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Some days I just want a pickle, and nothing compares to a perfectly crisp home-canned pickle. They top my burgers and hot dogs all summer long, but more importantly, in the wintertime, they remind me that summer will come again.
The very best pickles cant be bought in a grocery store. If you want a good pickle, you’ll have to ask grandma for a jar or learn how to make them yourself. I kick myself every time I don’t can quite enough for a full year. In those years, I find myself scanning the supermarket shelves, hoping for anything that might qualify as a real pickle.
I’m always disappointed. How can they get away with charging $8 for a jar of wilted, slimy excuses for pickles? On top of that, they’re loaded with preservatives that have no business in pickles. Every time I reach this point I vow that next summer there will be more pickles.
My secret to the perfect pickle is to select small cucumbers, about the size of your pinky finger. Whether you’re making slices of whole dills, the size of the cucumber is key. Anything bigger is best suited to pickle relish or hog feed. (If you have really super tiny baby cucumbers, try making miniature gherkins (cornichons), which are made with a very different recipe.
When you select cucumbers for canning pickles, the seeds should be barely visible. The picture below has a cross-section of 3 different cucumbers. The top one has fully formed seeds, and they’re already beginning to fall out a bit. If you can this cucumber, the center would fall out and the outside would never be crisp. If all you have is giant cucumbers, try making refrigerator dill pickles.
The bottom two cucumbers are both acceptable for canning but choose the smaller slices on the left for best results.
If you have very large cucumbers and your heart is set on canning, you can also try making either dill pickle relish or bread and butter pickles. Both of those recipes are designed to accommodate large overripe cucumbers. The cucumbers are layered with salt for about 2 hours before canning, which draws out extra moisture and removes bitterness from the overripe cucumbers. Added sugar in both recipes also helps mask any residual bitterness, and a bit of turmeric makes up for the fading color as the cucumbers are past prime.
Jar size also makes a big difference for home canned pickles. You can have the best pickle recipe in the world and the freshest tiny cucumbers, but if you can in quart jars they’ll be overcooked. Always can in pints rather than quarts. Quarts require longer processing times and are liable to produce mushy pickles.
There’s an old-school practice of soaking pickles in pickling lime before canning, and this helps keep them crisp during the canning process. It’s a complicated process, and involves a lot of time and mess, soaking and rinsing. Not to mention a lot of lime.
These days, most canners substitute something called pickle crisp. It doesn’t have anything funny in it, just calcium chloride. The calcium helps to reinforce the cell walls in the cucumbers, and that keeps them from popping during the canning process. The end result is firmer pickles without a lot of extra work.
It doesn’t take a lot of calcium chloride to get the job done. Roughly 1/8th tsp per pint or 1/4 teaspoon per quart. Just spoon it into the bottom of the jars along with the spices. Pickle crisp is optional, but it will help ensure crisp home-canned pickles.
Making pickles at home is simple, assuming you have the right ingredients. I include fresh dill, mustard seeds, dill seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns. If for some reason I can’t find fresh dill, extra dill seed will work. Fresh dill tends to come in large bundles from the grocery store or farmers market, and if you have extra, try making dill pickled green beans, known as dilly beans here in Vermont.
Start by packing spices, cucumbers, onions and garlic tightly into jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Cover with hot brine, and water bath can. Wait at least 2 weeks for flavors to infuse, and ENJOY!
If you’re giving them out as gifts, consider some cute labels. Chalkboard labels are all the rage these days, but I stick to ball canning’s dissolvable labels because they’re easy to remove so that you can reuse the jar once it’s empty.
If you really want to save money on pickling, buy your canning supplies in bulk. While rings and jars can be reused, lids should be new each time to ensure a good seal. We buy our canning lids in bulk online and bring our canning unit costs down considerably. If you’re looking for a quick fix, you can also try a pre-made dill pickle spice mix, just make sure your cucumbers are fresh and tiny.
Pickle Canning Recipes
Looking for more ways to preserve cucumbers in a jar?
Dill Pickle Recipe for Canning
Ingredients
- 4-5 lbs Cucumbers, Small ones only
- 4 Cups Water
- 4 Cups Cider Vinegar or white vinegar, 5% acidity
- 1/2 Cup Pickling & Canning Salt
- 1 Large Onion , Thinly Sliced
- 10-15 cloves Garlic
- 5 large Dill Heads or fresh dill sprigs
- 5 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 5 tsp Dill Seeds
- 5 tsp Coriander Seeds
- 5 tsp Black Peppercorns
- 5/8 tsp pickle crisp optional – 1/8 tsp per pint
Instructions
- Start your water bath canner in a pot big enough to hold 5 one pint mason jars. The water (and the pot!) should be deep enough once the jars are added there is at least 1 inch of water above the top of the jars. Bring the pot to a boil.
- Prepare a brine by bringing 4 cups water, 4 cups vinegar and 1/2c salt to a boil.
- While the brine and canner are coming up to a boil, gently wash cucumbers to remove any dirt and nip off both ends. Either leave the cucumbers whole or slice into 1/2 inch slices.
- At the bottom of each wide mouth pint mason jar, add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, dill seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and the dill heads or fresh herb sprigs.
- Pack tightly with pickles and a few slices of onion. Top 2 with 2-3 garlic cloves. Be sure to leave 1 inch of headspace above the pickles.
- Cover with brine to just submerge the vegetables, being sure to leave 1/2 inch of headspace above the top level of the brine.
- Cap and band mason jars to just finger tight and place into boiling water in your water bath canner. Process for 10 minutes for pints (or 15 min for quarts) below 1000 feet of elevation. (15 minutes for pints at 1,000-6,000 feet)
Notes
- This recipe makes slightly more brine than you need to can 5 pints of pickles, to make sure you have enough to properly fill all the jars. Store any extra in a mason jar at room temperature for later use.
- The spices can also be adjusted without affecting canning safety, based on your preferences.
- The salt is not necessary for preservation in this recipe, and can be adjusted to your tastes. Salt levels in pickles are a very personal thing, and I’ve seen recipes that use A LOT more salt, and just a few that use less. Around 1/2 cup is a good middle ground, but if you like them REALLY salty add 3/4 cup (alternatively, use 1/4 cup for lower salt pickles).
- DO NOT use table salt, it has additives that don’t work well for canning. Lacking pure canning salt, use kosher salt.
- DO NOT adjust the vinegar/water ratio to lower the amount of vinegar. The acidity in the vinegar is what preserves the pickles and makes them suitable for water bath canning. For a more sour pickle, you can increase the amount of vinegar (but never reduce it).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m no stranger to canning, but I have not done pickles in forever. With this recipe,I’ll be doing a lot more! I filled 10 pint jars with slices and spears, and just opened the first last week. These are delicious, so much better than the store bought dills.
How does this work with green beans, cauliflower, mushrooms, and banana peppers?
Here is the link for the post on dilly beans https://practicalselfreliance.com/dilly-beans-dill-pickled-green-beans/ These next recipes are fermentation recipes but are not necessarily designed for canning. Here is a guide from the National Center for Home Food Preservation on canning pickled or fermented foods for more information. Here is a recipe for fermented cauliflower https://www.attainable-sustainable.net/lacto-fermented-cauliflower/ I found this article and several others about fermenting mushrooms. https://www.hobbyfarms.com/how-to-make-lacto-fermented-mushrooms/ And here is a recipe for banana peppers.
The fermented mushroom recipe wouldn’t load and the banana pepper recipe was absent. I was quite interested in both. I find myself using your recipes more often than then any of the others. So thank you. I do have a question though. Can I use fine Himalayan Pink salt for the pickle recipe?
I’m sorry that link isn’t working. I will try it again.https://www.hobbyfarms.com/how-to-make-lacto-fermented-mushrooms/ It seems to be working ok on my end. If you can’t get it to work you can try searching for it manually on hobbyfarms.com Here is a recipe for pickled peppers that you can use with any kind of pepper.https://practicalselfreliance.com/pickled-pepper-recipe-home-canning/ You should be able to use Himalayan salt and if it is fine then the measurement should be fairly close.
Ashley, Thank you very much for you amazing work helping us to become creators with lots of the beautiful things that Nature puts within our reach. The great thing about your recipes is that they bring within all those details that make the big difference between something good and something excellent.
Thank you!
All six of my jars gave the resounding “pop” of them sealing properly. I followed the recipe exactly, and the day after the liquid in my jar is slightly light brownish. Is this normal? It’s my first time canning so just making sure they will be safe to eat in two weeks.
As long as you followed the recipe exactly with the proper processing time, it should be fine.
Ashley,
This is seriously the best article I’ve found on making pickles. Thank you so much.
If I just wanted to make refrigerator pickles (quickles) would the same recipe work?
Yup, you can do exactly the same thing, just instead of canning them allow the jars to cool to room temperature on the counter and then put them in the fridge. You can actually do raw refrigerator pickles too, by pouring cold brine over the cucumbers instead. It takes longer to infuse flavors, but the cucumbers stay crisper.
Hi! Could I possibly make pickled onions with this same recipe? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not.
I’ve heard using grape leaves can make your pickles stay crisp. I don’t have access to fresh grape leaves. Will using the canned ones work?
I am not totally sure if canned grape leaves would work or not. It is actually the tannin in the leaves that helps them to stay crisp. You can substitute oak leaves, horseradish leaves or even black tea if you don’t have access to the grape leaves.
If you are to leave 1″ clearance at the top of the jar, how do you keep the pickles from floating to the top and being exposed? I have tried making pickles before and that was a problem. I would be putting them in pint jars but I do have small neck and wide-mouthed jars. Would the small neck jars be best? Also, do you have use all of those spices or can you just use the dill and peppercorns to the brine for the pickles?
Regular mouth jars would certainly help to keep the pickles beneath the surface but once the pickles are canned, it will not hurt for part of them to be above the water level. The spices are for flavor so you can use whatever combination that you prefer.
I’m new to canning but after I take them out of the water bath how long do they need to sit before they are “done”? Should I take the rings off to store? Also, how long will these last? Thank you so very much for your help. I have 15 pints on my counter cooling. I can’t wait to try them.
With pickles, they usually have the best flavor about 2 weeks after canning, as the cucumbers need time to take on the brine. (They’re pretty good after about 48 hours though.)
You take off the rings once the jars are cooled. I usually leave mine on the counter overnight, and then take them off in the morning when I check my seals.
Can I use dry dill instead of fresh?
Sure. Just remember dried herbs are more potent, so you may need to adjust the recipe.
I have a recipe for refrigerator pickles, can use if I hot water bath dills, the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 cups of water, is that enough vinegar? Thank you, Jackie
I would recommend only using a tested recipe for canning.
This has been my go to pickle recipe this summer. I Left out the coriander after the first batch as we didn’t care for the flavor it imparted. Other than that I use a 1/3 cups of kosher salt and it is perfect for us. Thanks. Now if I can just find more canning jars, that is the frustrating part right now. My area has a shortage and I have used all 20 pint jar I had. Thanks.
My mother always used Alum on top as you pour in brine. She told me that made pickles crispy. Is that the the same as Pickle Crisp???? I did not see that in the mom and pops grocery in NE Texas. I also could not find fresh dill as it has been an incredibly hot summer already.
Alum was once used for added crispness but is no longer recommended. Pickle Crisp is calcium chloride.
I’m so glad I found your site and unlike a lot of bloggers whose commentary is either boring or not informative, yours was both. I’m getting ready to pickle 24 lbs today and I’m excited to see how they turn out. I’ve never used the Pickle crisp before, I find that soaking in a cooler of ice water gets them crisp but I think the next batch I do I’ll try that and compare. Thanks again.
Thank you so much, Alethea!
Would it be ok to add some hot pepper like jalapeño or banana pepper to make them a little spicy?
Definitely okay to add some spice!
my pickles taste nasty as heck i think it was the wrong recipe but i id not like it or my kids either my sharp tooth came out sorr for a bad review but it was disgusting love the brand and the website though
Hi, I have a counter full of very large slicing cucumbers- I want to can them so they don’t go to waste. I know you say to do the bread and butter or relish- but I want to do dill! Is your recommendation to not use them just because they’ll be really soft, or is there some safety concern for canning them. My kids and I totally don’t care about how mushy they are!
No, that should be totally fine! 😀
These came out great in terms of both flavor and crunch!! Thank you for the detailed instructions, which were very helpful to me as a first time canner.
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked them!
Dear Lord. I had over 4 quarts of pickles left over after I canned 5 pints. The recipe is way off. Cut your cukes into pint jars to figure out how many before the others die in vain. I’ve just canned them, but to tell the truth, I’m scared at how spicy they’ll be when I try them in 2 weeks. Now I’ll just have to make refrigerator pickles with the rest. I have a pix to prove it.
How long until they are ready to eat?
Give them at least 2 weeks to infuse before eating (though you can eat them right away, they’ll be a lot better after at least 2 weeks).
I was so excited to make this recipe last night. It was easy and all went well. One of the jars didn’t seal so I refrigerated it and had some today. The pickles are very salty. I doubled the recipe and followed the directions so I’m not sure what happened. Any ideas? Any recommendations on how to fix it?
Not a fan of coriander. Do you think they would turn out of I left that out?
Definitely!
I just made this recipe but realized I forgot to put a lid over the pot during the water bath! The water was definitely boiling the whole time but I’m a bit nervous I messed it up, especially because google couldn’t seem to answer my question! Any thoughts on boiling without a pot lid?
As long as the lids on your cans have sealed properly, they should be fine.