Making pickles at home couldn’t be simpler! Here are easy recipes for quick refrigerator homemade pickles to get you started.
Are you a pickle fan? Well you’re in luck, because making pickles at home couldn’t be easier! Why make homemade pickles? They’re infinitely tastier than pickles from the grocery store. And, you’ll have a sense of accomplishment that doesn’t come from grabbing a jar of pickles off the shelf at the store. Here are our favorite easy homemade pickles: all of them are either refrigerator pickles or quick pickles. Keep reading for the recipes: and a few pickle definitions!
Related: All Pickle Recipes
What are refrigerator pickles?
So what are refrigerator pickles? Refrigerator pickles are vegetables that are pickled in a vinegar solution and simply refrigerated for 1 hour: no canning required! They last for 1 month in the refrigerator, instead of a year or more on the shelf like traditional canned pickles. No special canning equipment is needed and there’s no boiling involved, which makes the entire process fast and simple. The only real downside to refrigerator pickles is that they last only about a month in the fridge: however, they’re so deliciously crunchy that they won’t last that long!
What are quick pickles?
Quick pickles and refrigerator pickles are synonymous. Quick pickles are vegetables that are pickled in a vinegar, water, and salt (sometimes sugar, too) solution and stored in the refrigerator. However, to use the term quick pickles might mean something that doesn’t even make it into a jar. For example, you might make our Quick Pickled Red Onions to go on a pizza or tacos. Or our Korean ramen recipe is served with quick pickled cucumbers. Even our cucumber salad with vinegar is essentially a quick pickles recipe that’s served as a side salad!
Want more with preserving? Try our easy DIY: How to Make Sauerkraut.
And now, our easy homemade pickles recipes!
First up in our easy homemade pickles recipes: refrigerator pickles! These refrigerator dill pickles require just 10 minutes of hands on prep work and are great on sandwiches or eaten straight from the jar. Slice up baby cucumbers, then add fresh dill and coriander seeds to the mix. Pour on the pickling brine and wait 24-hours and a delightfully fresh and complex flavor emerges. The cucumbers stay crisp and retain a lovely crunch!
Here's a unique homemade pickles recipe: cauliflower! This pickled cauliflower is full of bright, tangy flavor, with an herbal essence from fresh dill and coriander seeds. Add bell pepper and carrots to make a colorful jar and they’re positively eye catching! We love cauliflower pickles because biting into a floret is an explosion of flavor. It’s almost even better than a dill pickle…we think.
Ever had pickled red onions? These quick pickles are easy to make and perfect for topping tacos, sandwiches, and salads! They bring a tangy brightness that’s unlike any other condiment. The color is beautiful: the eye-popping pink slivers make any dish look like a piece of art. Luckily, homemade pickled onions are also simple to make. The hands-on time is only about 5 minutes, then wait just 1 hour before you dig in. Try them on pizza, tacos, or salads.
Next in our homemade pickles: these Quick Pickled Vegetables! Similar to dill pickles, these pickled vegetables use the refrigerator pickles method. But instead of using only cucumbers, we used a mix of vegetables: cauliflower, carrots, and sweet peppers. You can use any vegetables you’d like, and can likely find a good variety at your local farmers market. We loved this variation on the standard recipe, and the two jars disappeared very quickly at our house.
Ever made your own pickled jalapeños? Now’s the time to start! This recipe is so easy: it takes only 10 minutes of hands on time. And the flavor? Explosively good! These pickled jalapeños have a tangy pop; they’re like a heightened version of the ones you can get at the store. We made these to go on our Ultimate Vegan Chili, and were surprised when we tasted them. “How are these so good?”
Want a condiment that brings a zing to any recipe? Enter: quick pickled radishes! This is what to do with that bunch of radishes in your refrigerator. Thinly slice them and throw them in a jar with vinegar, salt, and sugar, then let the ingredients do the hard part! All you have to do is wait 1 hour; no canning equipment needed. They liven up any meal, from sandwiches to tacos!
This homemade pickles recipe is easy to make and lasts for about a month in the refrigerator — but you’ll likely eat these garlic pickles before then! This refrigerator pickle recipe calls for Kirby cucumbers, as they’re especially good for pickling thanks to their small size and firm flesh. However, an English cucumber like the ones at the grocery store will work in a pinch. The flavor has a hint of garlic: a perfect compliment that is not overpowering.
This homemade pickles recipe is a bit more unique: it’s pickled okra! What do you do when your okra plant take over your garden? Make pickled okra, of course! When we’ve grown okra in our garden, we’ve had to get creative with ways to use this underappreciated veggie since we have a major overabundance. Our favorite way to use it up is with this pickled okra recipe, which takes under 20 minutes to prep. The peppercorns, dried chilies, and fresh dill in this recipe make for super flavorful okra that’s delicious eaten on its own as a snack or appetizer. Or, throw it into a Bloody Mary!
And the last in our homemade pickles recipes: this vinegar cucumber salad! Now, you might not even think of this as a pickle recipe. But these thinly sliced cucumbers and onions that grace summer barbecues and potlucks are indeed quick pickles! The thinly sliced cucumbers and onions are soaked in vinegar, salt and sugar for an hour in the refrigerator until they become tender and tangy. They’re the perfect compliment to any summer meal!
Homemade Dill Pickles
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 jars 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These easy homemade dill pickles require just 10 minutes of hands on prep work and are great on sandwiches or eaten straight from the jar!
Ingredients
- 2 1-pint wide-mouth mason jars with lids
- 1 1/2 to 2 pounds small cucumbers (like Kirby)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- 2/3 cup white vinegar
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 1 large handful fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dill seeds)
Instructions
- Wash two mason jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse, and let air dry.
- Quarter the cucumbers into four slices lengthwise (cut off tips so they to fit inside the jar). Peel and cut the garlic cloves in half.
- In a saucepan, place the coriander seeds, whole peppercorns, sugar, kosher salt, white vinegar and water. Whisk over low heat until fully dissolved, about 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
- In the two clean mason jars, tightly pack the cucumbers, garlic and fresh dill.
- Pour the brine mixture over the cucumbers. Tap the jars on the counter to release any air bubbles and top off the jar with extra water if any cucumbers are exposed.
- Wipe jar rims dry and place the lids on the jars and screw on the rings until they are hand tight.
- Leave the jars in the fridge for 24 hours before tasting. The pickles last up to 1 month in the refrigerator (they’re not shelf stable, but they never last that long!).
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Pickled
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Homemade Pickles
Last updated: July 2020
1 Comment
Billy
April 3, 2019 at 12:38 pmPictures are so great! Very colorful – cannot wait to make my own homemade pickles! Thank you for sharing.