This Refrigerator Dill Pickles recipe produces wonderfully tangy cucumber pickles with a fraction of the effort of traditionally canned pickles. They are crisp and flavorful with an array of spices, perfect for serving alongside a sandwich or as part of a charcuterie board.
Dill pickles are an essential part of most people's fridge. Whether they are sliced pickles, dill pickle spears, or whole dill pickles, they can be served on the side of a plate for lunch, added into sauces like tartar sauce, or placed on sandwiches or burgers.
This is a speedier version of my Lacto Fermented Cucumber Pickles, which don't include any vinegar and rely on fermentation to acidify the brine. These can take several days to ferment, but with the Refrigerator Dill Pickles recipe, you will be able to enjoy your homemade dill pickles within 24 hours. You simply combine a flavorful brine with salt, vinegar, and seasonings, and pour it over sliced cucumbers. Once marinated, they are ready to eat.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This dill pickle recipe comprises all of the usual choices for canned pickles such as vinegar and pickling seasoning. Here is a full list of the ingredients you will need to make them:
- water
- sea salt
- pickling (Kirby) cucumbers - sliced or cut into spears
- pickling spice - store-bought or homemade
- dill - dried or fresh dill
- bay leaves - or grape leaves
- clove garlic
- white vinegar
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Stir together the water and the salt; allow to sit until the salt has dissolved.
Wash and dry the cucumbers. Slice off the blossom ends, then cut into slices or spears.
Place the cucumber slices or spears in a quart/liter jar along with the pickling spices, dill, bay leaves, and garlic.
Add the salt water and vinegar into the jar so it covers the cucumbers. If they aren't quite covered, add more water.
Add a fermentation weight or small bowl on top of the cucumbers so they are submerged.
Close the lid and allow the cucumbers to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before enjoying. The pickles will keep for 3 to 4 weeks in the fridge.
Hint: Make sure you whisk the salt with the water so that the salt dissolves into the water and won't fall to the bottom of the jar.
Variations
Once you start making refrigerator pickles at home, it may inspire you to try different combinations. Here are some ideas for how you can change the recipe depending on your tastes or the ingredients you have to use up.
- Make Spicy Dill Pickles - Add red pepper flakes to the jar to add some heat to the pickles. You can add however much or however little you want to meet your taste.
- Make Homemade Vegetable Pickles - If you have other vegetables to use up in your fridge, you can turn them into vegetable pickles before they go bad, which will help them stay fresh longer. Simply combine a mixture of cucumbers, cauliflower florets, sliced bell peppers, sliced carrots, sliced onions, and/or sliced celery in a jar with the seasonings and brine, and allow them to marinate with the brine for 24 hours.
- Make Zucchini Pickles - In the summer, when you have an overabundance of zucchini coming out of your garden, you can use them in this recipe instead of cucumbers. Larger zucchini work best when sliced into spears whereas smaller zucchini work well as sliced pickles.
- Make Beet Pickles - These are made with cooked beets or extremely thinly beets sliced on a mandolin to ensure that the pickle brine can permeate through the flesh of the beets.
- Make Asparagus Pickles - When asparagus is at its peak, you can use some in this pickle recipe rather than cucumbers. Simply remove the woody stems from the asparagus before tightly packing the spears into the jar with the fronds facing upward. If you like, you can pre-blanch the asparagus before pickling for a more tender pickle.
- Make Red Onion Pickles - Pickled red onions are wonderful on top of tacos or served with pate as part of a charcuterie board.
Storage
These dill pickles will keep in the fridge for at least three to four weeks. The length of time the pickles keep means you can extend the life of cucumbers that might otherwise go bad in the fridge. This is particularly wonderful if you are pulling lots of cucumbers out of your garden but don't have enough to justify doing a large batch of canned pickles.
Top tip
Before adding the lid to your pickle jar, place a fermentation weight or small bowl on top of the cucumbers to ensure they stay below the brine.
FAQ
These homemade refrigerator dill pickles should stay fresh in the fridge for 3 or 4 weeks.
When you make this refrigerator dill pickle recipe, you should allow them to sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours. However, the flavour will only improve the longer they sit and you may find you enjoy their taste the most after they have sat for a few days.
You will be able to tell if the pickles are bad if they are becoming soft or have an off appearance or smell.
Rather than just using cucumbers in your homemade dill pickles, you can use other vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots, celery, onions, bell peppers, and more. You can also change up the seasonings depending on your tastes.
Pickling spices packs a punch of flavor into homemade pickles. It includes mustard seeds, whole black peppercorns, allspice, cloves, ginger, dill seeds, and bay leaves. If you don't have store-bought pickling spice at home, you can mix your own if you have all of these herbs and spices on hand. You could even make your own spice mixture up if you are missing some of the ingredients. The possibilities are endless with seasonings like celery seeds, coriander seeds, pink peppercorns, star anise, whole cloves, etc.
The best part of making refrigerator pickles is that you can use whatever cucumbers you have available to you such as Persian cucumbers, English cucumbers, Kirby cucumbers, and traditional pickling cucumbers. However, the type you use or their size may determine how you prepare them. For example, pickling cucumbers can be left whole while larger cucumbers can be sliced into slices or spears.
Related
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Recipe
Refrigerator Dill Pickles Recipe
Equipment
- 1 quart/Liter sized Mason jar
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- 3-4 teaspoons sea salt *
- 14 oz pickling (Kirby) cucumbers sliced or cut into spears
- 2-3 teaspoons pickling spice a mix of mustard seeds, peppercorn, allspice, cloves, ginger, dill seed, bay leaves, red pepper flakes)
- 1 teaspoon dried dill or 1 tablespoon fresh dill
- 2 bay leaves or grape leaves
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- ¾ cup white vinegar
Instructions
- Start by combining the water and salt. Stir them together and let sit so the salt can dissolve while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
- Prepare the cucumbers by washing and drying them. The cut off the blossom end. Now cut the beets into your desired shape. I like slices but spears are good too.
- Fill the cucumber slices/spears into a quart-sized/1-liter glass jar along with the pickling spices, dill, bay leaves, and garlic clove.
- Now pour in the vinegar and salt water. The cucumbers should be covered. If not, you can add a little more water.
- Add a fermentation weight or tiny bowl on top to ensure the cucumbers stay submerged.
- Close the lid and place the jar in the refrigerator. Leave the pickled refrigerated for 24 hours. Then they are ready to be enjoyed.
- Stored refrigerated the pickled will last at least 3-4 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
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