Easy Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles Jar-by-Jar (Better Than Canned!)
Quick and easy refrigerator garlic dill pickles require no processing and can be put up in minutes and stays crisp for up to a year with amazing flavor. Customize them to be as garlicky, dilly, or spicy as you’d like. Much better than canned, you can even make them one jar at a time as your cucumbers ripen.
✩ What readers are saying…
“Oh. My. Goodness! I made these last year with “cocktail” cucumbers from Costco – maybe next year I’ll get my garden in earlier and be able to grow my own. Without a doubt, the BEST PICKLES EVER!!” -Linda
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After making and canning jams and salsa, pickles were the next thing I made on my self-taught canning journey.
First, all that vinegar meant they were super safe, so my newbie-canner self didn’t need to worry about that, and second, I love small pickles even though I hate cucumbers (go figure)! Growing my own and picking them as small as I like was the answer.
I started with traditional water-bath canned dill pickles so they could be stored on a shelf, but quickly moved to pickles that are stored in the refrigerator, or “refrigerator pickles.”
Why Make Refrigerator Pickles?
Here are a few reasons why I (and my family) came to prefer the refrigerator pickles:
- They stay crisp.
- They stay crisp.
- They stay crisp.
Yep, it’s the main reason why I don’t water-bath can them anymore. Even with classic traditions of grape leaves and/or alum, canned pickles just don’t have that sharp snap that we’ve come to love.
But there are actually five MORE reasons why you might want to preserve your pickles this way too:
- They take less time. I can finish a quart in less than 20 minutes.
- If you’re growing the cucumbers, you can do 1 or 2 quarts at a time as they ripen. This is especially good for small gardens that can only fit a few cucumber plants and would never have enough for a full canner load.
- There’s no heating the house with a canner on the stove during the height of summer (it’s 104 in the shade at my house today!).
- The recipe can be altered with seasonings and garlic without the risk of food poisoning that comes with playing around with recipes for water-bath canners.
- You can use any glass jars and lids, even recycled mayo and olive jars, unlike when canning.
Okay – but how long do refrigerator pickles last?
Guess what? I’ve eaten pickles from jars that are 18 months old and they were wonderful!
That said, I’m going to say that in general, 9-12 months is the ideal time to store them. So plan to make as many quarts as you need to last that long (for us, that’s about a jar a month to get us into the next cucumber season).
Here’s an important safety note about home canned pickles:
I know there are some people that “can” their pickles this way all the time, just letting the heat from the vinegar mixture “seal” the jars (a process known as “open kettle” canning) before storing them on a shelf without any water-bath canning.
The people who have done this – for many years in some cases – say that “nothing has happened” in their experience. I hear and read this all.the.time.
However, the USDA says that this practice is not secure and that there is a danger of food poisoning as well as spoilage. Here’s a good article on the subject.
My take on it is this: IF the rare occurrence did in fact happen with one of my home-canned foods, would it be worth it? What about if it might cause intestinal problems?
My answer is NO- it’s only food and never worth sickness (or a life, heaven forbid) and I will never even take that chance, especially when it’s so easy to take the recommended precautions.
So, off my soapbox and onto our fully refrigerated pickles!
Ingredients & Supplies
- Cucumbers – enough to fill a quart jar, minimum. You can multiply the recipe for however many jars you can make. If all you have are pint jars, you can use two of them.
- Apple cider vinegar – it’s a little more mild, which I prefer, but you can use white vinegar
- Canning & pickling salt – you can also use a pure sea salt.
- Fresh dill heads – if you don’t have access to fresh dill, you can use dried dill seeds.
- Garlic cloves
- Homemade pickling spice – or a store bought organic pickling spice.
- Sugar
- Red pepper flakes (optional, but SO good)
- Quart canning jar(s), OR any quart-sized recycled jar, sterilized in boiling water for 10 minutes or run through the dishwasher as a guard against spoilage. (Confession: I never do more than wash well with hot soapy water, but do as I say and not as I do!) PRO TIP: I prefer regular mouth jars for pickles because the shoulders of the jar help hold the small pickles at the top under the brine.
- Plastic canning storage lids (or reused lids or lids and bands) – this is a time it’s okay to reuse old canning lids since they are not actually sealed for refrigerator storage (to ensure proper seals in fully canned products always use new lids- this is not the area to scrimp- your time is worth it).
- Metal canning funnel – my recommendation since we’re pouring in a hot brine.
Directions
Prepare the Cucumbers
1. Scrub the cucumbers well. I use a scrub brush with a handle which I prefer over palm veggie brushes (the one I’m using isn’t available, but this one is similar).
My favorite pickles are from the smallest “baby” cucumbers and it’s the main reason I grow my own. I used to pay a lot for baby pickles in the store after realizing that I couldn’t pick out only the little cucumbers at farms (yeah, for some reason they frowned on that, ha).
2. Find the blossom end of the cucumbers.
That would be the end that doesn’t have the stem where it attached to the vine. (You may laugh, but I had to learn these things!)
Apparently, there’s a wicked enzyme here in this little end that will turn your pickles to a soft, NOT CRISP, pickle. And since we’re making this recipe in order to get a crisp pickle, let’s not cut this corner, OK?
3. Just cut a little off.
We do not want pickles with sawed-off ends. This I tell you from experience (hey, if a little’s good, then a lot’s great, right?).
4. Repeat with all your cucumbers.
PRO TIP: When dealing with a larger amount of cucumbers (for 3 or more jars) I separate the cucumbers into 3 piles by size as I clean them: large, medium, and small. Then it’s easy to fill the jars with the larger cucumbers, then medium and ending with the baby size to fill in the cracks.
Make the Pickles
1. Fill each clean jar with:
- Four cloves of garlic, sliced in half to release all the garlicky goodness. Easily adjust this to your taste – it’s safe to do more or less.
- 1-2 heads of dill, depending on how big the heads are – if you’d like even more dill flavor you can add a teaspoon of dried dill seed as well. No fresh dill available? You can simply use more dill seed!
- Red pepper flakes – optional, but really do add to the flavor. You can try everything from a few shakes to 1/2 of a teaspoon for each jar, depending on the spiciness level you’d like to achieve.
2. Pack the cucumbers into the jars, right on top of the other ingredients.
You can pack them as tight as you can, but allow enough room at the top for the brine to cover all the cucumbers.
3. Add vinegar and water to a large saucepan along with pickling spice, pickling salt, and sugar.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Pour the hot brine into the jar(s) using a canning funnel and ladle.
Fill to cover the cucumbers, leaving about 1/4″ headspace (the space between where the brine stops and the very top of the jar rim).
Since these will be stored in the fridge, we don’t have to be quite so particular about the headspace.
Anything that covers your cucumbers, but doesn’t touch the lid is okay.
5. Label the lid with the day as well as the month and year.
You will need to let these “cure” in the refrigerator about 3 to 4 weeks before they’ve pickled enough to eat, so you will want to have the day that you made them on the label.
6. Store in the refrigerator.
I think they are best after a month, so usually we wait that long at least to eat the first pickles, and they will continue to improve over the months in storage.
Update: I’ve gotten some questions, so I’ll clarify that the waiting period isn’t a safety issue, it’s to let the brine penetrate all the way to the center of the cucumbers for the best tasting pickle (in my opinion). If you taste them and decide you like them earlier – go for it.
That’s it – you’ve just made the BEST dill pickles you will ever eat!
Reader Raves
“Love this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing and also for sharing your best practices. Not going to lie – normally I skip right down to the recipe, however with your useful extra information and easy to follow writing I really enjoyed your entire post from start to finish.” -Anna
“Sooo good, last year did a half bushel, this year my son and I did a bushel and a half. Everyone just loved them.” -Dave
“They were so delicious! I made 2 jars and now about to make more because I ate them too fast.” -Vivian
“I made this and it comes out exactly as described. I am making them again and have this recipe printed and saved in favorites! 100 out of 10 it’s that good.” -Carol
I sure hope you love these easy refrigerated dill pickles like we do – make sure to leave a rating and review so I will know how you liked them!
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Easy Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles (And Why It’s Better Than Canning)
Equipment
- 1 quart jar canning or reused jar
- 1 storage lid
- 3 quart saucepan
- ladle and funnel
Ingredients
For each quart (increase as needed for each quart added):
- 1 quart pickling cucumbers enough to fill a qt. jar, washed and blossom-ends cut off
- 4 garlic cloves peeled and sliced in half
- 1 to 2 large fresh dill heads add up to 1 tsp. dried dill seed, if desired for more dill flavor*
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- 1¼ cups cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1¼ cups water
- 2 teaspoons pickling spices
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt, pickling or sea salt
- 1½ teaspoons sugar, or to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the number of quart jars equal to amount of pickles you have by running through the dishwasher or boiling for 10 minutes in a pot of water to sterilize.
- Place the garlic and dill in the bottom of each jar, along with optional red pepper flakes. Pack the cucumbers on top, leaving about 1/2 of headspace (you want the brine to be able to cover the cucumbers).
- In a large saucepan, combine water, vinegar, spices, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Ladle the brine into the jar leaving 1/4 inch of head space to cover the cucumbers. Attach lids.
- Let cool to room temperature, label the lids with day and year and then store in the refrigerator.
- The pickles can be eaten after 3-4 weeks and continue to improve over the months of storage.**
Notes
Nutrition
More Easy Pickling Recipes To Try
- Garlic Spiced Canned Pickled Beans
- Quick & Easy Sliced Pickled Jalapenos
- Easy Pickled Beets for Canning or Refrigerator, Jar-by-Jar
Note: this article was originally published in 2009 and has been updated with current information, all new photos, clearer formatting and printable recipe.
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I used this recipe last year for not only cukes but zucchini. Everyone loved both and I have a list of people waiting for them this year.
THNX
What a great idea, Peggy – and how fun that your people liked them so much!
I’m so excited this will be the very first time I’ll be making my own pickles!
I love pickles so much, yesterday I found a bag of Kirby cukes for .99cents
at my local market and thought immediately I must pickle these guys.
I look forward to my road of future pickling. Thank you so much!
Awesome deal, Cynthia! You may never go back to store bought. 🙂
My family loves pickles, and our garden is putting out great cucumbers, but too fast for us to eat all of them. As soon as we cut them we put them in the refrigerator, how long is too long before turning them into pickles, if they have been in the refrigerator?
Lucky you, Tabitha! As long as the cucumbers are still crisp, I use them to pickle.
I have a bumper crop in my garden. Can the cucumbers be sliced instead of whole?
Sure – prepare them however you’d like to eat them later!
Great pickles. Might want to add one important step. The water to vinegar ratio for the brine.
This ratio works great for us, Oscar! Since it’s not canned, you can adjust it as you like.
What is the ratio? THANKS….
Follow the arrows to the full recipe!
Oops, my bad. I see it now, equal parts V and h2O….in addition to red pepper flakes, try adding a couple jalapenos, cut in half, with or without seeds based on your heat preference 😊
Not a big deal – thanks for your tip!
I’m so happy I found this blog! I really appreciate your simple, back to basics approach. I’ll be visiting your site frequently at harvest time! <3
Thank you – I’m happy you found me, too. 🙂
My husband had a recipe like this from his mother – it seems the only difference is that he has them on the counter – not refrigerated – I am worried about botulism – what are your thoughts
Here’s the USDA’s take: they wouldn’t be safe to eat, since they haven’t been canned or refrigerated.
Personally, I wouldn’t eat them either even though it would be pretty rare to get botulism in such a high-acid environment. Mold would be a bigger issue, I’d think.
This is one of those things where many people say, “my grandmother (fill in the blank) made these for years and no one ever died/got sick” so it’s your call, Brenda. I always take the road of “it’s just food and it’s not worth the risk of sickness to me.” 🙂
Thank you – that is exactly what my husband said ny grandma…….etc – interesting about the mold – I hate to disappoint him but I will probably refrain – just worried about the kids
I use a recipe where the dill pickles are on the counter for 3 days then put in the fridge. It does not use sugar. If it had sugar I would be more reluctant to let it sit out. My bigger issue is over time the pickles seem to change in their taste (months we are talking) unlike ones I have processed. I wonder if the sugar helps that to not happen.
This recipe is very good! I tried them 2 weeks in to the curing process and think they are just wonderful. I did salt and ice the cucumbers after I cleaned, trimmed or cut cuc’s to size, put in refrigerator overnight, then rinse good==the crunch is perfect!!! Using this brine recipe to pickle some small green tomatoes too–should be awesome!
Glad you liked them Susie!
How much vinager sugar and salt????
Click the arrows to go to the full recipe.
We made the pickles yesterday evening and let them cool overnight on the counter. This morning we forgot to put them in the fridge, is that an issue? Can we put them in the fridge now?
Sure – they will be fine for that short amount of time.
Two questions:
1. Is it okay if some of the pickles float up and poke out of the vinegar?
2. Because some we’re pokeing up, I opened one of the jars I made(some of the other jars have some poking up too, but I only opened one), and shoved them down below the vinegar, cause I wasn’t sure if they had floated up, or if they just couldn’t go down cause of the garlic and such at the bottom. So the question is, do you think this jar will still be fine considering they are refrigerator jars? I’m only at week 2 now, and I took the risk thinking that it should be fine, sorta like opening a jar of pickles and obviously not finishing the whole jar in the first sitting and putting it back.
Refrigerator pickles are very forgiving, Trevor – you’re okay opening them. The pickles that are on top may not pickle completely, but they do pickle. A tip I always do – I use small mouth quart jars for cucumber pickles because you can use the shoulders to help keep the pickles under the brine. I really pack them in and the top ones are squished in tight under the shoulders. When you add the brine, they are covered.
Would it be okay to add 1 small boiler onion to the recipe?
I’m not a huge fan of strong dill flavor, so I was planning to half the dill about and add a small boiler onion, or just a thin sliced of a white onion. Other than that, would follow the recipe to the t.
I will also probably try at least one jar where I do a full teaspoon of red pepper flakes, cause I like spice.
Do you see any issues with adding a bit of onion?
There are no issues with that at all, Trevor for two reasons: 1) with vinegar pickles, you can use any vegetables – the vinegar is so much that all vegetables are safe to use and 2) these are refrigerated, so it’s not an issue like with canned goods. Hope that helps!
Oh, and I add a lot more red pepper now – we like our pickles spicy!
Thank you for the quick reply! I actually went ahead and started the jars last night, couldn’t wait to get them going, figured I could start again if you said no.
This is like my new favorite site! All your info is amazing!
I’m so glad to know that, Trevor – thank you! And feel free to give suggestions if there’s something you’d like to see that I don’t offer yet. 🙂
Great post! You have so many good tips I haven’t heard before. I generally ferment my dill pickles when I make them, but I’d be interested to try this method. I like the idea of them staying crisp! That’s partly why I buy Bubbies all the time- I can’t abide a soft, squishy pickle. Bleck!
Those look great! I’ve tried making pickles before, but they always come out too soggy for my taste- I’m very particular, haha.
I’ve been making refrigerator pickles over 20 yrs & I cut them in spears & add 2 grape leaves to each jar believing they gave the crispness to them. Also add a jalapeño pepper to each qt. Everyone loves them!
That is a classic way to pickle them, Carol! I like much smaller pickles, so haven’t done the spears, but I know lots of people like them. 🙂
how much vinegar, water, salt, and sugar do I put together?
Hi Karen! Click on the arrow at the bottom for the full, printable recipe. 🙂
This might be a dumb question, but how cold does the refrigerator have to be? I have a wine fridge that is at 54 degrees…can I store the pickles in there? Thanks Jami! I can’t wait until the rest of my cucumbers are ready!
Fridge temps are under 40 (sometimes closer to 36), so 54 degrees sounds like it would be too warm, Michele. Sorry!
I tried this with fresh dill…is that okay, or is it supposed to be made with dried dill? Or does it really not matter? I am finding all sorts of useful things from your site…thanks!
Yes, I usually add both fresh and dried dill, just to have enough dill flavor, but it’s totally up to you. I always use fresh dill if I have it, though.
Glad you’re finding useful things!!
I made up a few extra jars not realizing I didn’t have enough cukes to fill them… If I add the rest of the cukes the next day can I just pour in the leftover brine I have from yesterday without heating it back up?
I think so, Matt, as I’ve added cucumbers over a period of time when mine were producing less. Just mark it with the last day you added and count from there for the pickling to occur!
Got it, thanks! I like to give jars of these out at Christmas time. Lol
They were so delicious! I made 2 jars and now about to make more because I ate them too fast. I couldn’t find pickling salt so I used kosher salt & also fresh dill….THANK YOU for sharing 🙂
So happy you like them, Vivian! Yes, it probably doesn’t matter what type of salt as much with fridge pickles.