A sweet and tangy refrigerator pickles recipe! This old-fashioned family favorite of mine is perfect for using up a surplus of fresh cucumbers from the garden. While you’ll want to let them rest for best flavor, they take only 15 minutes of your time to make! Recipe includes a how-to video.
Sweet & Tangy Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
Refrigerator pickles are one of my favorite summertime staples. I find myself making them on repeat through the hottest months of summer, along with homemade salsa, bruschetta, and my zucchini muffins. This recipe is actually my mom’s. She made it often during the summers as a way to use up extra cucumbers from the garden, and we loved it!
These pickles are quite different from the classic dill pickles that you might be used to. Rather than savory, these are tangy and sweet; they’re closer to a bread and butter pickle than a kosher dill.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Lasts for weeks in the fridge, so you can enjoy them all summer long. They never last more than a day or two in my house though 😉
- Extra flavor, thanks to the addition of thinly sliced onions. They make such a difference!
- Uses just a few kitchen staples. You probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry!
- Perfect for using up excess cucumbers from your garden! My cucumber salad is another great option for this during the summer months.
What You Need
As with most old-fashioned recipes, my refrigerator pickles recipe doesn’t require any fancy ingredients. Instead, we’ll combine a few pantry staples for maximum flavor!
- Cucumbers. Fresh summer cucumbers work nicely, though as kids we often requested my mom make this recipe in the winter as well, so I know that grocery store cucumbers will work just fine in a pinch. Really any variety of cucumber will work!
- Spices. Including mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric. The seeds are pickle staples (I’m sure you’ve seen them floating near the bottom of your store-bought pickle jar) and add flavor while the turmeric adds a nice golden color.
- Onions. Yellow or sweet onions are my preference, but white or even red would also work here. If you hate onions, you can leave them out of this recipe, but they do add a little extra something in terms of flavor, so I recommend including them! If omitting, just replace them with additional cucumber slices.
- Vinegar. I use and recommend white vinegar, it works best for letting the cucumber/pickle flavor shine, but you could experiment with other similar vinegars like apple cider or rice wine vinegar.
- Sugar. I know it seems like a lot, but the sugar is a key ingredient in this recipe as it helps balance the vinegar. Also, these are sweet pickles after all!
SAM’S TIP: Slice your pickles and onions as thin as you possibly can! I like to get mine as close to paper thin as is possible; it helps them to absorb the flavor of the brine faster. A mandolin makes quick, efficient and consistent work of this, I link to the (inexpensive) one that I use in the recipe card below.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Refrigerator Pickles
- Thinly slice your veggies. To do this, I like to use this mandolin (<– my affiliate link). It doesn’t take up much space in my drawer and is easy to use. I absolutely love it!
- Make the brine by cooking the vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then bring to a boil.
- Pour brine over the cucumbers and onions. Stir so that all pickles and onions are completely coated with brine, then cover and refrigerate for several hours.
SAM’S TIP: While I ultimately like to store my pickles in mason jars, I almost always first let them sit overnight in a large bowl. I’ve found that the bowl ensures that all of the veggies are coated in the brine, while the mason jar sometimes leaves the top layer brine-less (and therefore flavorless!).
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t see why not, but truthfully I don’t have any canning experience, so I can’t advise on how to do this. If you do try it or have any canning advice you’d like to leave for others, please don’t hesitate to do so. I’d love to know how it goes for you.
These pickles will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. Make sure to store in an airtight container.
This refrigerator pickles recipe makes sweet and tangy pickles similar to bread and butter pickles. You’d need to make quite a few alterations to make dill pickles (reduce the sugar, swap the spices, etc.). If you’d like to see a dill pickle recipe, let me know in the comments, it’s something I could work on if there is enough interest!
I’d like to note that I don’t recommend using these pickles for making my fried pickles. Stick with dill pickles for those!
Enjoy!
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Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients
- 3 cups (300 g) thinly sliced¹ cucumbers this was about 2 cucumbers for me
- 1 cup (80 g) thinly sliced white or yellow onion this was about 1 small onion for me
- 1 ½ cups (355 ml) white vinegar
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon mustard seed
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Place cucumber and onion slices in a medium-sized heat-proof bowl and set aside.3 cups (300 g) thinly sliced¹ cucumbers, 1 cup (80 g) thinly sliced white or yellow onion
- Combine all remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and stir well.1 ½ cups (355 ml) white vinegar, 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon celery seed, ½ teaspoon mustard seed, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved.
- Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
- Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers and onions, stir so that all cucumbers and onions are coated with brine.
- Allow to cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then cover and transfer to refrigerator.
- Allow to chill overnight (or at least for 4-6 hours, so the flavor can fully develop) before enjoying.
Notes
¹Slicing
The thinner the better! A mandolin makes this quick and easy (and all of your slices will be consistent thickness), I link to my favorite mandolin in the “equipment” section above.Storing
Refrigerator pickles will keep for up to several weeks in the refrigerator in an airtight container.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Joyce M.
What type of cucumber is best for these ? I’m growing some of the mini cukes – I’m wondering if I could some of those in your recipe.
Sam Merritt
Hi Joyce! Mini cucumbers will work just fine. 🙂
Tracey Stewart
I’ve made this recipe for two summers in a row now. I absolutely LOVE them and it’s a great way to use cukes from the garden. I do like to break a cinnamon stick in half and add that to the mix. Thank you, Sam! You and your family are delightful.
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them so much, Tracey! Thank you for the kind comment. 🙂
Doyle
At nearly an ounce per serving sugar overpowers nearly everything else. There’s A LOT of potential here, but maybe cut back the sugar to 1/3 cup….6 grams per serving instead of 26.