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This is a great, simple way to make your own pickles! These are delicious on their own or added to your favorite sandwich. This recipe gives you pickles you can eat the same day, is a great recipe to make with the kids, and a yummy snack for a hot summer day! Put your math skills to work; this recipe is super easy to scale up or down based on how many cucumbers you have on hand.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cucumber slices; 6-8 pickling cucumbers (Kirby) or 1 English cucumber

  • 2 tsp pickling or kosher salt

  • 1 tsp sugar

  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill or 2 tsp dried dill

  • 1/2 cup white vinegar

  • Optional: garlic cloves (lightly crushed); 1 tsp pickling spice; crushed red pepper flakes, white onion (sliced thin); or a bay leaf.

Main Ingredient(s): Cucumbers

Steps:

  • Slice cucumbers thin.* Place in a clean pint (16 oz.) lidded jar. A wide mouth mason jar works great for this.

  • Add salt, sugar, dill and optional ingredients and pour in white vinegar. Seal the jar and give it a few shakes to begin distributing ingredients.

  • Don’t worry if the liquid level in jar is low – soon the salt will draw moisture from the cucumbers and the liquid will balance out.

  • Place jar in fridge and shake it once or twice more over next few hours. Ideally, wait 6-8 hours before eating. Pickles will keep in fridge, submerged in brine, for 3 weeks.

    *Cucumbers may also be cut into spears. Pickle the tiny ones (gherkins) whole.

Bowl of Kirby Cucumbers
Cutting board with Easy Pickle Ingredients, kirby cucumbers, bowl with dill and garlic, red pepper flakes, sugar and salt in ramekins and white vinegar in glass jug.
Cutting board with Easy Pickle Ingredients, kirby cucumbers, bowl with dill and garlic, red pepper flakes, sugar and salt in ramekins and white vinegar in glass jug.
3 mason jars filled with cucumbers, dill, garlic, red pepper flakes, sugar and garlic.
Aerial view 3 mason jars filled with cucumbers, dill, garlic, red pepper flakes, sugar and garlic.
Photo of Easy Refrigerator Pickles in 3 Mason Jars
VT Fresh Cooked, Ate, Approved graphic with a check mark.

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VT Fresh is funded in part by the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. In Vermont, SNAP is called 3SquaresVT. It can help low income people buy foods for a better diet. To find out more, contact the Vermont Foodbank toll-free at 855-855-6181.

Published On: October 15, 2020