Hello my fellow pickle loving friends. Have you ever made your own homemade dill pickles? There are basically two main methods of making pickles but one requires more time, patience and skills if you will. The other is for those of us that just want the pickles asap and have no problem whipping up a batch weekly or as desired. The first method of course is canning which I will eventually try but my favorite method and the one I’m sharing a recipe for today is refrigerator pickles using cucumbers from our edible garden.
Refrigerator Pickles
The great thing about refrigerator pickles is that they can be eaten the same day. You can easily whip up different flavors like dill, spicy, or bread and butter style pickles. And since I’m all about the edible garden life, I always have an abundance of cucumbers just waiting to be pickled starting in late spring. Today’s recipe is homemade dill pickles using the refrigerator method.
Homemade Dill Pickles
The main ingredients for any pickle is of course cucumbers. The other main ingredients are vinegar and sugar. For dill pickles obviously dill is a must. Garlic is also a stable in any dill pickle recipe. I also add peppercorns, sweet or smoked paprika, and a bay leaf or two to my recipe. The peppercorns and paprika don’t make this recipe truly spicy but they do add a nice flavor punch. Smoked paprika is my preference but sweet works well too and compliments the sugar in the recipe.
- 2 cucumbers, thin sliced
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp red peppercorns
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- Placed sliced cucumbers in an air tight glass jar.
- Add the dill, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaf to the jar.
- Combine the salt, sugar, and vinegar in a bowl, stir to combine then pour into the jar of cucumbers.
- Seal the jar, shake well and refrigerate. Shake several times.
- Pickles will be edible in 6-8 hours.
- You can choose to combine the vinegar and sugar in a pot with a 1/2 cup of water and simmer until well combined. Let the brine cool before adding them to the jar of cucumbers and spices.
Have you made homemade pickles? Which method do you use and what’s your favorite flavor?
4 Comments
Aaronica Cole
July 6, 2018 at 6:27 PMLemme mosey on down the street and get some pickles!!!
M J
July 6, 2018 at 7:48 PMYep, there will be plenty of cucumbers to come.
Michelle Gall
March 9, 2020 at 5:21 PMYummy!! I can’t wait to try!
M J
April 17, 2020 at 12:51 PMSo good and super easy to make.