When you find yourself up to your ears in summer produce, there’s nothing better than making quick refrigerator pickles. While pickled produce always turns out flavorful, crispy and crunchy, quick pickles (as opposed to canned pickles) do not need any specialized equipment and do not require heating up the kitchen with giant pots of boiling water.
This refrigerator pickle recipe pickles thinly sliced cucumbers and onions in a sweetened brine made of cider vinegar and a handful of spices. The recipe comes together in just 20 minutes—and after 24 hours in the fridge, the pickles are ready to be eaten, whether straight from the jar or as a topping on your favorite burger or sandwich.
Ingredients for Easy Refrigerator Pickles
- Cucumbers: The best cucumbers for pickling are thin (read: not too overgrown), which means they’re the perfect combo of tender, flavorful and easy to slice. Homegrown cucumbers, farmers market cukes or English cucumbers from the grocery store are the best if you plan to leave the skin on your pickles. Regular grocery store cucumbers typically have a wax coating to preserve their freshness.
- Onions: Make sure to thinly sliced your onions for this recipe (we’d recommend using a mandoline or sharp knife). Sweet onions such as Vidalia or Walla Walla are ideal, although shallots are another option.
- Cider vinegar: Cider vinegar is the liquid used to pickle the cucumbers. Compared to white vinegar, cider vinegar is sweeter and has a bright, fruity flavor. White vinegar can also be used in this recipe, but note that it has a stronger and more sour flavor.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar balances the sourness of the vinegar.
- Spices: A variety of spices flavors the sweet-and-sour brine. This recipe for refrigerator pickles calls for salt, mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric and ground cloves.
Directions
Step 1: Prep the cucumbers and onions
Place the thinly sliced cucumbers and onions in a large bowl and set aside.
Editor’s Tip: If you’d rather make individual jars of refrigerator pickles, layer the sliced pickles and onions into three or four separate pint jars.
Step 2: Make the brine
Combine the sugar, cider vinegar, salt, mustard seed, celery seed, ground turmeric and ground cloves in a saucepan.
Bring the brine to a boil. Cook and stir just until the sugar is dissolved.
Step 3: Add the brine to the cucumber mixture
Pour the brine over the cucumber mixture. Cool. Cover tightly and refrigerate the cucumbers for at least 24 hours before serving.
Easy Refrigerator Pickle Variations
- Cut the cukes into pickle spears: Instead of thinly slicing the cucumbers, cut them into spears instead. The easiest way to cut spears is to cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise, and then cut each half lengthwise again. If you’d like, use a spoon to scrape the seeds from each quarter. This will help to ensure the resulting pickles are crisp.
- Add fresh herbs: Changing up the herbs and spices is one of the easiest ways to make different types of pickles. Fresh dill is an easy addition that will make this recipe more similar to refrigerator dill pickles. Other herbs wonderful to use for making refrigerator pickles are fresh tarragon, thyme, basil and chives.
- Make spicy pickles: Experiment with your favorite spices—allspice berries, whole cloves, peppercorns and red pepper flakes are tasty options. If you’re a garlic or heat lover, toss in a few thinly sliced garlic cloves or jalapenos.
- Use other vegetables: Cucumbers aren’t the only vegetables that can be pickled! Check out our guide to pickling to learn how to pickle nearly any kind of produce.
How to Store Easy Refrigerator Pickles
This refrigerator pickles recipe will keep at least a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. However, use common sense and discard pickles that have an odd smell or appearance, and don’t push the two-week time limit if you added garlic to your refrigerator pickles.
Easy Refrigerator Pickle Tips
How do you make canned pickles instead of refrigerator pickles?
Because safely canning food requires a particular ratio of ingredients to prevent the growth of bacteria, this recipe for refrigerator pickles cannot be used for canned pickles. If you’re looking to can, check out our recipes for bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles or dill pickles.
Can you use the pickle brine to pickle other vegetables?
Yes! This brine can also be used for making pickled green beans, pickled zucchini, pickled radishes and even pickled carrots.
How do you use refrigerator pickles?
These refrigerator pickles are perfect for snacking on their own, or they’re amazing as a topping for burgers or sandwiches (have you ever tried a peanut butter pickle sandwich?). They’d make a natural addition to a relish tray as well.
