Quick Pickled Cucumbers | Easy Refrigerator Pickles Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio of vinegar to water for refrigerator pickles? ›

The basic ratio for quick pickles is 1:1 vinegar to water, and includes some combination of salt and sugar. Another ratio that is commonly followed is the 3:2:1 method, using three parts vinegar, two parts water, and 1 part sugar.

Cover the cucumbers with the chilled brine. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for about 24 hours, then serve. The pickles will keep in the fridge for up to one month. These pickles will disappear quickly and you'll likely get requests for more.

Begin sampling the cucumbers after 4 hours if you've quartered them, 8 hours if you've halved them. In either case, it will probably take from 12 to 24 or even 48 hours for them to taste pickled enough to suit your taste.

Refrigerate. Close the jar, give it a good shake, then refrigerate, shaking occasionally. Refrigerator pickles are ready to eat after 2 hours, but best after a full day. ENJOY!

The classic ratio is super easy to remember and is easily scale-able depending on how many pickles you're making. It's 100% vinegar, 50% water, 25% sugar and 12.5% kosher salt by weight. So for example, 200g vinegar, 100g water, 50g sugar and 25g kosher salt (again, you can scale this up or down!).

Shriveling happens most often in very sweet or sour pickles. Using too strong a salt, sugar or vinegar solution at the beginning of the pickling process causes shriveling. Measure ingredients carefully when preparing a cucumber pickle that requires the addition of sugar, vinegar or salt over a 3-day to 2-week time.

Start harvesting pickler cucumbers when they are 2 to 3 inches long, and don't let the fruit grow to more than 4 or 5 inches long. Picklers tend to flabbiness in the middle when allowed to get too big. None is particularly long-lived in the fridge.

For best quality, pickle fruits or vegetables within 24 hours of harvest, or refrigerate for no more than a few days. Remove all blossoms from cucumbers and cut a 1/16-inch slice from the blossom end. The blossoms contain enzymes that can cause softening of the final product.

The next step is to make a saltwater solution and soak your cucumbers for a minimum of 12 hours (up to 7 days). The beauty of soaking your cucumbers is that you don't need to be ready to make pickles right when you pick your cucumbers (or bring them home from the market).

Soaking cucumbers in ice water for four to five hours prior to pickling is a safer method for making crisp pickles. Another safe option for firming pickles is Pickle Crisp®),a product containing calcium chloride; use according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Should I salt cucumbers before pickling? ›

You will need a recipe, most of which will tell you to salt your sliced cucumbers and let them sit for about 3 hours (more is better). This salt treatment draws water out of the cucumbers and flavors them, so it's critically important.

Sterilizing jars and standing over a steamy water bath for hours is not the most pleasurable way to spend a summer day! You can skip that whole process and make the next best thing – refrigerator pickles.

"As long as the pickles are kept cold, they can last upwards of 75 days unopened in the fridge," Andre shares. Once opened, any pickles should be stored in the fridge, submerged in brine, to maintain freshness for at least up to three months, according to the USDA.

Homemade refrigerated pickles last at least three to four weeks in the fridge, McClellan says. Any longer and the quality will start to decline. You'll notice the brine goes from clear to murky and cloudy, and the pickles start to lose their texture.

Some swear by the 2:1:1 ratio (2 parts vinegar to 1 part water to 1 part sugar). Others use a modified 5:3:2:1 or 9:5:3:1 (vinegar:water:sugar:salt). Some start off the pickling process hot, others will insist on waiting for the pickling liquid to cool down.

For use around the home, combine vinegar with water in a 1:1 solution to clean and freshen many surfaces. Use this solution on glass, windows, walls, cupboards, floors, sinks, stovetops and coffee makers.

Picklers should look for a pickling vinegar with 5% acetic acid concentration or higher. This is to ensure your vinegar is acidic enough to prevent the growth of bacteria and mould in your pickle jars. The more acidic the vinegar, the longer your pickles will last.

They will be more sour than brine pickles. Believe it or not, I add a wee pinch of vanilla to my refrigerator pickles. Mellows them out without sweetening and you can't taste the vanilla. Also be sure your pickles aren't soft.