Easy, quick pickles with no canning needed.
Ready for quick pickles? Making refrigerator pickles is so easy—no special canning equipment needed. Plus, unlike store-bought pickles, these scrumptious, crunchy, homemade pickles are low in sodium. Here’s the recipe—plus a video demonstration if you need it.
This recipe only requires your cucumbers, a vinegar brine, and optional garlic and dill if you wish.
These pickles are mean for casual snacking, not long-term storage which would require a boiling-water bath process. See our full Pickling Guide.
Try these tangy pickles as a crisp afternoon snack or to top off grilled burgers or sandwiches.
Use a large glass or food-grade plastic bowl or use canning jars (though you don’t need to water-bath process for fridge pickles). Wash and dry jars and cucumbers before starting.
Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
Ingredients:
3-1/2 cups water
1-1/4 cup white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon canning or kosher salt (NOT table salt)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 cups cucumbers, unpeeled, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
Optional: 2 cloves garlic (whole)
Optional: 2 heads fresh dill
Instructions:
- Boil the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Cook for one minute. Cool.
- Put cucumbers, garlic, and dill in a medium plastic or glass bowl (not metal!).
- Cover with the cooled liquid. Put in the refrigerator. You can eat within 24 hours but they taste best if you let the vegetables pickle in the brine for 3 to 4 days before eating.
Pickles last in the refrigerator for up to one month.
You can use the pickling liquid for other veggies, too, from beets to carrots.
Introduction to Preserving
Freezing
Making Quick Pickles
Making Quick Jams: Refrigerator or Freezer Jam
Vinegars
Water-Bath Canning
How to Can Tomatoes
How to Can Pickles
How to Can Jam and Jelly
Pressure Canning
Drying
Salting and Brining
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After slicing the cucumbers, i place them in a salt bath for approx. an hour. While waiting, I make the brine. After the hour, rinse the cucumbers and pour on the hot brine. Let sit another hour at room temperature, then scoop into your containers and refrigerate. These come out crunchy every time!
Is it ok too use peeled cucumbers?
We recommend using “pickling” cucumbers which are small, rounded, and have bumpy skins; they should not be peeled if you want them to be crunchy with a good snap.
We don’t recommending regular garden cucumbers that have thick skin and lots of seeds. These are the ones sold waxed in the store. If you did want to use them, they do have to be peeled. Also, stay away from English cucumbers (the long, seedless ones) which are not a good option for pickles.
Can I use small but whole unpeeled pickles or not?
I have not had a lot of luck making dill pickles but this recipe turned out great! Small batches are good for us too. I tweaked the recipe a bit (i.e., I use dried dill, extra garlic & cut the cloves in half). Next time, I'm going to spice it up a bit! Thanks for this recipe!
