Easy Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles (And Why It's Better Than Canning)

4.77 from 63 votes

Easy Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles (And Why It's Better Than Canning)

These quick & delicious refrigerator garlic dill pickles require no processing, stay crisp for a year, and make it easy to keep up with the harvest by putting up a few quarts at a time.

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Total Time20

Course: Preserving

Cuisine: American

Servings: quart

Calories: 19kcal

Author: Jami Boys

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

*If you don't have access to fresh dill heads, you can use 1 tablespoon dried dill seed.

**How Long Do They Store? I've stored them for 12-15 months and they just increase in flavor. Occasionally a jar doesn't store well and I have to toss it, but it's very rare (the pickles became shrunken and or cloudy/slimy).

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