If you’re a pickle fiend like me, you’re going to love this simple recipe for classic homemade pickles. These tangy, fresh, garlicky delights are great for snacking on or bringing to your next summer BBQ. There’s nothing like a homemade pickle for a refreshing bite, and these are seasoned with whole garlic cloves, fresh dill, and pickling spices for the ultimate flavor.
Homemade Pickles- Refrigerator Dill
Like many grocery store items, jars of pickles often contain unnatural preservatives and additives. When in reality, pickles can be made with just a few simple and healthy ingredients. You’ll also save money on homemade pickles, especially if you’re buying cucumbers in season. Plus, making pickles is a great way to help preserve the cucumbers overflowing in your garden if you have homegrown veggies.
This recipe is for refrigerator pickles, so they’ll need to be stored in the refrigerator to maintain freshness.
Ingredients
Pickling Cucumbers– These result in amazingly crisp pickles, and they’re the perfect height to fill pint-sized mason jars. If your pickles are on the taller side, think about slicing them down in height, cutting them into spears, and then cutting the portion of the cucumber that you sliced off into coins for pickle variety. And if you’re feeling extra fancy, use a mandoline for fun crinkle-cut slices!
Distilled White Vinegar– The vinegar will help preserve your pickles and create that classic tang we all know and love.
Fresh Dill– Is it even a pickle without dill?!
Garlic– You’ll use crushed garlic cloves to give a delicious garlicky flavor to your pickles.
Sugar– We prefer raw sugar in our brine.
Salt– We recommend unprocessed salts such as Kosher or Pink Himalayan for your brine.
Pickling Spices– The two pickling spices I consider a must for pickles are mustard seeds and whole black peppercorns. But, to make pickling life simple (and even more flavorful), we make our own pickling spices to have on hand for recipes like this. Our pickling spice recipe contains black peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dill seeds, allspice berries, and bay leaves, but feel free to add celery seed and/or red pepper flakes to the mix.
How To Make Pickles
Rinse. Rinse the cucumbers well.
Cut. Cut each cucumber into either slices or spears. My method is to cut the cucumbers to a height below the rim of my jars, slice each cucumber into 4-8 spears depending on their width, and then slice the cucumber “scraps” into coins.
Fill Jars. Fill your mason jars with the pickling spices, smashed garlic cloves, and sprigs of dill. Then place the cucumber spears or slices in the jars, leaving some headspace at the top for the brine.
Create Brine. Add water, sugar, vinegar, and salt to a pot on the stovetop. Bring the pot to a simmer, stirring until everything has dissolved. Remove the pot from heat and allow the brine to cool to room temperature.
Pour. Pour the brine over the pickles, making sure they are covered in the jars. Seal the jars with lids and gently shake them upside down to further distribute some spices. Place them in the refrigerator.
Wait. Wait at least 2 days (we prefer 4 days) to dig into your pickles!
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
If kept properly, these refrigerator pickles will last for 1-3 months. We use a high-acidity vinegar solution (with distilled white vinegar) to extend their shelf life. Make sure they are kept fully submerged and in an airtight container in the fridge to prevent spoilage.
If you don’t have fresh dill on hand, try substituting by using 1.5 tsp of dried dill in each jar instead.
You can eat them after 48 hours, but we enjoy the flavor most on day 4 and after! It gives the cucumbers plenty of time to soak up the flavors of the brine.
While it’s technically possible to reuse pickling liquid for subsequent batches of pickles, it’s generally not recommended for safety reasons. Reusing pickling liquid increases the risk of bacterial contamination and may compromise the quality and safety of the pickles.
While pickling cucumbers are our preferred variety (they make for crisp, uniform spears), you can substitute with another variety if it’s all you have on hand or you are looking for a way to preserve other cucumbers in your fridge.
More From Scratch Snacks
Making snacks from scratch allows you to have healthy options at home for kids and adults alike.
Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients
- 6 pickling cucumbers
- 6-9 sprigs of dill
- 1 c distilled white vinegar
- 6 garlic cloves, smashed
- ½ tsp sugar, raw
- 1 tbsp salt Kosher or Pink Himalayan
Pickling Spices
- 4.5-6 tsp pickling spices recipe in notes
Or
- 2-3 tsp mustard seeds
- 2-3 tsp black peppercorns, whole
Instructions
- Rinse the cucumbers well.
- Cut each cucumber into either slices or spears. My method is to cut the cucumbers to a height below the rim of my jars, slice each cucumber into 4-8 spears depending on their width, and then slice the cucumber “scraps” into coins. I get two jars of spears and one jar of coins with this method.
- Fill your mason jars with the pickling spices, smashed garlic cloves, and sprigs of dill. Each jar should get 1.5-2 tsp of pickling spices, 2 garlic cloves, and 2-3 sprigs of dill. Then place the spears or slices in the jars, leaving some headspace at the top for the brine.
- Add 1 c water along with the sugar, vinegar, and salt to a pot on the stovetop. Bring the pot to a simmer, stirring until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Remove the pot from heat and allow the brine to cool to room temperature.
- Pour the cooled brine over the pickles, making sure they are covered in the jars. Seal the jars with lids and gently shake them upside down to further distribute some spices. Place them in the refrigerator.
- Wait at least 2 days (we prefer 4 days) to dig into your pickles!
Notes
- For a simple & delicious pickling spice recipe check out this blog post.
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