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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The easiest and cheapest way to make more pickles is to save the liquid from your favorite jar of storebought pickles, heat it to a boil, add it to a fresh batch of cucumber slices in the store jar, cool, refridgerate = pickles!
MY PICKLES ARE LITTLE DO I HAVE TO CUT THEM UP TO MAKE THIS QUICK RECIPE. WILL THEY BE CRISP.
Small pickles are actually better for pickling. Yes, you can pickle them whole, but I prefer to halve them (or quarter them if they’re too big) to get the pickling mixture to penetrate throughout.
Can I process these pickles and if so can you please tell me how. Thank you so much for your time
The best part about making refrigerator pickles is that you can skip the processing step. If you would rather make dill pickles for long term storage, try this one: http://www.almanac.com/content/how-make-dill-pickles
Can you re-use the brine after you've eaten the batch of pickles?
Yes, you can reuse the brine IF it's for this refrigerator pickle recipe (not for canning). Note: The brine shouldn't look too cloudy or scummy. You should be able to re-use the brine 2 or 3 times.
These are so easy and so good! I'm no beginner, but these came out better than any I've made. The only thing I changed was to use 4 cloves of garlic (cut in half length wise)instead of 2. So gooooood
I have two questions is pickling salt and canning salt the same thing and can I use either one. Also can I add pickling spices packet to the brine or would that be to much spice or make it to salty.
Yes, canning salt equals pickling salt. Neither has any caking agents, added potassium iodide, or dextrose which is what's in normal table salt and why it's best not to use table salt.
