Make Your Own Dill Pickles
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Got cucumbers? If you do, then you can easily make this homemade dill pickle recipe in the refrigerator or on the countertop without any canning process needed. And I think it’s a pretty quick dill pickle recipe too because your pickles are ready to enjoy the very next day.
Another thing I like about this refrigerator dill pickle recipe is that it can be made in a small batch too. Just one cucumber at a time if that’s all you want to do!
Ingredients for Homemade Pickles
If you look at the ingredient labels of store bought jars of pickles, you might find things there that you want to avoid such as food dyes, sugar, or the ever mysterious “natural flavors”. When you make your own dill pickles, you can control the ingredients for a more natural finished product. For this pickle recipe (which is a refrigerator pickle type of recipe), the cucumbers are flavored with dill, salt, pepper, garlic, and vinegar. Pretty simple!
I usually make this recipe in a small batch – just one cucumber at a time – and the first step is to do a little slicing and dicing.
First, I cut my cucumber into 16 spears. I do this by cutting my cucumber in half crosswise, and then cutting each half into eight pieces. Then I dice up three garlic cloves too.
Then I get a quart canning jar (I think the wide mouth canning jars work best) and start adding the ingredients. If using fresh dill, I use about ¼ cup and put some of it in the jar first with a bit of the chopped garlic. Then I add in my cut cucumber pieces, and add the rest of the flavoring ingredients. Then I top it off with distilled or filtered water (I usually use water from my Brita water filter pitcher). You’ll want to add enough water so that the pickles are just covered. Then put a lid on your jar. I often use these plastic screw-on lids for canning jars, but you can use the metal lids and a band too if you wish.
Pretty easy so far, right? And depending on how patient of a person you are, this next part is easy too.
Let your jar of homemade pickles sit on the countertop for 12 hours. If it’s a very hot day and your house is warm, then I would suggest using the refrigerator. Otherwise I just do this on the countertop and they are fine. After the first 12 hours or so, I then tip the jar upside down (make sure the cover is on tight!) and let it set for another 12 hours (again, I just do this on the countertop). This distributes the flavors around a little bit again, and gets the other end of the cucumber spears fully soaked as they sometimes want to float up out of the water a little bit.
Once this brining portion of the process is complete, I keep the pickles in the refrigerator until we use them up.
A few more quick notes about the ingredients: If you don’t have (or don’t want to use) fresh dill in this recipe, you can use 1 tablespoon of dried dill instead. The dried dill makes a very tasty homemade dill pickle too! The one drawback of the dried dill is that the little pieces may stick to your finished pickles, but that’s a minor detail. I also prefer Kosher salt for this recipe as it’s a purer form of salt and has a larger grain, but you could also use table salt if that’s a more convenient ingredient for you.
Related Idea: Make Your Own Vegetable Broth
If you’ve never made your own dill pickles, this is a fun and easy way to give it a try. It makes a crisp and flavorful pickle, and you might never be satisfied with the store bought versions again!
Note: This post was originally published on 8/11/14 and was updated 2/20/21. You may have seen this original picture floating around Pinterest!
Check out more – – > Homemade Condiment Recipes
Homemade 24 hour Dill Pickles (No Canning Needed)
Ingredients:
- 1 Cucumber
- 1/4 cup Fresh Dill Sprigs (lightly packed) (Or 1 Tbl Dried Dill)
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Whole Peppercorns (about 25)
- 3 Tbl White Vinegar
- Distilled or Filtered Water
- Quart Canning Jar with a Lid (I prefer the wide mouth type)
Instructions:
- Begin by slicing your cucumber. I like to slice an average sized cucumber into 16 spears. Also finely chop the garlic cloves.
- Place about half the fresh dill and some of the chopped garlic into the bottom of the quart canning jar.
- Add the cucumber slices to the jar. You can add more of the dill during this step too.
- Then add the remaining dill and garlic, and also add in the salt, peppercorns, and white vinegar.
- Pour the filtered water over everything, adding just enough water to cover the contents of the jar.
- Screw a lid onto the jar and then let the jar set for 12 hours. I just do this on my countertop, but you could also do this in the refrigerator.
- After 12 hours, give the jar a little shake to mix things up a bit again, and then turn the jar over (make sure the lid is on tight!) and let it set for another 12 hours in this upside position.
- At this point your cucumber slices should be infused and are ready to be enjoyed as pickles. Keep the jar in the refrigerator as you use up your pickles.
Notes:
do you have to use peppercorns
Peppercorns help give flavor to the brine without being as messy as ground pepper. However you could give ground pepper a try too and see how that works.
Should I also use mustard seed? A lot of other similar recipes include that so I don’t know what to do.
I prefer this recipe without any mustard seed. The dill and vinegar give the pickles plenty of flavor. But of course you could always try a batch with a bit of mustard seed added and see which version you like best.
I found this recipe and used it but didn’t save it! I’ve been searching for about 20 minutes trying find it so I could make more! These pickles are so good, easy, and crisp! I doubt I’ll ever buy pickles again. Thank you!
These are delicious! I love that you can make them one quart at a time. I took a quart to a family BBQ and they were a crowd pleaser. I have now made these three times, once with some hot peppers to make spicy dill pickles and they turned out great! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Hi Bev, I am planning to take these to a farm stand. Can the be kept jarred until opened and then refrigerated?
I would say you could keep the homemade dill pickles unrefrigerated after you make them for a day or two. So if you are making them to sell at a farm stand, I would think they would be OK unrefrigerated for the time you are there, with instructions on them to keep refrigerated as they being used.
I made some yesterday and I just tried them and they are delicious!! I used dill seeds since that’s what my local store had.
when canning pickles can they be left in the cupboard
I leave these pickles on the counter for the first two days while the flavors are soaking in, but after that I think it’s best to keep them in the refrigerator, especially if it will take you several weeks to use them up.
Hello. I LOVE dill pickles and am soooo excited to try this recipe. I plan to make them as written and I’d like to know if you’ve tried cutting the pickles to make burger chips or sandwich planks?
Thanks in advance.
So far I have always cut them into spears, but I’m sure this recipe could still work if you cut them into the smaller round slices too. Perhaps you would want to use a smaller jar for the smaller round slices, but I think it should all still work out.
My husband is on low sodium. Can I make these without salt?
You could leave the salt out but the pickles might be a little bland, so I would try sprinkling in some crushed red pepper flakes instead to help boost the flavor a bit to make up for the missing salt.
They have a salt substitute out there. Not sure if you could use that?
Can you added already chopped garlic, if so how much?
Yes, you could use minced garlic from a jar. I would suggest 1-1/2 tsp for this recipe.
I think so
This recipe is so simple and delicious. I received some fresh cucumbers from my great aunt from this summers crop and didn’t know what to do with them since I’m not a cucumber person but love pickles. So I looked into a bunch or recipes, but this one is hands down the best. Since then I’ve been going back for more and even making extra batches for friends and family. These are so refreshing on a hot day!
The only things I changed was adding an extra tablespoon of vinegar for a more “briney” flavor and using 1 1/2 cups of water in every batch instead of only just enough to cover them.
I added more vinegar as well.
Hello!
Why is my solution that the cucumbers are sitting in turning a light brown? They are sitting on the counter and I used regular pepper instead of peppercorns.
I’m not sure why the solution appears to be brownish, but perhaps the ground pepper (instead of peppercorns) may have something to do with it. If you don’t have peppercorns, you could also try a pinch of red pepper flakes as a substitute for the peppercorns.
With a super crop of gherkins that quickly got out of hand, I tried your recipe with the larger ones. Amazing and easy, am making more for friends. Thank you.
How long do these last in the fridge?
They should last for several weeks. It’s OK to pull out the fresh dill after a week or two also.
I see this is the answer to my question! Thank you. Looking forward to making several. 😊
A day later and we have super tasty homemade pickles. Easiest pickle recipe I’ve ever tried, 5 stars!
That’s what I love about this recipe too – tasty pickles that don’t take a lot of time or effort!
If you water can these, how long do you “boil” them?
I just found your site and I hope you have a good and easy bread and butter pickle recipe on here.
Your instructions are great and so far the recipes I’ve seen are easy and quick PLUS everyone seems to love them.
If you were to adapt this recipe to water canning (using hot sterilized jars and lids and filling the jars with hot liquid), I would then process them in boiling water for 15 minutes.
Beverly, I made your dill pickles this weekend and was not disappointed. They are the best tasting pickles I’ve had in a long time and really appreciate that they don’t have bad additives, and only a few ingredients. I made two bottles and gave one to my ex telling him to text as soon as he tastes one. I really am grateful you take the time to explain exactly what to do and I was amazed at the end result. The only change I will make next time is turning bottle upside down for the first twelve hours on my counter and then placing it right side up in the refrigerator in case of a leak.
Love your site and all these ideas to make for myself .
Thank you,
Hilary
What’s wrong with iodized salt ?
Nothing technically wrong with it, it’s just that some folks prefer salt without additives.
Tried your recipe. It came out great. Thanks for sharing.
Can you water bathe these to last longer? I’ve got a small fridge.
Yes, I think if you leave enough head space in the jars, you could can them using a water bath method.
Looks really delicious. I do have a question: the recipe seems like it calls for very little vinegar. Does this make the pickles “briney” enough? Thanks!
Well, it was enough vinegar for my taste, but you could certainly add a little more vinegar if you prefer it for your taste.
How long do these last in the fridge? If making multiple jars how long can they be stored?
They will last in the fridge for many weeks. I tend to make just one jar at a time and we usually finish that jar within a month and it has always stayed good. However if I use fresh dill, I usually remove most of that from the jar after a week or so as it starts clinging to the remaining pickles. So if making multiple jars, I would say they should last in the fridge just fine for several weeks (maybe even several months), but I would suggest using dried dill, or removing some of the fresh dill after a week or so.
Have you used this recipe to pickle beans?
So far I’ve only used this recipe for pickles!
I purchased small pickles/cucumbers at the farmers market and wanted to leave them whole. Have you ever left them whole?
I love this recipe! I use it all the time. I also use it for peppers, eggs, veggies. My daughters devour them!
Thank you for sharing
Thank you!! Thank you!!! I can’t stop eating these!! So so good!!!!!! I am not buying anymore soggy pickles!!! You are the best!! Thanks much!!
So glad you are enjoying the pickles Lyndsay!
I have used your recipe for 2 years, and even in the winter, I would buy fresh cucumbers and make my own dill pickles. Nothing in the store compares to this recipe!!!
So glad you have been enjoying this recipe Nancy, and yes, it can be made any time of the year too. 🙂
after 24 hrs. can you fish out the dill weed?
Yes, after the 24 hours you can fish out the dill weed if you wish. It might add a little extra flavor if you keep it in there, but the pickles should already be nicely flavored by that point anyway.
These look great! Love seeing dill pickle recipes and love giving them a try at home! Can’t wait to give your recipe a try. Hopefully they turn out as good as yours! Thanks so much for sharing.
Awesome! Thank you. I will try putting the dried dill in an empty teabag or piece of cheesecloth before adding to the mix!
How long do these pickles keep in the fridge?
how long do they last in storage
I had mine in the refrigerator for several weeks and they lasted fine throughout that time.
I have store bought pickles in the refrigerator for months – and these seem to last the same. With the garlic, salt, and vinegar – I used Apple Cider Vinegary – they seem ‘preserved’ well enough