The Best Ever Refrigerator Dill Pickles
Bright, fresh, garlicky, tangy, and full of that classic dill pickle flavor, these refrigerator dill pickles won’t disappoint! You’ll never go back to store-bought again!
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Okay, I don’t say Best Ever lightly. But I can’t stop eating these pickles.
Seriously. I made one jar of them a week ago and they were SO GOOD I went straight back to the farmer’s market and got enough for half a dozen more jars.
You know, to last me the week until the next farmer’s market.
Even though I was all about the refrigerator pickled okra last summer, I had never made dill pickles before.
But this year I planted some pickling cucumbers in my garden and I figured I should try making pickles with some farmer’s market cucumbers before I have cucumbers from my own garden.
Since I don’t usually have a huge yield in my garden, I’m very stingy with my home-grown produce and always want to do the Best Thing Ever with whatever I grow. So a dill pickle trial run was in order.
For some reason I was skeptical that they would actually taste like dill pickles. To me, fresh dill doesn’t smell or taste like dill pickles, so I didn’t think homemade ones would stack up to what I was used to.
They stacked up and far surpassed!
I brought the rest of the jar to work and passed them out to my coworkers like candy. One of them went straight to the farmer’s market and got her own cucumbers to pickle.
Why these refrigerator dill pickles live up to the name Best Ever
- They’re fresh, crunchy, tangy, garlicky, and full of that dill pickle flavor — even after only a day in the fridge.
- They are SO STINKIN’ EASY to make. You just throw a few ingredients in a pot, bring to a simmer, cool, and pour over your cucumbers in a jar. These are refrigerator pickles, so there are no canning baths and whatnot to worry about.
- You can make half a dozen jars of pickles in hardly more time than the time it takes to make one jar. And trust me, you’ll want to. The only real additional time is extra time spent peeling garlic and cutting your cukes.
- When you price it out, they are way cheaper than storebought pickles — almost half the price — especially if you’re getting cucumbers in season from a farmer’s market. More on that in a minute.
Definitely worthy of using my own precious homegrowns, if I end up with any!
More on cost
I spent about $7 at the farmer’s market on enough cucumbers for 6 jars of pickles (18). I did shop around and avoided the one vendor selling pickling cucumbers 3 for $2.25 since the other two were selling them for $1.50 a pound and 2 for a dollar.
Add maybe 50 cents worth of white vinegar (I get a biggish jug), 50 cents worth of garlic, $3 for dill… I already had mustard seeds and whole peppercorns but if you need to get some they will give you SO MANY PICKLES.
Anyway, I figure it averages out to less than $2 a jar. I pay about $3.50 for storebought pickles and these are so much better!!
I seriously don’t think I’ll ever go back to store-bought pickles again.
Supplies and tips for making refrigerator dill pickles
Lucky for me, they only sold mason jars by the dozen at the grocery store. Because the moment I took a bite of that first pickle, I knew I had to make more. LOTS more.
These wide-mouth pint-sized canning jars are the ones I used. Since these are refrigerator pickles, you can use any other clean glass jar like a spaghetti sauce jar too. You may, however, run into issues of your pickles floating, or need to adjust the amount of liquid to the size of your jar.
If you are using standard pint-sized canning jars, get cucumbers that are no more than 4 1/2″ long or they won’t fit! For the pint-sized wide-mouth mason jars, one jar fit exactly three cucumbers, or 12 pickle spears.
I cut most of my pickles into spears but I did do one jar of crinkle cut slices for sandwiches too. Here is the mandoline I used to crinkle cut my pickle chips!
A note: This recipe is for refrigerator pickles, so these are not shelf stable! You will need to keep them in the fridge until they’re gone. I read that refrigerator pickles will keep for a couple months in the fridge, if you can manage not to eat them all in a day or two!
These taste great even after only 24 hours but will become more flavorful after another day or two.
I have portioned the recipe to make one jar of pickles, but if you hover over the “1” where it says it makes 1 pint-sized jar, you can adjust the slider to tell you how much of everything you’ll need for however many jars you want to end up with!
Like these? Try these other refrigerator pickles!
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Best Ever Refrigerator Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- 3 pickling cucumbers 4-4 1/2″ long, but no longer
- 1/4 oz fresh dill a few sprigs per jar
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cloves garlic crushed with the side of a knife
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp whole mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp whole black peppercorns
Instructions
- Wash cucumbers and cut into spears or slices. Pack into a wide-mouth pint-sized canning jar, or any clean glass jar. Since these are refrigerator pickles a canning jar is not necessary. Tuck several sprigs of dill in between the cucumbers.
- In a non-reactive saucepan (see note), combine the vinegar, water, garlic cloves, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Pour liquid over cucumbers in the jar. Make sure to include all the mustard seeds, peppercorns, and garlic. (If making multiple jars, include two cloves of garlic per jar and divide the mustard seeds and peppercorns approximately evenly between jars.) If you are using a slightly larger jar and the liquid doesn’t fully cover the pickles, fill the rest of the jar up with water.
- Close the jar and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours but preferably 48 hours. Enjoy!
Absolutely delicious! I’ll be making these all the time and sharing with my neighbors!
Lucky neighbors! So glad you like these!
Family loves these. Can’t keep them in stock.
So glad y’all love these!
Wow Caroline, you weren’t kidding–these are AWESOME! I used the first precious few of the year from my pickle bush to make 2 pints (the slider worked perfectly). Your measurements are spot-on down to the exact amount of liquid to fill the jars. The flavor profile is exactly the way I like my pickles for burgers, so I made slices. I’m going to relieve a few farmers at the market this weekend of their crop of pickles and make some as gifts for friends & relatives.
Thanks for sharing!!
Great idea to give them as gifts! And homegrown from your own cucumber plant is the best, isn’t it??
It’s 3:30 EST on 7/3 and I just got finished making this recipe. I grew my own pickles for the first time this year. All the reviews are driving me nuts. Come on 24 hrs!
Woohoo! I hope you liked them!
These were to die for! I didn’t have peppercorns, so left them out and added 15-20 garlic cloves. 🙂 YUM!!! They didn’t taste good after 2 days, so I just left them and tried them a few weeks later. I will always have a batch in process 🙂
Woah, that’s a lotta garlic! Glad you liked these!
Hi , I’d love to try this recipe . I’m on a salt restricted diet . Can I cut down on the salt ? Would they still work out 😊
I think they should still taste pretty good if you cut down on the salt, although I haven’t tried! Since you’re not doing shelf-stable canning the salt isn’t a necessity. If you give it a shot please let me know!
Loved this recipe for dill pickles! I grow cucumbers and jalapeños. I’m going to add jalapeños to my next jar!
Yum!! Spicy dills!
Hi
This recipe looks great and I shall be making it next week.
However, is there any reason that they aren’t shelf-stable? With the vinegar and the salt I’d have thought they’d be fine kept for a few months in a cupboard or on a shelf.
I like to make large batches of pickles, say 6 or 10 jars and I won’t have enough room to keep them in my fridge.
Love to get your comments.
Stan
Hi Stan, thanks for commenting! I believe in order to be shelf-stable, there’s usually a higher acid and salt content than when making refrigerator pickles, plus you have to do the water-bath canning process. I couldn’t give you more specific instructions than that at this time but this recipe is not shelf stable! I have definitely made half a dozen jars at a time though and kept them in my fridge. The wide-mouth mason jars do stack nicely so you can fit two high anywhere the height of a milk jug will fit in your fridge – takes up half as much space!
Hi Caroline
Here we are 9 months on since my first post here and I am about to make my 6th batch of these delicious pickles!
Here’s a few things I discovered and also tried for myself which you might like.
I have found that 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) of small cues just about perfectly does 3 large jars and they take about 4-6 weeks to eat. I use a 700 millilitre jar (Thailand is metric) which is about 1.5 pints or 3/4 of a US quart.
I once tried keeping them out of the fridge but they don’t really keep well. They are edible, but they go soft and bendy, not at all a nice texture.
Whole cucumbers are not as effective as slicing them lengthways. You can’t get as much in the jar with whole ones so end up wasting another jar for any surplus.
I am in Thailand so I like my food spicy – I have found a minimum of 4 chillies, up to 6, per jar is perfect for me (but personal taste) plus about 4-6 cloves of garlic per jar.
I don’t follow recipes slavishly so I have added other things, like bay leaves, dried lemongrass stalks, green cardamoms, coriander and/or fennel seeds etc which all add a little something different. Don’t worry about mixing things up a little!
You can store any surplus pickle juice in a jar to use next time and it will be fine. However, DON’T store pickle juice from previous batches you’ve made – it really doesn’t work.
Love this recipe – it’s the best I have come across in 63 years of cooking!
Absolutely perfect! I followed your recipe exactly. I opened them a week later and my buddies and I ate them drinking a few beers and watching a baseball game. I made 6 jars and now have 6 empty jars after one night 🙂 Thank You and next we are going to use your recipe and add a couple habaneros. From my 8 buddies….16 thumbs up 🙂
That sounds like a perfect evening! Glad y’all loved them!
Third time a charm! I used my enamel pot and a wooden spoon to make this batch of brine and we waited a week or more before we gave the dills a try. Success! They are super delicious! I truly don’t know what to say about my pot dilemma. I have used the same pots every year for brines etc. and this was a first for me. I have learned my lesson well…enamel pots for brining solutions for now on!!! Thanks!
Oh good!!! I’m so glad using the enamel pot worked for you! These pickles are worth it!!
I have tried so many pickle recipes. This one is HANDS DOWN the BEST EVER! I made a batch with the cumbers my father in law brought to Florida. They didn’t last long. I stopped at the farmers market today and bought more to whip a big batch. This recipe has went into my book as a KEEPER! Thank you so much. I did add some pickle crisp.
This is great to hear! So glad you liked the recipe, and thanks for commenting!
I am so disappointed. I had to throw out my first huge batch of dills and then decided to use your recipe. I followed the recipe to a “t” and we tried some after two weeks in the fridge. Super crunchy, garlicky and even tangy ….with a very odd taste that is hard to explain but the taste stays in your mouth for quite a while. The taste is like a rusty, perfume and even smells that way. What on earth did I do wrong???
Hi Pat, so sorry you had this experience! Upon looking this up my hypothesis is maybe it had something to do with the pot you used to make the brine in. If you’re not using a non-reactive material (stainless steel, enamel, or nonstick pot) and used something like copper, aluminum, brass, or iron, it can leech a metallic taste into your pickle brine. Could this be what happened? https://www.seedtopantry.com/2015/08/18/non-reactive-pots-and-pickling/ Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention, I will add a note to the recipe.
I used both fresh and dried dill, because I like dill. I am going to try on Okra and sweet peppers also. Very crispy pickle, just right on the flavor.
So glad you liked these! You might also enjoy these other recipes for refrigerator pickled okra – I have a sweet and tangy version, and a hot and smoky version too! https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/easy-refrigerator-pickled-okra-two-ways/
I added a couple of fresh jalapeño slices, and they are the perfect ‘heat’! we LOVE this pickle recipe!
I bet that would be good! So glad you love the recipe!
WhooHoo! These were FANTASTIC! We planted cucumbers for the first time this year. I saw the blossoms and told my husband-“we are going to have cucumbers up the wazoo!” . Sure enough- they grow really fast which is fun and literally 4-5 days later they are ready to pick. So I searched for a recipe and lucked upon yours. Super easy( in fact I was worried they were too easy)! I let them rest in the fridge for 2 weeks. We tried them today! OMG delish! I’m making more today with 5 more from the garden. Thank you- we LOVE the recipe!!!!
That’s so awesome! I wish I had cucumbers out the wazoo from my garden! What variety do you grow? So glad you love the recipe!
Ok, I think I messed up. I made a big batch of the brine and made 4 large jars of pickles. I used regular cucumbers (not the little guys) because I had them already. I cut them into slices. The texture is amazing – perfectly crisp and bright. I tasted the brine before adding it to the jars and it tasted delicious! But the pickles are SO vinegar-y! What did I do wrong?? I did some googling and found that I could add sugar and replace some of the brine with water and let them sit overnight again, which helped, but they are still too vinegar tasting to eat more than one. Was it the type of cucumbers? Should I have cut the brine with water instead of doubling / quadrupling the recipe? Curious if you have any ideas. Thanks!
Hi Lindsey! Which kind of “regular” cucumbers did you use? The ones with the waxy skin will not pickle properly and the seeds are too large, but you might have luck with the long English cucumbers since they have small seeds and thin, unwaxed skin.
Sometimes I find the pickles to taste a little vinegary on the first day but with an extra few days the flavors kind of mellow out and blend together a little more. If you still find them too vinegary, I’d use a higher ratio of water next time you make them!
Fingers crossed! First time for using this recipe. I have followed it to the letter except I left the cukes whole and I made a gallon jar plus a two quart jar. I have been pickling for a very long time and I would be thrilled if I can get away from all the work!
Let me know how they come out! I can’t get enough of these pickles! I ate almost a whole jar in one sitting last week! If they’re left whole I imagine they may take some extra time to fully pickle, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes longer than a day or two for your batch!
Threw some extras in several jars to mix up the recipe. A few bits of yellow onion and red bell peppers. I also jarred several with fresh slices of jalapeño and it gave it a wonderful slow heat to spice it up.
Also, I didn’t have enough white vinegar so we made due with apple cider vinegar mixed in and they still turned out amazing.
Great recipe!!
So glad you liked them! It’s such a versatile process!
Can I use whole pickles as long as I cut the ends?
I haven’t tried it with whole cucumbers – I imagine it might take an extra few days for the brine to fully soak through them. I wouldn’t use the long waxed kind of cucumber though, because the skin is so thick and they are very seedy.
These look so delicious! And such a simple recipe! I don’t have mustard seed, would you recommend just skipping it?
It’s a very versatile recipe so you can make it with what you have on hand. Some whole coriander seed might add a nice flavor if you have it. You can certainly make it without the mustard seed but next time you make it I’d pick some up at the store – I think it helps achieve that classic dill pickle flavor!