Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
This refrigerator bread and butter pickles recipe comes together quickly and easily. No canning pots, hot water bath, or fancy canning tools required! Crisp pickles with the perfect balance of sweet and tangy flavors make them the perfect topping for your favorite sandwiches and burgers to enjoy all summer long.
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Since most of my family loves dill pickles, I make these homemade bread and butter pickles just for me! Don’t get me wrong, I still love dill pickles, but I’ve always been partial to sweet pickles. I like this recipe because it makes roughly 3 pints, which is just enough for me to enjoy throughout the summer. It’s a sad day when I open the last jar!
Pickles Pickles Pickles!
There are so many types of pickles to be had! When I think of pickles, I think of my grandma washing baby cucumbers in her tiny farmhouse kitchen, freshly picked just moments before. With these, she made jars upon jars of pickles that we enjoyed throughout the year. My parents tried to recreate these pickles using her dill pickle recipe, and while they were close, they just didn’t taste quite the same. After trying for many years, we think that it was her well water that made her pickles taste better.
It wasn’t until my adult years that I ventured into different types of pickles. Such a fun world to explore and experiment! Not only are there different foods to pickle, but also different methods. Fermented pickles, also referred to as sour pickles, pickled beets, refrigerator pickled tomatoes, and pickled green beans are some of my favorites!
Why You’ll Love This Easy Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe
- Small batch pickles – If you grow your own cucumbers, there comes a point in the season when they start slow down, and it’s a struggle to have enough cucumbers at once to process a big batch. So what do you do when you have just a few cukes? This small batch bread and butter pickle recipe is the perfect solution.
- Beat the Summer Heat – Make refrigerator bread and butter pickles without heating the house. There’s no need to hot water bath can them since these pickles go straight into the fridge.
- Quality ingredients – Making homemade bread and butter pickles means you can choose the quality of your ingredients. That’s right, this means you can cut high fructose corn syrup from your diet by making quick pickles at home without a lot of extra effort.
Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickle Ingredients
There are two main components for these bread and butter pickles: the cucumbers and the brine. However, you can add other vegetables like thinly sliced onions, pepper rings, zucchini, cauliflower, and carrots.
- Cucumbers: I recommend pickling cucumbers for this recipe. Their thin skin and smaller seed cavity make for flavorful, crispy pickles. In a pinch, use small regular cucumbers or English cucumbers.
- The Brine: This is where the classic sweet and tangy flavor bread and butter pickles are known for comes from! Use a combination of white and apple cider vinegar, granulated and brown sugar, and spices like mustard seed, celery seed, and ground turmeric. Want to change it up a bit? Have fun and experiment with different spices like a pickling spice blend, cloves, garlic, or for a bit of heat, a pinch of red pepper flakes.
A Note on Salt
When it comes to preserving, not all salt is equal. You want to use salt without additives that are typically found in regular table salt. This can discolor the pickles and brine, making for an unpleasant-looking pickle. Instead, opt for pickling salt, sometimes referred to as canning salt, or kosher salt.
Equipment
- Mason jars or other airtight container
- Saucepan
- I like to use this crinkle cutter, but you can keep it simple and use a sharp knife. A mandolin makes uniform slices.
- Large bowl
- Colander
How to Make Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
Prep
Wash the cucumbers and slice off 1/2 inch from the ends. Slice cucumbers into 1/4 inch slices, or 1/2 inch if you prefer thicker slices. Place cucumber slices in a large bowl and sprinkle the salt over the top of the cucumbers. Stir until all of the slices are coated with salt and let rest for 90 minutes at room temperature.
Adding salt to sliced cucumbers draws out the excess moisture and flavors the cucumbers.
Rinse
After the cucumbers have marinated with the salt, pour them into a colander and rinse them under running cold water. Combine cucumbers with the thinly sliced onion.
Pickling Brine
Combine sugar, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and turmeric in a small saucepan. Heat to a simmer over medium-high heat until all of the sugars dissolve.
Transfer
Pack the onion and cucumber mixture into pint jars. Ladle the hot brine solution over the top of the cucumbers. A canning funnel makes this step cleaner, but it isn’t necessary.
Fill the jars with enough brine to cover the cucumber and onions. The amount of brine can sometimes vary depending on the size and shape of the cucumbers, so it’s always a good idea to have a bit extra just in case.
Refrigerate
Add an airtight lid to the jar. Leave the filled jars to cool until they’re room temperature. Store refrigerator bread and butter pickles in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
This simple bread and butter pickle recipe is so easy to make, but make sure you plan ahead. The pickles are best if you wait 24 hours before enjoying.
Tips
- Start with fresh cucumbers. The pickles are only going to be as good as the produce you begin with, so use the freshest you can source.
- For crunchy pickles, remove the blossom end before making pickles, as it contains enzymes that soften pickles.
- Unlike traditional canning recipes, there isn’t a specific pH level to keep, so you can adjust the vinegar sugar ratio in the vinegar mixture to your preference.
- Don’t marinate the cucumbers in salt for too long. The longer the salt is on the cucumbers, the softer they become. Rinse them sooner if you like a crisp texture.
What to Serve with Old-Fashioned Bread and Butter Pickles
- Burgers
- Simple deli meat and cheese sandwiches
- Add them to anything you like that sweet and tangy flavor. Dice the pickles and stir into potato salad, egg salad, or tartar sauce.
- Charcuterie boards
Bread and butter refrigerator pickles are so easy to make and take your food up a notch into something extra special. Be sure to make them and share what’s your favorite way to eat them!
Try These Recipes
Explore more preserving recipes from canning recipes to fermenting recipes.
Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
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Ingredients
- 5½ cups cucumbers 1½ lbs, cut into ¼ inch slices
- 1 cup white or yellow onions thinly sliced
- 1½ tbsp salt
Pickling Brine
- 1 cup sugar 200 g
- ¼ cup brown sugar 50 g
- 1 cup distilled vinegar 250 g
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar 125 g
- 1½ tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp celery seeds
- ⅛ tsp tumeric
Instructions
Prep
- Wash the cucumbers and slice off 1/2 inch from the ends. Slice cucumbers into 1/4 inch slices, or 1/2 inch if you prefer thicker slices.
- Place cucumber slices in a large bowl and sprinkle the salt over the top of the cucumbers. Stir until all of the slices are coated with salt and let rest for 90 minutes at room temperature.(Adding salt to sliced cucumbers draws out the excess moisture and flavors the cucumbers.)
Rinse
- After the cucumbers have marinated with the salt, pour them into a colander and rinse them under running cold water. Combine cucumbers with the thinly sliced onion.
Pickling Brine
- Combine white sugar, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and turmeric in a small saucepan. Heat to a simmer over medium-high heat until all of the sugars dissolve.
Transfer
- Pack the onion and cucumber mixture into pint jars. Ladle the hot brine solution over the top of the cucumbers. A canning funnel makes this step cleaner, but it isn't necessary.
- Fill the jars with enough brine to cover the cucumber and onions. The amount of brine can sometimes vary depending on the size and shape of the cucumbers, so it’s always a good idea to have a bit extra just in case.
Refrigerate
- Add an airtight lid to the jar. Leave the filled jars to cool until they're room temperature. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- For the best flavor, wait at least 24 hours to eat refrigerator bread and butter pickles.
There are a million ways to eat pickles, but these I can eat straight from the jar! Sweet, crunchy, tangy. What more could you want! Try them and leave your questions and comments here!