Learn how to make pickles at home! This easy 8-ingredient recipe yields crisp, tangy dill pickles that are a delicious snack or sandwich topping.
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The first time I tried this dill pickle recipe, I wondered why on earth I’d spent so many years buying pickles at the grocery store. Sure, store bought pickles can be tasty, but these little guys take dill pickles to a whole new level. They’re super easy to make (the refrigerator does most of the work for you!), and they taste awesome. They’re crisp, tangy, and refreshing, with an addictive garlic-dill flavor. Most often, I eat them as a snack right out of the fridge, but they’re delicious on sandwiches and veggie burgers too. If you like dill pickles, you’re going to love this recipe.
How to Make Pickles
My method for how to make pickles couldn’t be simpler! Here’s how it goes:
- First, slice the cucumbers. I usually make this recipe with Persian cucumbers, but small pickling cucumbers work here too. Slice them lengthwise into quarters to make spears, or thinly slice them horizontally to make dill pickle chips.
- Then, fill the jars. Divide the cucumbers among 4 8-ounce or 2 16-ounce jars, and add fresh dill, halved garlic cloves, mustard seeds, and peppercorns to each jar of pickles.
- Next, make the brine. I use a mix of water, white vinegar, sugar, and salt. If you’re not a sweet pickle person, don’t worry! The sugar doesn’t actually make the refrigerator pickles sweet. Instead, it balances the pungent vinegar and salt to create an irresistible sour pickle flavor. Heat the brine on the stove until the sugar and salt dissolve and pour it over the jarred cucumbers. Then, set the jars aside to cool to room temperature.
- Finally, chill! This is the hard part! These guys aren’t ready right away – they need some time in the fridge to soak up the brine and become really flavorful. Dill pickle chips will be ready in 24 hours, while spears will take at least 48. They’ll keep in the fridge for several weeks, and they get better as time goes on. For the best flavor, wait about 5 days.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Dill Pickle Recipe Serving Suggestions
These homemade pickles taste great on sandwiches, burgers, and more! Pile dill pickle chips onto veggie burgers, mushroom burgers, cauliflower po’ boys, black bean burgers, or BBQ jackfruit sandwiches at your next cookout. Alternatively, serve spears alongside one of these sandwiches for a deli-style lunch:
- Caprese Sandwich
- Avocado Sandwich
- Chickpea Salad Sandwich
- Egg Salad Sandwich or Vegan Egg Salad Sandwich
If you’re not in the mood for a sandwich, try adding your refrigerator pickles to a salad. I love to dice them and add them to my Easy Macaroni Salad.
Last but not least, they’re delicious on their own! Enjoy them straight out of the fridge for a tangy, refreshing snack.
What are the best jars for pickling?
Ball Mason jars are a classic option for pickling. I love the brand’s 16-ounce jars, especially because you can get them in a pack of 12 for under $16 at Target. That’s just under $1.30 a jar! They’re dishwasher-safe and completely airtight, which is why they’re my go-to jars for making pickles like these.
More Favorite Homemade Pickles
If you love this dill pickle recipe, try making pickled jalapeños, pickled red onions, or banh mi pickles next!
Dill Pickles
Equipment
- 8-Ounce Weck Jars (love these for canning!)
Ingredients
- 12 to 14 Persian cucumbers or 8 to 10 pickling cucumbers
- 4 garlic cloves, halved
- 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons peppercorns
- Fresh dill sprigs, a few per jar
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups distilled white vinegar
- ¼ cup cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons sea salt
Instructions
- To make dill pickle spears, slice the cucumbers lengthwise into quarters. To make dill pickle chips, thinly slice them horizontally.
- Heat the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 1 minute. Let cool slightly and pour over the cucumbers. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then store the pickles in the fridge.
- Pickle spears will be lightly pickled in 2 days, but their best flavor will start to develop around day 5 or 6. Pickle chips will be lightly pickled in 1 day, and will become more flavorful every day after that. Store in the fridge for several weeks.
I don’t like sweet pickles at all. These were too sweet. I suggest that if you don’t like any sweetness in your pickles at all, skip the sugar entirely or add a lot less than what’s listed in this recipe. I found that this recipe made the pickles too salty for my tastes. It could do with less salt for me next time. This recipe makes a lot of pickles so I will half the recipe as well.
Don’t make my mistake, this recipe cannot be canned. Not enough vinegar. I opened a jar of pickles today that I made a month ago and they don’t taste like vinegar in the slightest.
This recipe can be canned, there is a 50/50 ratio water to vinegar, which is pretty much the standard. You can lower the water content or add vinegar to your liking. Make sure your vinegar is at least 5% acidity.
We would love to try these pickles, but for a lot of of us we would like to save it on Pinterest.
Hi Catherine, we have a pinterest option – there is a floating P along the right sidebar that will let you save the recipe to pinterest.
This is by far the best recipe that we have used! The only thing different we do is add some red pepper flakes to some jars that we want spicy. We can’t keep them in our pantry we eat them so fast. Thanks for the amazing recipe. This is year 2 of using it.
I’m so glad you love the pickles, Shannon!
Can you seal these in mason jars and preserve them in the cold room?
Hi Frances, we’ve only made this recipe as refrigerator pickles, so I can’t advise on canning them and keeping them longer than a few weeks.
This was a bit too vinegary for me, so I used 1:2 vinegar to water ratio and halved the amount of sugar. So good! Very small whole cucumbers also work great.
I’m so glad you loved the pickles, Julia!
Can u tell me the recipe for a 1 litre jar please
Hi Leslie, this recipe as written should work well in a 1 liter jar!
Can I use dried dill (dill weed) and if so, how much?
Hi there, I have some pickling cucumbers that I want to use before they go soft. I only have about 4. Can this recipe be directly halved?
Thanks very much,
Claire
Cane sugar has bigger pieces than standard white sugar and fewer granules fit in a 1/4 cup. This means that if you use regular white sugar you may get a sweeter pickle than expected. Hope that solves the sweet pickle mystery and helps folks adjust accordingly!
Your dill pickle recipe is delicious and so easy to make
My family loved these.. making a second batch right now. Thank you for the easy to follow instructions.
So glad they were a hit, Amy!
This is my first time making pickles! I used the cucumbers from my garden, they weren’t “pickling” 94 Persian cucumbers but they still taste delicious!! I read some of the comments saying they were too sweet but and I was worried about that. But that was not my experience at all. So good! Will definitely be making these every year. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad you loved the pickles, Elisha!
Omgoodness! I just made these yesterday and today was delicious already!! I made a second container with some hot chili peppers and tomorrow should be perfect. Thank you for the recipe!! I don’t know why I waited this long to make my own pickles.
I added some fresh basil and this recipe then really popped!
I’ve been making pickles for decades, and vinegar is not brine. Brine is simply salt and water. Although vinegar can be used for making pickles, labeling the liquid as brine is inaccurate and misleading.
You must be fun at parties!
I love your response!!!
Bahahahaha!!! Indeed!
LOL! the best reply I ever heard!
The jars you link say they are 28.7 oz not 8. Little confused.
Hi, sorry about that! We’ll have to update the link. 4 (8-ounce) jars or 2 (16-ounce) jars work well here.
THE BEST PICKLES IVE EVER HAD!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH.
best recipe for dill pickles
This was horribly sweet. I measured everything very carefully, so I know it’s not me. These are not dill. I had to throw away a gallon an a half of disgusting sweet pickles.
u dont know ur pickles
You definitely did something wrong. These are not sweet at all and some of the BEST I’ve ever tasted! We will be pickling okra with this next. Thank you for a fabulous recipe!
They were really sweet when we tried them probably a day or so too soon, but they were perfect at day 5. Amazing pickles that didn’t last long.
There’s only 1/4 cup of sugar, so you most definitely did something wrong.