Canning Refrigerator Pickles

Canning refrigerator pickles from your garden grown cucumbers is very easy and gives you edible sweet pickles that you can eat within four or five days, instead of having to wait five or six weeks for regular sweet pickles to cure.

Growing the cucumbers is also extremely easy and one plant can provide an abundance of cucumbers to use for pickling. I planted 8 plants and was overwhelmed by produce. I have pickles in brine, for whole dilled pickles. I also have a pantry full of  bread and butter pickles, dill chips, sweet pickle spears and dilled pickle halves.

The following recipe for the refrigerator pickles should be followed without making any changes. This is a sweet pickle that will last in the refrigerator for about 60 days.

8 cups of thinly sliced cucumbers (3 large cucumbers).

1 ½ cups of thinly sliced sweet yellow onion (use red onion for added color).

¼ cup of sliced red bell pepper

¼ cup of sliced green bell pepper.

Making the brine.

Bring the following ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir this combination often. Boil for 3–5 minutes. Pour this mixture over the cucumber, bell pepper and onions. Mix well and let stand to cool. Fill your jars and chill for 3-5 days before eating to let flavors migrate into the cucumbers.

2 cups of White Granulated sugar.

2 cups of White Vinegar (5%).

1 tablespoon of pickling salt.

1 tablespoon of Celery Seed.

1 ½ teaspoon of Mustard Seed.

This recipe makes 2 quarts.

How to Can-Up Homemade Dill Pickle Chips

Hamburgers, hot dogs and sandwiches. You name it and you can put a dill pickle on it to give whatever you’re eating a little extra zing!


By reading this article, you’ll learn how to make enough of your own dill pickle chips to last you through the summer months and longer (you can adjust to your need).

Click here if you need a Canning Kit



Here’s the recipe:
16 pounds of pickling cucumbers cut into ¼ inch slices
2 quarts of water
2 quarts of white distilled vinegar
6 Tablespoons of a pickling spice mixture
1 and ½ cups of granulated sugar (You can use half Splenda if you choose)
6 large sprigs of fresh dill weed
1 cup of pickling salt
1 Cup of regular salt (do not use Iodized salt)
1 teaspoon of minced garlic per each quart Mason jar
1/8 teaspoon of a pickling crisp product to each Mason jar



Wash and slice all cucumbers and place them in a large container and cover with 1 cup of regular salt, water and ice. I use a wavy cutting tool to help make the chips look nicer than just a flat cut.

 Let this stand for one hour. When you are ready to use them, drain, rinse and repeat.



Combine all other ingredients except dill weed, pickling spices and pickling crisp to a large pot. Wrap pickling spices into a piece of cheesecloth and tie off.

Place this sack of spices into the liquid, pickling salt and sugar and stir until dissolved. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes and then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.


Stuff slices into hot mason jars and place a teaspoon of garlic, pickling crisp and one sprig of dill weed into each jar prior to filling with liquid.

Pour hot liquid mixture into jars, leaving 1” of head space. Make sure you remove any air bubbles from the jars.

Wipe rim of jars off to remove any residual material and place lids and bands onto jars.

Tighten to just hand tight and place into a “hot water bath” canner. Bring to a rapid boil and set timer for 15 minutes.

Remove hot jars from the canner and set them on a flat surface with two thicknesses of towels on the counter. This will help prevent the jars from cracking.

Cool for 12 – 24 hours making sure you check that each jar sealed properly. Twist off bands and store in your pantry.


This recipe makes approximately 6 quarts of dill pickle chips. Wait at least 4 weeks before consuming.

How to Make Dilled Pickles (Fresh Pak)

Today was the perfect day for canning, so I went out to the garden and harvested about 18 pounds of pickling cucumbers and 14 really nice dill weed stems from the vegetable garden and got busy.

I started off by cleaning the cucumbers and slicing off the flower end and stem too.
Once washed, I sliced them in half and placed them into a large container.

These cucumbers were not treated in any kind of brine prior to placing them into jars. This is a fresh pak method and does not require pre-treatment of any kind.

After my jars and lids were washed and sterilized, I filled the hot jars with the halves and set them aside. Each jar got a sprig of dill weed and one tablespoon of minced garlic. I used 1/8 of a teaspoon of “Pickle Crisp,” and then filled each jar with the brine recipe listed below.

With all of the air bubbles worked out and the jar tops wiped off, I covered each jar with a lid and band, just hand tight. Into the hot water bath canner they went for 15 minutes.

Once processed, I pulled them out to cool for 24 hours before I labeled them and put them into the pantry.




The following recipe is for 16 lbs. of pickling cucumbers, making 14 quarts. You can do the math to reduce, or increase if necessary.
2 quarts of water
2 quarts of white vinegar
6 tablespoons of pickling spice
1 and ½ cups of sugar
1 cup of pickling salt
One large sprig of dill weed per quart jar
1 tablespoon of minced garlic per quart jar
1/8 teaspoon of Pickle Crisp
Here’s the result of this recipe:

If you do not have canning equipment, here is a “starter canning kit” link. It’s a great kit. I started out with it and it has proven to be a great purchase.

How to Make Bread and Butter Pickles

Enjoy the cool sweet flavor of Bread and Butter pickles on everything from hot dogs to salads or just eat them alone. This sweet summertime sensation is sure to bring back memories of family picnics and at home cookouts. Always use the freshest cucumbers that you can find. It’s best to harvest them from your own garden. If you don’t have a garden, the next best choice for purchasing them would be from a farmers market. Always ask the grower when they were harvested. Purchase a little more than the recipe calls for to be sure you have enough. You don’t want to be left short.
Clean the cucumbers and cut off the blossom end. This end carries some proteins that may help to cause spoilage. You only need to remove about 1/16 of an inch from the bottom end of the cucumber. You can use a hot water bath canner for this process. Ample canning supplies can be found by clicking here. The preparation time to get the cucumbers ready for processing is going to be at least 3 hours prior to canning.
Follow these preparation instructions: Place 8 pounds of ¼ inch sliced cucumbers, 3 pounds of thinly sliced onions and ½ cup of pickling salt in a very large container. Put a layer of cucumbers, then salt, then onions. Repeat this process until you’ve used all of your cucumbers, onions and salt. Cover the entire container with ice. Let this stand for at least 2 hours. Drain and rinse twice after the 2 hours. Please read the entire recipe by clicking here.