Quick and easy homemade fridge pickles
Making homemade refrigerator pickles does not require any canning equipment needed. It’s just 3 steps using a handful of ingredients: boil vinegar solution, pour over cucumbers, and wait a few days for crisp pickles!
Unlike store-bought pickles, these scrumptious, crunchy, homemade pickles are low in sodium.
Enjoy these tangy pickles as a crisp afternoon snack or to top off grilled burgers or sandwiches.
Note: These pickles are mean for casual snacking, not long-term storage which would require a boiling-water bath process. See our full Pickling Guide.
Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
Ingredients:
3-1/2 cups water
1-1/4 cup white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon canning or kosher salt (NOT table salt)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 cups pickling cucumbers, unpeeled, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
2 heads fresh dill
Optional: 2 cloves garlic (whole)
Instructions:
- Boil the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Cook for one minute. Cool.
- Put cucumbers, garlic, and dill in a plastic or glass container (not metal!!). You simply can use a medium bowl—or, a couple of jars for gifts.
- Cover with the cooled liquid. Put in the refrigerator. Let the vegetables pickle in the brine for 3 to 4 days before eating for the best taste.
Refrigerator pickles last in the fridge for up to one month.
You can use the pickling liquid for other veggies, too, from beets to carrots.
Sarah Perreault
Introduction to Preserving
Freezing
Making Quick Pickles
Making Quick Jams: Refrigerator or Freezer Jam
Water-Bath Canning
How to Can Tomatoes
How to Can Pickles
How to Can Jam and Jelly
Pressure Canning
Drying
Salting and Brining
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More sugar means sweeter pickles, right?
could i use coarse kosher salt
When make pickles it is always best to use canning or pickling salt. It’s highly refined so it dissolves really well and makes a crisp pickle.
What is the use of sugar for in this recipe? Is it only to reduce the acidic taste of the vinegar or does it have another purpose?
I'm worried the sugar in the recipe will make the pickles taste sweet. Can you tell there is sugar in them? I'm hoping these are similar to claussen's.
Hi, Cammie. The amount of sugar is too small to make the pickles sweet.
Is it necessary to use pickling salt -- which I've never seen in the store? I generally use sea salt; is this good? Thanks.
We’ve only used Canning and Pickling salt. It’s highly refined so it dissolves really well and makes a crisp pickle.
is it okay to use Himalayan salt?
We’ve only used Canning and Pickling salt. It’s highly refined so it dissolves really well and makes a crisp pickle. We would think that the pink salt might make the brine cloudy and it’s quite a costly way to go. However, it’s not unsafe. The main thing is not to use regular table salt as it includes iodine which messes up the pickling process.
