Pickled vegetables have always been one of my family’s favorite things to snack on. It doesn’t matter if it’s whole dill pickles, pickled chili peppers, pickled carrots, pickled beets, or even giardiniera. If a vegetable is brined, and placed in a jar then it’s good enough for us. In fact, we love their briny goodness so much that our refrigerator has an entire shelf dedicated just for them.
That’s not a joke, we literally have a “pickle shelf”…
So it pretty safe to say that we’re dedicated to them. And while they’re all winners in my book, I’d be lying if I said that bread & butter pickles aren’t my absolute favorite. That’s why today I’m going to show you an easy way to make them and all without the need for canning materials.
It’s a simple method called refrigerator pickles. All you have to do is stuff the cucumbers in a jar, place the brine over them and let them sit in the fridge. It’s literally that easy! And in my opinion, this method produces a better homemade pickle because you aren’t exposing the cucumbers to a lot of heat. So they stay nice and crispy.
But anyways if you’re ready then let’s get to making our bread & butter refrigerator pickles!
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Today’s recipe will make roughly 4 pints worth of jarred pickles. However, feel free to double or triple the amounts to make as big of a batch as you prefer.
- What cucumbers are best for making pickles? Well, traditionally you would use a cucumber that is sold under the name “pickling cucumber”. But honestly, you don’t HAVE to use those types of cucumbers. In fact, for today’s recipe, I used seedless English cucumbers.
- I find that storing the bread and butter pickles in a glass jar is best. They seal well and are easy to clean. That being said if you don’t have any glass jars you can easily place these pickles in something like a Tupperware container. Just be mindful that the turmeric in the brine might stain them.
- Refrigerator pickles should last at least 2 months in your fridge. Just be aware that the cucumbers will lose their crunchiness the longer it sits.
- You can easily customize these pickles by adding in some garlic, herbs, or crushed red peppers. Just place them in between the layers we do in step 2.
- Looking for something to put your pickles on? Then try out our recipe for grilled smashed burgers.
Bread & Butter Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 5 Minutes
Servings: roughly 4 pints worth of pickles
Ingredients
2 Lbs of cucumbers
1 Cup of white distilled vinegar
½ Cup of apple cider vinegar
1 Cup of white sugar
⅓ Cup of Brown Sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons of kosher salt
1 Tablespoon of mustard seed
¾ Teaspoon of celery seed
⅛ Teaspoon of turmeric powder
½ Cup of white onion, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the cucumbers: Use either a knife or a mandoline to slice each cucumber into coins.
You can make the coins as thick or thin as you prefer just make sure that they are all uniform in size.
- Prep the pickling jars: Get out the jars that you plan on pickling the cucumbers in and make sure they are both clean and dry. Then begin by placing a small layer on sliced onion on the bottom. Next stuff some of the sliced cucumbers in until it reaches halfway to the top of the jar. And by stuff I do mean stuff, so make sure to push them down in there.
Then place another small layer of sliced onions. Finally, stuff with enough cucumbers so that it comes just to the top of the jar and place a couple more sliced onions. Repeat these steps in other jars until you have used up all of your cucumbers.
- Make the pickle brine: Get out a medium-sized pot and add both kinds of vinegar, both sugars, the salt, mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric powder to it.
Place this over medium-high heat and stir until the sugars have dissolved and the liquid has just begun to simmer. This should take about 5 minutes.
- Pour the pickle brine into each jar: Carefully pour enough pickle brine into each jar until it almost covers all of the cucumbers.
Let this sit for a couple of minutes so that the cucumbers can soften. Once they are softened use something to push down on the cucumbers so that they are compact and completely submerged by the pickle brine. 
- Place lids on each jar and let the pickles rest in your fridge for a minimum of 3 hours before eating. Though they do get much better after a day or two.
Bread & Butter Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs of cucumbers
- 1 Cup of white distilled vinegar
- ½ Cup of apple cider vinegar
- 1 Cup of white sugar
- ⅓ Cup of Brown Sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons of kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon of mustard seed
- ¾ Teaspoon of celery seed
- ⅛ Teaspoon of turmeric powder
- ½ Cup of white onion thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the cucumbers: Use either a knife or a mandoline to slice each cucumber into coins. You can make the coins as thick or thin as you prefer just make sure that they are all uniform in size.
- Prep the pickling jars: Get out the jars that you plan on pickling the cucumbers in and make sure they are both clean and dry. Then begin by placing a small layer on sliced onion on the bottom. Next stuff some of the sliced cucumbers in until it reaches halfway to the top of the jar. And by stuff I do mean stuff, so make sure to push them down in there. Then place another small layer of sliced onions. Finally, stuff with enough cucumbers so that it comes just to the top of the jar and place a couple more sliced onions. Repeat these steps in other jars until you have used up all of your cucumbers.
- Make the pickle brine: Get out a medium-sized pot and add both kinds of vinegar, both sugars, the salt, mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric powder to it. Place this over medium-high heat and stir until the sugars have dissolved and the liquid has just begun to simmer. This should take about 5 minutes.
- Pour the pickle brine into each jar: Carefully pour enough pickle brine into each jar until it almost covers all of the cucumbers. Let this sit for a couple of minutes so that the cucumbers can soften. Once they are softened use something to push down on the cucumbers so that they are compact and completely submerged by the pickle brine.
- Place lids on each jar and let the pickles rest in your fridge for a minimum of 3 hours before eating. Though they do get much better after a day or two.
Check out some of these other refrigerator pickle recipes from other blogs
From a Spicy Perspective
From Gimme Some Oven
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