Quick & Easy Dill Pickles (Refrigerator Dill Pickles)

There is a really satisfying “snap” to a dill pickle that I particularly love. It’s one of those things that logically shouldn’t happen — after all you’re taking a vegetable and submerging it in liquid for several days / weeks / months. It stands to reason that what you’d wind up with would be a soggy mess. And while this may true of supermarket pickles, it’s not at all true of ones that you can make at home.

If you’ve never made quick pickles before (which the internet has rebranded “refrigerator pickles”) you are in for a treat. They take all of 10 minutes to prepare, and the flavor is amazing. Like, A-MAZ-ING. Crisp, bright and fresh with a tiny little bit of heat that hits the back of your mouth. They’ll spoil other dill pickles for you.

When I was creating this little recipe I did a lot of online reading about how important it is to ONLY use pickling cucumbers to makes pickles. Lots of descriptions about how to choose the best type of pickling cukes, what to look for in a good cuke, and near-constant warnings about how the recipes would fail if you dared to use a regular cuke in them.

But as I stared into the abyss that is our refrigerator all I saw were a whole bunch of gorgeous, giant, ready-to-be used regular cucumbers. Very excited to create a pickle recipe that I could share with the world and not wanting to make another trip to our local farmer’s market I contacted my ultimate source of knowledge (and someone who used to make tons of pickles when I was growing up): My mother.

My mom was so non-plussed at my question (“Yes, of course you can use a regular cucumber”) that I decided to put together my recipe for Quick & Easy Dill Pickles on the spot. And I am happy to report that regardless of the type of cucumber that is currently sitting in your fridge you can successfully transform it into a crisp, delicious pickle. Internet beware, I have your number.

My recipe for Quick & Easy Dill Pickles (aka Refrigerator Dill Pickles) will make just enough to fill three 16 ounce (500ml) jars. That’s one jar to eat now, one to keep for later, and one to give away, assuming you’ll be able to part with it.

Quick & Easy Dill Pickles (Refrigerator Dill Pickles)

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Total Time: 4 days (mostly resting)
• Yield: 3 Pint-Sized Jars (500ml) 1x

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Description

This method is so fast you’ll save time over going to the supermarket to buy pickles. Don’t worry about buying “pickling cucumbers,” either. Any old cuke will work in this recipe.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Special equipment: 3 pint sized jars with lids.

• 1 1/2 pounds of cucumbers (700 grams)
• 2 cups water (500 milliliters)
• 2 cups white vinegar (500 milliliters)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
• 1 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon peppercorns
• 3 large sprigs of dill

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Instructions

Bring the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil. Boom! You’ve made a brine. Let it cool a bit.

Peel the garlic and cut each clove in half. Cut the cucumbers into spears by cutting them lengthwise, and then again lengthwise. If the cucumbers are too long to fit into your jars cut them in half widthwise.

Divide the cucumbers into three pint-sized jars. You may have to really stuff them in there, but they’ll fit. Divide the garlic, dill, red pepper flakes, and peppercorns equally into the three jars. Pour the brine into the jars. Cover and let sit on the counter to — well, pickle — for about an hour, then refrigerate.

Pickles will be ready in 2 to 4 days, and will keep for a couple of months in the fridge.

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Notes

Because we haven’t vacuum-sealed these jars it’s important to always keep them in the fridge just as you would any opened jar of pickles.

Keywords: dill, cucumbers, pickles