetables. Put the vegetables in a large bowl and use your hands to toss through.
- Put the vegetables in the pickling jar. Pour the pickling solution over the top and seal.
- Leave in the fridge for at least one day.