After nearly 4 months of my daily tender loving care, my sole surviving cucumber plant yielded 3 lovely cucumbers. I wasn’t just going to eat them and be done with it. I wanted to turn these cukes into something special that I could savor for weeks…refrigerator pickles!
Refrigerator pickles are easy for everyone to make because you don’t need any special canning equipment. You don’t even need to use Mason jars – upcycle glass spaghetti jars or used pickle jars. I just happened to have empty canning jars available for this. One kitchen tool I do use for this is my mandolin slicer. Of course, a knife works too – but I love the uniform slices and serrated edges a mandolin blade can do.
The only real downside to making refrigerator pickles instead of the boiling water canner method is that refrigerator pickles can only be stored (in the fridge) for a month. Canning pickles with a boiling water canner gives them a much longer shelf life.
That said, I love all the flavor combos you can get when you make refrigerator pickles. You can make them sweet, spicy or a combination of both with just a few ingredients. I don’t think you can really go wrong even if you play around with the amount of ingredients you put in. Just make sure to use enough vinegar and go easy on the spicy peppers.
Here is how I did it:
A Little Sweet, A Little Spicy Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
- 1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 T. fresh dill per jar
- 4 cloves garlic (diced small)
- 1 T. white sugar
- 1 T. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. black peppercorns per jar
- 2 cucumbers, sliced to desired thickness
- Bring vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a boil in a saucepan until dissolved. Lower heat, stir in garlic and cook for about one minute.
- Meanwhile, divide sliced cucumbers into jars. Put 1 tsp. black peppercorns into each jar.
- Fill jars to the rim with boiling vinegar mix, making sure to cover the cucumber slices. Put 1 T. fresh dill into each jar and close the lid.
- Refrigerate overnight. Pickles will become more flavorful the longer they sit in the brine. Keep in the refrigerator for one month.
A Little Spicy Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 T. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. black peppercorns
- 1 clove garlic, diced
- 1 cucumber, sliced thin
- 1 T. fresh dill
- Bring vinegar, salt and water to a boil. Lower heat, add garlic and cook for about minute.
- Put red pepper flakes and black peppercorns into jar and fill with cucumber slices.
- Pour vinegar mixture into jar, covering cucumbers completely. Add fresh dill and close the lid.
- Refrigerate overnight. Pickles will become more flavorful the longer they sit in the brine. Keep in the refrigerator for one month.
Do you make pickles? What are some of your favorite ingredients to use to flavor yours? Let us know in the comments section.
Betty Baez says
Yum now i wish i wouldn’t have eaten the cucumbers from our harvest darn! I have to save this for next year!
Small Footprints says
We starting using this method to pickle this year … and I love it! We’ve done cucumbers and cauliflower .. both are so good! I don’t think I’ll ever buy pickles again … these are so fast and easy and one always knows what’s in their food! We’re going to try okra next. 🙂
Nicole says
You’ll have to let me know how the okra turns out. I love fried okra. I wonder how the pickling process would change the okra’s texture. If okra is too slimy, I don’t like it. (my grandmother would stew it and I did not like the runny texture). If the okra stayed crisp like a pickle, that would be yummy and so good for you! I’m like you – once I found out just how easy it is to make pickles, I don’t want to have to buy them ever again. (but i’m sure I will just for the convenience factor, LOL)
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
JR Frugalmom says
This sounds so easy. I sure hope you’ll be able to enjoy them for a long time.
Vanessa Coker says
They look good! My husband has been talking about doing this 🙂
Denise Taylor-Dennis says
I never thought of making my own pickles they sound delicious.
Mary Withrow says
I love refrigerator pickles! I will have to try your recipe. The recipe I use now is from my sister-in-laws and it is very plain. My son loves the zesty cucumbers you get at the store and this recipe would be much closer.
Jean says
A friend of mine just finished a book on Southern Pickles & Preserves and I make refrigerator pickles for the first time this summer to help her test one of the recipes! They came out really well and I totally caught the refrigerator pickle bug! Did you use pickling cukes or regular ones?
Nicole says
Hi Jean, I’m sorry but don’t know what kind of cukes I used. I tried to find my seed packet from earlier this spring and of course found every other veggie I planted except for the cucumbers. They just looked like regular ones to me, but I don’t know what variety they were. What is your friend’s book called? I love Southern recipes. Hope all your pickles turn out yummy!
Jean says
Thanks for the reply! I bet you just used regular salad cucumbers. That’s good news actually, because you can get them year round. I don’t know the final title of the cookbook. I don’t think it’s out yet. It may be called simply, Southern Pickles and Preserves.
Jo-Ann Brightman says
I haven’t yet tried this easy method of pickling and it sounds great. I too don’t like okra if it is slimy, so I wonder if it will work.
Denise Taylor-Dennis says
This is slightly off topic but this morning my son looked at his wrist and noticed a spot on his wrist (a freckle). He called it a pickle instead.
Vesper says
I tried pickling hard boiled eggs just with vinegar and spices, after a month or so we had to throw them out. Next time I am going to find a recipe to do them correctly