Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickles
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Refrigerator pickles are quick and easy to make — no sterilizing jars or special equipment required.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
The kids and I discovered a jar of these homemade refrigerator pickles in my parents’ refrigerator one day, and since then, no deli or store-bought pickles have ever come close. They were made by one of my mom’s oldest and dearest friends, Joanne Biltekoff, who is like an aunt to me. The best thing about Joanne’s pickles is that they’re quick and easy — no sterilizing jars or special canning equipment required. All you do is slice Kirby cucumbers into spears, cover them with brine, tuck them into the fridge, and they’re ready to eat the next day.
What You’ll Need To Make Refrigerator Pickles
The most important part of the recipe is to start with Kirby or pickling cucumbers. They’re short, squat and sometimes full of warts, but they make deliciously crisp pickles. Don’t be tempted to substitute another kind of cucumber or you’ll end up with soggy pickles.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by making the brine. Combine the vinegar, salt and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Whisk in the cold water, then chill.
When cooking high-acid foods, be sure to use a cooking vessel made of a nonreactive material such as stainless steel, glass, ceramic or Teflon. Pots made from metals like aluminum, copper or cast iron will react with the acid and give your food a metallic taste.
Next, stuff the cucumbers into two 1-quart jars. Add the coriander and mustard seeds, garlic, red pepper flakes, dill sprigs to the jars, dividing evenly.
Cover the cucumbers with the chilled brine.
Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for about 24 hours, then serve. The pickles will keep in the fridge for up to one month.
These pickles will disappear quickly and you’ll likely get requests for more. You don’t have to start from scratch. You can use the pickle brine more than once — it should last for another batch or two of pickles!
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Quick & Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Refrigerator pickles are quick and easy to make — no sterilizing jars or special equipment required.
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups cold water
- 1¾ to 2 pounds Kirby cucumbers (about 6), cut into halves or spears
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 6 large garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 16 dill sprigs
Instructions
- Combine the vinegar, salt and sugar in a small non-reactive saucepan (such as stainless steel, glass, ceramic or teflon) over high heat. Whisk until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Transfer the liquid into a bowl and whisk in the cold water. Refrigerate brine until ready to use.
- Stuff the cucumbers into two clean 1-quart jars. Add the coriander seeds, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, dill sprigs, and chilled brine into jars, dividing evenly. If necessary, add a bit of cold water to the jars until the brine covers the cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate about 24 hours, then serve. The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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I had an over abundance of homegrown pickling cucumbers in my community garden plot. Thankfully they didn’t all ripen at the same time. I made batch one last weekend. They are the best darn pickles ever. The red pepper flakes add a subtle heat. My mom doesn’t like spicy or hot but she loved them. Neighbor loved them. I have shared the recipe many times already after my friends saw the pictures on facebook and instagram. I linked them back to your website. Making batch two now and will leave red pepper flakes out of a few jars. I was out of fresh coriander seed for batch one and the pickles still came out fine. This batch will have the coriander seeds.
I was asked for a good recipe for bread and butter as well as sweet pickles (one of my friends said they are different then bread and butter). Do you have a quick refrigerator recipe for any of them?
So glad you enjoyed the pickles, Lori — and thank you for spreading the word about my site! Unfortunately, I don’t have recipes for bread and butter or sweet pickles but I will add them to my list. Stay tuned 🙂
to Lori-
try this Bread & Butter recipe it is not refrigerator- but still pretty easy
Here is the basic Bread & butter pickle recipe I use
15 c sliced pickling cucumbers
2 onions thinky sliced
1/4 cup course salt
4 cups cracked ice
2 1/2 c cider vinegar
2 1/2 c sugar
3/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 T mustard seed
1. clean your cucumbers slice them and the onions & let them sit in salt & ice for 3 hours
2. Mix well
3. Put a weight & let sit for 3 hours
4. Drain well
5. Combine vinegar, sugar, tumeric, celery seed & mustard seed
6. Add drained cucumbers
7. Place on medium low heat- bring almost to a boil but don’t boil
8. I boil jars for 10 minutes to process
Lori, the very best B&B refrigerator pickle recipe I’ve found is Alton Brown’s B&B recipe. Google it. They last far longer than what the recipe recommends. I made my last batch in October 2015 and in April or May they were still as good as when I first made them.
Recipe is simply amazing. I compared a few others and this was the hands down winner.
Question- Can I can these? I know I need to sterilize the jars and following canning processes, but is there anything I need to do to the recipe itself?
Hi Paul, So glad you enjoyed the pickles! Unfortunately, the recipe will not work for canning.
is there anything I can do to modify this recipe so I can can it. I have a lot of cucumbers and I can’t make refrigerator pickles out of all of them 🙂
Hi Paul, To be honest, I don’t have a lot of experience with canning but my main concern is that most canned pickle recipes call for a brine with a 1:1 water-vinegar ratio. I believe that is necessary to make the pickles shelf stable. This recipe is much less acidic with almost a 2:1 water-vinegar ratio. For me, that’s what makes these pickles so good; they aren’t overly sour like so many others. So, unfortunately, if you change the brine, the pickles will taste much different.
Is it possible to use this recipe and can them instead of using them just in the fridge? If so, would I need to change anything about the preparation and/or ingredients?
Hi Leah, Unfortunately, the recipe won’t work for canning. Sorry!
I made two quarts of refrigerator pickles (another recipe) last week, and tried them today….I was extremely disappointed in their bland flavor. I dumped a bunch of seasoning into those jars today and went on a search for another recipe to try….
I found this one through Pinterest, and immediately saw that it had more seasoning and vinegar than the other recipe I’d tried. So I used a 2 quart bail and toggle jar from Ikea and put everything in one jar today.
(I don’t usually have pickling cucumbers on hand, but I went to the Farmer’s Market and canned some bread and butter pickles yesterday, so I had the leftovers to use.)
I didn’t have fresh dill on hand, so I used 4 tsps dried dill leaves. I calculated 1 tsp per four fresh strands in the recipe.
When I open the refrigerator, I shake the jar and put it back. I can hardly wait to open it, but I’ll wait a couple days to let the flavors permeate. I’ll report back!! 🙂
They turned out very well!! In fact, there are only a few left! Using the dried dill worked fine, but since the little leaves stick to the spears, I think you get a little more dill flavor than you would using fresh dill. If you aren’t a huge fan of dill, you might want to reduce the dried dill just a little when you make it.
I’ll be making this recipe again! 🙂
Excellent recipe…we put of 9 quarts of pickles and I tried on less than 24 hrs. later and Wow !, it was already good and I can only imagine how much better they will taste in a few days…Very easy recipe too….
This summer, I grew cucumbers and dill in my garden. So, I thought I’d try making pickles of course.
I’ve never done this before so I was a bit apprehensive. I think the hardest part was waiting for 24 hours for the cucumbers to marinate, or whatever cucumbers do!
I was really surprised! These are really, really good!
I have a date this Friday and I am going to give her the gift of pickles 🙂 (Heck with flowers!)
We love this recipe! These are now our favorite dill pickles! Thanks!
I LOVE these pickles! I’ve made them several times. Since we live in Mexico, we have to many foods from scratch. I’ve been using small whole Mediterranean cucumbers instead Kirby and they are SUPER crunchy. In my most recent batch, I bumped up the red pepper flakes to 3/4 tsp. and used minced garlic instead of cloves just to amp up the flavor. They are a favorite of the whole family! The hardest part is waiting for a WHOLE day to taste them. Thanks for such a great recipe. 🙂
Looked at loads of these types of recipes and cannot see how long they will last on my shelf in the pantry…do they have to go in the fridge? If so
Why are the ones on the supermarket shelf any different
Hi Andrea, These are quick refrigerator pickles, and they do need to be kept in the fridge as they aren’t properly canned (using sterile jars, etc.).
Im pregnant and craving pickles. I’m so glad that I found this recipe! Doing this today!!