4.88 from 25 votes

Refrigerator Pickles

Name: Refrigerator Pickles
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 255 min
Ingredients: 3 cups thinly sliced¹ cucumbers (this was about 2 cucumbers for me); 1 cup thinly sliced white or yellow onion (this was about 1 small onion for me ); 1 ½ cups white vinegar; 1 ½ cups granulated sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon celery seed; ½ teaspoon mustard seed; ½ teaspoon ground turmeric

By Sam MerrittUpdated Aug 01, 2024

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70 Comments

Servings: 12 1/3 cup servings

4 hrs 15 mins

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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.

Jar of refrigerator pickles on a striped towel.

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!

Overhead view of labeled ingredients including cucumbers, onion, vinegar, and more.

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

Overhead view of sliced cucumbers and onions.

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!

Overhead view of a saucepan with brine for making pickles.

Make the brine by cooking the vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then bring to a boil.

Overhead view of sliced cucumbers and onions covered in brine in a bowl.

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

Can these pickles be canned?

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.

How long do refrigerator pickles last?

These pickles will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. Make sure to store in an airtight container.

Can I use this recipe to make dill pickles?

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!

Jar of homemade pickles on a striped towel.

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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4.88 from 25 votes

Refrigerator Pickles

A sweet and tangy refrigerator pickles recipe! This old-fashioned favorite is perfect for using up a surplus of fresh cucumbers from the garden. Only 15 minutes to make!

Recipe includes a how-to video.

Prep: 10

Cook: 5

Chilling Time: 4

Total: 4 15

Servings: 1/3 cup servings

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Equipment

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

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.