Best Easy Refrigerator Pickles Recipe (crispy & slightly sweet) | Seeking Good Eats (2024)

This is a super easy and foolproof recipe for the best homemade refrigerator pickles! They're the perfect cool and crisp dill pickle (wedges or slices) with fresh dill, garlic, onion, and a little sweetness. Trust me---you won't want to buy another jar of pickles from the store again! 🙂

The Best Refrigerator Dill PicklesRecipe!

"My husband's family, and now myself, have been making this recipe every single summer - for as long as anyone can remember. The recipe has been passed down to me by my mother-in-law's family. Enjoy!" - Kori

Fail Proof Recipe. Before learning how to make these pickles, I was honestly intimidated to make them! I thought they would be a lot more difficult, but they are very easy--trust me! All you gotta do is prep the pickles, prepare the hot pickling liquid, and then pour over the top! Let them cool, refrigerate 24 hours then serve.

Traditional Dill or Customize. This recipe is for your classic dill pickles. You can adjust the ingredients in this recipe to add some spice by adding red pepper flakes or sliced jalapenos. You can also add extra sugar to make them sweeter and more like bread and butter pickles.

Healthy. Pickles are great because they are low in calories, and carbohydrates, are vegan, and are the perfect satisfying crunchy snack. Make them even healthier by omitting the sugar in this recipe or by using allulose sugar substitute (see ingredient notes below).

Refrigerator Pickles Ingredients

• Water
• White Vinegar: this is what gives pickles their classic flavor.
• Sugar: if you want a sweeter dill pickle, like bread and butter, use up to one cup of sugar. Use a sugar substitute if looking to reduce carbohydrates. Keto followers should use allulose sugar substitute in this recipe.
• Salt
• Onion: use yellow, white, or sweet based on preference. Do not use red onion, as it will discolor your pickles.
• Garlic: you will need a whole head of garlic, but you will split the cloves evenly between the jars.
• Fresh Dill: you will need fresh dill with the seed heads (these look like yellow flowers). You will want at least one dill seed head per jar, so purchase or pick accordingly. If you can't find the dill with the heads, use the sprigs of dill. You'll need 1 or 2 sprigs per jar.
• Pickling Cucumbers: you are looking for about 24 small cucumbers that are about 4 inches long and one and a half inches in diameter.
• (Optional) Pickle Crisp: this helps give an even better crunch and crispiness to your pickles, but it can be omitted. Alum may also be used (it was the traditional ingredient in this recipe).

Note on jar size: You can use ANY size of jar - a variety of sizes or even one large jar to hold it all is fine too. You'll just need to adjust your onion, dill, and garlic according to each size (more for bigger jars, less for smaller jars).

Be sure to save this pin to Pinterest for later! 😉

Substitutions and Variations

• Sweet: Make them sweet by using 3/4 cup to 1 cup of granulated sugar.
• Spicy: Make them spicy by adding jalapeno, red, or green chili pepper to the bottom of the jar. you can also use 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes in each jar.
• Tangy: Add yellow mustard seeds to each jar to add a classic tangy flavor!
• Dill: If you cannot find any dill with seed heads, you can substitute with using fresh dill sprigs, and it will work just fine! Use about 1 sprig per jar.

Prepping Cucumbers for Fridge Pickles

• Keep the cucumbers chilled in the refrigerator until ready.
• Wash the cucumbers thoroughly, removing any bad spots with a knife or peeler.
• Slice pickles into rounds or cut into 4 to 6 wedges. For evenly sliced pickles, use a mandoline or food processor. For a crinkle cut use a crinkle cutter knife or similar attachment on your food processor or mandoline.

How To Make Refrigerator Pickles

1. In the bottom of each jar, place 1 to 3 whole garlic cloves and 1/4 to 1/2 of onion (slices). Tightly pack your jar with cucumbers, leaving 1 inch of space at the top. Top with 1 or 2 large heads of dill.

2. In a large saucepan, bring water, sugar, vinegar, and salt to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar. Turn off the heat.

See Also

Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles - The Mountain Kitchencrinkle cut pickels – 3100ml can – Kühne Food PartnersSpicy Refrigerator Dill Pickles : No canning necessary!Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles

3. Using a funnel, carefully pour the hot liquid over the top of the pickles until full, leaving about 1/2 inch at the top. Let pickles cool at room temp before placing the lid. Refrigerate at least 24 hours.

My Favorite Recipes to Serve with Refrigerator Dill Pickles

Dill pickles go with just about anything and make the perfect snack. Here are a few recipes that we like to use the pickles in, or serve with.

• Pork Tenderloin on the Grill
• Boneless Chicken Thighs on Grill
• Herbed Butter Steak (Simple Steak Recipe Grilled)
• Dill Pickle Slaw
• Pickle de Gallo
• Pickle Pasta Salad
• Cheese Curd Bacon Burger Recipe
• Stuffed Meatloaf Recipe With Cheese And Bacon (Big Mac Meatloaf)
• Cheeseburger Stuffed Peppers with Ground Beef
• Stuffed Baked Meatballs (Two Ways)

How To Store Fridge Pickles

Make sure you have a tight-fitting lid on each jar. Be sure to store them in the fridge for at least 24 hours before eating them for the best result. If you used very fresh pickling cucumbers, they should last for 2 months in the fridge.

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