My ingredients are cucumber, sugar, salt, and wasabi from a tube. That is all. But there is at least 3 times as much sugar as salt. Anyone expecting a sweet pickle is in for a surprise.
After a night in the fridge, I bite into a piece. It snaps. Sweet-salty comes first. Then the wasabi sting shoots up through my nose. So what do I reach for next, rice or an evening drink?
Wasabi cucumber
Recipe Snapshot
- What is it? Wasabi cucumber pickles (きゅうりのわさび漬け) are a quick Japanese home pickle made without heat or vinegar, eaten with white rice or an evening drink. Mine takes only salt, sugar and wasabi.
- Flavor profile: The first thing to hit your tongue is sweet-salty, the sweetness taking the edge off the salt. Each bite snaps, and a beat later the wasabi hits with its iconic heat.
- Why this recipe works: With 4 ingredients rubbed through 1 bag, your hands stay clean. Sugar and salt draw out a brine of their own and firm the cucumber.
- How to make it: Put the cut cucumber and seasonings in a zip-top bag, massage, press out the air and chill.
- What to expect: About 10 minutes of prep, then 12 hours in the fridge. The one catch is the sugar. It looks like a lot, but cutting it actually leaves the pickle watery.
What Is Wasabi Cucumber?
Wasabi cucumber is a Japanese home asazuke, a quick pickle. You rub cut cucumber in a bag and leave it in the fridge. In summer, when cucumbers are cheap, a small bowl of it is a regular on the table, as good with rice as with a drink.
It needs no vinegar and no fermentation. Sugar and salt draw water from the cucumber, and that water becomes the pickling liquid, which keeps it extremely easy. The wasabi is only a light kick. It’s a different dish from the Shizuoka sake-lees pickle called wasabi-zuke in English. Only the names share similarities, not the pickles themselves.
In English, wasabi-zuke means wasabi stems and roots chopped and pickled in sake lees. Cucumber is not in it. It originated in Suruga in the 18th century, in what is now Shizuoka. It is said to have started when the local rice-bran pickle of wasabi stems was remade as a sake-lees pickle and put on sale. It spread across Japan in 1889, after Shizuoka Station opened on the Tokaido Line. Wasabi-zuke packed in decorative wooden barrels was sold through the train windows. Kyuri no wasabi-zuke, the Japanese name of these cucumber pickles, only borrowed that name for today’s home asazuke. Neither the method nor the lineage came with it.
Wasabi Pickles Ingredients
- Japanese cucumber: Go for Japanese cucumbers if you can, the slim ones with thin skin and small seeds. In season they turn up in the produce section at Asian and Korean grocers. If you cannot find them, Persian cucumbers from a regular supermarket are fine. Their skin is thin enough to eat as is, and their crunch is the closest you will get to a Japanese cucumber.
- Sugar: The sugar here does more than sweeten. Working with the salt, it pulls the water out of the cucumber. If you cut it back because it looks like too much, the cucumber won’t release all its water, so the cucumber stays watery and all you taste is the raw heat of the wasabi. The faint sweetness also takes the edge off the wasabi. Make your first batch exactly as written, and tune it to your taste from the second one on.
- Wasabi paste: The tubed wasabi paste is all you need.
Substitutions & How to Customize
Here is what to use when Japanese cucumbers or tube wasabi are hard to find, plus a few ways to add a little something extra with white sesame or ginger.
Substitutions:
- Japanese cucumber → Kirby (pickling) cucumber: If you can’t find Persian cucumbers either, the Kirby cucumbers sold for pickling are fine. Pickling cucumbers have firmer flesh and tougher skin, so the crunch stays firmer.
- Japanese cucumber → English cucumber: Your last resort when there is no Kirby either. Halve it lengthwise and scoop out the seeds before you cut it. It is thicker and wetter than a Japanese cucumber, so it gives off more water as it pickles and loses its crunch more easily.
- Wasabi paste → Wasabi powder: Mix the powder with lukewarm water, give it a few minutes for the heat to build, then use it exactly like the paste. Powder keeps well, and mixed this way it brings plenty of heat.
- White sugar → Cane sugar or light brown sugar: Either one pulls the water out of the cucumber just like white sugar does. Use whichever you have on hand.
- Sea salt → Diamond Crystal kosher salt: It works fine for pickling. Weigh it and use the same weight. For pickles, though, sea salt still comes out clearly ahead.
Substitutions that I don’t recommend:
- Wasabi paste → Fresh wasabi root: Freshly grated wasabi root will pickle, but its heat is surprisingly gentle and its aroma is the first to fade. It is pricey too, and a pickle is a waste of it. Save it for sashimi, where it goes on as is.
- Honey or mirin instead of sugar: The whole point is to draw water out of the cucumber, and these add water back in. The sweetness also takes on a cooked note, and the conversion is not 1:1, so it is a hassle.
- Prepared horseradish instead of wasabi paste: The jarred kind usually has vinegar in it and a coarser grate. The pickle ends up tasting like a roast beef condiment instead of a wasabi pickle.
- Karashi (Japanese mustard) instead of wasabi: It stands in for the heat, but the aroma is completely different. What you get is a different pickle.
- Zucchini instead of cucumber: The flesh falls apart in the bag, and you lose the crisp snap.
Have trouble finding Japanese ingredients? Check out my ultimate guide to Japanese ingredient substitutes!
How to Customize:
- Sprinkle white sesame: Once the pickles are on the plate, scatter over a pinch of toasted white sesame seeds. They add a toasty note.
- Top with bonito flakes: Right before you eat, pile katsuobushi (bonito flakes) or shredded nori on top. The savory depth goes up a notch.
- Add ginger: Toss thin matchsticks of fresh ginger into the bag with everything else. They layer a clean, fresh heat over the wasabi’s.
How to Make My Wasabi Cucumber Pickles
i. Wash the cucumbers and cut off both ends.
ii. Pat the skin completely dry with kitchen paper. Any water left on it thins out the sugar, salt and wasabi.
iii. Cut them into rough bite-size chunks about 1 to 2 cm (1/2 to 3/4 inch) thick. Every piece should have some skin on it.
Keep them chunky. If you slice them too thin,there is no crunch left once the water comes out. The pieces shrink a little as they pickle, so err on the thick side.
Note: If you are using an English cucumber, halve it lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon, then cut it the same way.
i. Put the cut cucumber into a large zip-top bag.
ii. Measure out the sugar, salt and wasabi and add them to the bag all at once.
iii. Close the bag and massage it from the outside. There’s no need to get your hands dirty.
iv. Keep the top closed and give the bag a shake now and then. Once every piece is coated in sugar, salt and wasabi, you’re done.
Plenty of Japanese quick cucumber pickles start by rubbing salt into the cut pieces to draw the water out, and only then get their seasoning. This recipe skips that and puts the sugar, salt and wasabi in together. The water comes out inside the bag while it sits in the fridge, so the cucumber pickles just the same.
i. Press the air out of the bag, then seal it. The less air in there, the more easily the wasabi reaches every piece.
ii. Set the bag in a bowl or a tray. I always do this, so if any juice leaks, it stays contained and off the fridge shelf.
iii. Leave it in the fridge for 12 hours.
iv. After 12 hours, your pickles are ready to eat.
Tips for the Best Japanese Pickled Cucumbers
- Flip the bag once and massage it again partway through. Left lying flat, the liquid pools at the bottom and the pieces on top stay dry. The next time you open the fridge anyway, turn the bag over and give it a light rub from the outside, and every piece pickles evenly.
- Expect the liquid to turn bright green. By the time the bag has sat overnight, the liquid in it is a vivid green. That color comes from the wasabi, and nothing has spoiled. The flavor is already inside the cucumber, so draining the liquid takes none of it away. Lift the pieces out of the liquid when you serve them.
- Take the pieces out with clean chopsticks or tongs. Fingers, or chopsticks that have already been in someone’s mouth, bring bacteria in and cut its fridge life short. Move only what you will eat to a plate and put the rest straight back in the fridge.
Once the bag is in the fridge, the work is small, but it isn’t over until the last piece is gone.
Storage & Meal Prep
Fridge: Once pickled, move the drained pieces to a lidded container and eat within 2 to 3 days. In the liquid they keep releasing water, and flavor and crunch fade daily. Never leave them out. The salt is too light to preserve them.
Freezer: Not recommended. Ice bursts the cells, so it thaws soft and watery.
Meal prep: Start it in the morning for dinner, or at night for the next day.
What to Serve With Wasabi Pickles
- Fluffy Stovetop Japanese Rice
- Chilled Tofu with Toppings (Hiyayakko)
- Salted Breakfast Salmon (Shiozake)
- Crispy Chicken Karaage
Wasabi Cucumber Troubleshooting
I set the balance of salt and sugar for a Japanese palate, so for some people the sweetness stands out. Cut both back and the cucumber holds on to its water, so the pickle turns watery. If it tasted sweet when you made it exactly as written, cut the sugar by about a quarter next time and leave the salt where it is.
The salt is set to that same Japanese balance, and some people find it strong. Spoon the liquid onto the plate along with the pieces and you get its salt as well. For the batch you have now, drain the pieces well before you plate them. Next time, ease back on the salt a little to suit your taste.
It sat too long, the cucumber held too much water, or the pieces were cut too thin. After 2 to 3 days the cucumber keeps releasing water, and the pieces lose their snap sitting in it. An English cucumber with its seeds left in, or thin slices, gets there much sooner. Chop what you have into a dressed cucumber salad, and next time pickle Japanese or Persian cucumbers cut 1 to 2 cm (1/2 to 3/4 inch) thick.
More Japanese Pickle Recipes
Once the one-bag method feels like second nature, the next pickles to try are all gathered in my Japanese pickle recipes.
Wasabi Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
- 500 g Japanese cucumber or Persian cucumber (if using English cucumber, cut in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds first)
- 50 g sugar
- 15 g salt
- 1½ tbsp wasabi paste
The ingredient brands and tools I trust are in my Japanese pantry guide and my cooking tools guide.
Can’t find certain Japanese ingredients? See my substitution guide here.
Instructions
- Wash 500 g Japanese cucumber and cut off the ends.
- Cut the cucumber into rough bite-size chunks 1 to 2 cm (½ to ¾ inch) thick, with some skin on every piece.
- Place into a large zip lock bag and add 50 g sugar, 15 g salt and 1½ tbsp wasabi paste.
- Rub the ingredients all over the cucumber, try and make sure all of the pieces are covered. You can do this from the outside of the zip lock bag, there's no need to get your hands dirty.
- Once evenly coated, seal the bag and leave in the fridge for 12 hours. I recommend placing the bag in a container to prevent leaks.
- Use clean chopsticks or tongs to remove the pieces from the brine. Serve and enjoy!
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