These easy Refrigerator Bread & Butter pickles require no canning. Tangy and lightly sweet, crunchy and juicy, they keep well in the refrigerator for months and are delicious on sandwiches, burgers, charcuterie trays, or just for snacking when the pickle cravings hit.
I have a cucumber problem. I may need therapy.
The garden is coming to a close, and our cucumbers are still producing like crazy! We have been eating a lot of cucumber salads, cucumber sandwiches, and fresh sliced cucumbers with seasoning salt. I would make my very popular Oven-Canned Dill Pickles, but I made too many last year, and we are still wading through that batch. Same with my Old Pickle Relish. So this year, it's Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles all the way. We love them, too.
These refrigerator bread & butter pickles are deliciously tangy and not too sweet. They're crunchy and juicy - great for snacking and fantastic when layered on sandwiches, burgers, in pitas or wraps, as a component of charcuterie platters, summer picnics and barbecues, or chopped into tuna salads, egg salads, or pasta salads.
The bonus of refrigerator pickles is that they require no canning - no sterilizing of jars and lids, no huge canning pot, no messy water bath processing, no worrying about lids sealing and popping. Just heat the brine, slice the cucumbers, and pour it over. Three days in the fridge with a quick stir each day and these amazing bread & butter pickles are done! Ready to crunch on and enjoy for months to come!
What You'll Need to Make Them
- cucumbers - any kind will work. They don't need to be peeled, but the ends should be trimmed off, plus any bitter ends removed. If using very ripe or overripe cucumbers, cut them in half lengthwise and scrape out (and discard) the seeds, as they can get mushy when pickled.
- onions - these add a rounded flavour to the bread & butter pickles, but are optional if you don't care for them. The onions, once pickled, are delicious to eat as well and can be used to top tacos or any other dishes that are enhanced with a hit of pickled onions.
- vinegar - distilled white vinegar (5% acidity) is the cleanest tasting to let the pickle flavour shine through, but up to ¼ of the volume could be replaced by apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.
- sugar - plain granulated sugar (or organic cane sugar) are the most neutral-flavoured, to keep that great pickle flavour, but you could use other sweeteners, if desired (keeping in mind that any brown sugars will alter the colour of the finished pickles).
- salt - use pickling salt, sea salt, or kosher salt - these don't have additives in them which can make the pickling brine turn cloudy. Check the labels to make sure there are no ingredients except for salt.
- mustard seeds - whole yellow mustard seeds work well. Brown mustard seeds are a bit stronger-flavoured, but will work, too. You could also substitute pickling spices, for a slightly different flavour profile.
- turmeric powder - adds a complex, slightly earthy nuance and a beautiful golden colour (it's what's used to colour and flavour prepared yellow mustard)
- a gallon-sized container - you'll need a plastic gallon-sized ice cream pail with lid, a glass gallon-sized(4-litre) jar, or a large glass or plastic bowl (one gallon or larger) that you can cover with a lid or several pieces of plastic food wrap. Or you could do a half-batch of pickles and use a 2-gallon (2-litre) container. From the full recipe, you'll get about three quart-sized jars of refrigerator bread & butter pickles (they shrink after being pickled).
How to Make Easy Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles
You'll just need to boil and cool the simple brine. Then slice the cucumbers and onions - by hand or with a mandolin - and pour the brine over them. Make a half batch if you have less cucumbers or divide the batch into two smaller containers if you don't have a gallon-sized bucket or jar.
Pour over the cooled brine (it won't quite cover them). Leave the pickles to sit for about half an hour, and they'll have shrunk and reduced enough that you can push them down so they are totally submerged in the brine.
Now, cover the container and leave it in the fridge for three days, giving the pickles a stir once a day, and your Easy Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles are ready to enjoy. You can transfer them to smaller jars for convenience, or leave them in the bucket. Get crunching!
Less Sweet than the Original
The recipe for these refrigerator bread & butter pickles is much less sweet than the version that was circulating in the '80s and '90s. The original recipe had 4 cups of sugar and produced a very syrupy sweet/sour pickle that some of you may remember. It's much like the sweet pickles you can buy in the grocery store now. So, if that's the version you like, by all means add the extra two cups of sugar, or add an extra cup to make the pickles slightly more sweet. I've reduced the sugar (and the salt) to half the original amount and the sweetness level is just right for us - tangy with a sweet note in the background. The pickles are perfect for any kind of snacking.
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Guten Appetit!
Easy Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles
Ingredients
- 4 cups (960 ml) distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons/70 g) pickling salt or fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon whole mustard seeds
- 1½ teaspoons turmeric
- 4 lbs (1.8 kg) fresh cucumbers (about 4 litres/1 gallon sliced)
- 3 medium onions, sliced
Instructions
- Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, and turmeric in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to lukewarm.
- While the brine is cooling, wash and trim the ends from the cucumbers. Slice them into ¼-inch thick slices with a sharp knife or a krinkle cutter. Peel the onions and cut them in half through the root end. Cut each half into thin half-moon slices.
- Put half the cucumber slices into a plastic 4-litre (1-gallon) sized empty ice cream pail, a large bowl, or a glass 1-gallon jar. Add the sliced onions, then the rest of the cucumber slices.
- Pour the cooled brine over the cucumbers - it will not quite cover them. Toss the cucumbers carefully to make sure all the top ones get coated in the brine. Leave them to stand for half an hour to soften and release some of their juices. Then you can push the top cucumber slices down with a spatula or wooden spoon so they are submerged in the brine. Cover the pail, bowl, or jar with a lid or plastic wrap and set it into the refrigerator to chill. Stir the pickles once a day for 3 days, making sure they are all submerged under the brine again after stirring.
- Transfer the pickles to quart jars or other smaller jars if you used a bowl (or leave them in the gallon container or ice cream pail). Divide the brine evenly among the jars and discard any remaining brine. The pickles are now ready to be eaten, but they will continue to improve over the next week.
- Bread and butter pickles will keep, refrigerated, for up to 6 months (even a year, although their quality may deteriorate somewhat and they may get softer after the first 6 months).
- Makes 3 quarts/litres of bread & butter pickles.
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