Sweet & Spicy Refrigerator Pickles

These simple sweet and spicy refrigerator pickles are bursting with flavor and incredibly crunchy. Preserve your garden cucumbers with this simple recipe for hot and spicky refrigerator pickles. 

If you have ever grown pickling cucumbers, you know that by the end of summer, you'll have and abundance of them. Currently this is my situation, with cucumbers coming out of my ears! We've been harvesting 4-5 cucumbers daily, and they add up quickly. 

This year, I've canned 30 jars of shelf-stable pickles in four different varieties: dill, sweet and hot, bread and butter, and salty brine. I've also mae a few jars of sweet pickle reslish, so I am always on the lookout for new ways to use up all these cucumbers. 

It's surprising to think that last year I managed to harvest just one lonely cucumber. That definitely wasn't typical for use, and I believe the lasck of sunlight in their previous location played a big role in that disappoinitng yield. This year, I decided to relocate my cucumber plants to a sunnier spot, and the outcome has been fantastic— I'm finally enjoying a crop of cucumbers again. 

Besides canning numerous jars of pickles, we have been eating them fresh and adding them into salads, but there's a limit on how much we can consume. Recently, while browsing TikTok, I stumbled upon a recipe for sweet and spicy refrigerator pickles that I couldn't wait to try. The best part is that the recipe is incredibly simple and doesn't require any special canning equipment. All you need to do is place the cucumbers in a jar, add the ingredients and spices, and pour over a simple brine.   

These homemade refrigerator pickles are perfectly crisp and crunchy and loaded with flavor. For best results let the pickles marinade for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before eating. Enjoy on a burger, sandwich or straight from the jar for a crispy, crunchy snack. These refrigerator pickles will definitely be made on repeat for the remainder of the summer. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 🥒 Pickling Cucumbers: Choose cucumbers that are best for pickles. I use Boston Picklers but you can also use mini persian cucumbers from the grocery store. 
• 🌿 Dill:  you can use fresh or dried dill. 
• 🧄 Garlic: is optional, so if you like garlic in your pickles go ahead and add it. 
• 🧅 Onion: enhance te flavor profile, balances the acidity, and provides an extra layer of crunch. The onions also absorb and mellow the brine.  
• 🌶️ Spices: Mustard seed. black peppercorns and red pepper flakes (for the perfect amount of heat).
• 🧂  Salt: use kosher, pickling or sea salt. Do not use regular salt (iodized salt). 
• 🍶 Vinegar: use standard (5%) white vinegar. This will provide the acid concentraion needed for safety.  
• 💧 Water: is added as an ingredient to the pickle brine primarily to dilute the sharp acidity of the vinegar, preventing the pickles from becoming too sour or overpowering.  
• 🍯 Sugar: adding sugar helps balance out the sharpness of the vinegar.
  
  

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does.  

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