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I grew up eating these sweet refrigerator pickles and now my kids love refrigerator pickles as much as I do. They’re a crispy, crunchy, bread and butter pickle that taste great on hamburgers or just as a side dish!
There’s something reminiscent about a crisp refrigerator pickle. Reminds me of warm summertime days eating my mom’s pickles. We will warn you, it’s hard not to want to eat all of these sweet pickles right out of the container.
Our sweet pickles are easy recipe to make, and great to have stored in the refrigerator to have on hand whenever a sweet and crunchy craving strikes.
We have had these in the fridge for weeks before and they stay super crispy–even when we slice them thin. Let’s get pickling!
Where’s the Recipe?
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Ingredients in Sweet Refrigerator Pickles
- Cucumbers: You’ll need about 7-10 cucumbers that you will slice into thin cucumber slices. We tend to like our cucumber slices thinly sliced, however it’s up to your personal preference. The thicker the cucumber slices, the more thick of a crunch you’ll get.
- White vinegar: The vinegar is the ingredient that turns the cucumber slices into pickles.
- Sugar: Although we tend to steer clear of usually using unrefined sugars in our recipes, this recipe just calls for the classic granulated sugar. The sugar dissolves nice and adds sweet to the pickles. We love homemade pickles.
- Salt: Would it even be a pickle without the delicious salty flavor?
- Celery seeds: You can find celery seeds in the spice section at all grocery stores.
- Optional: These sweet pickles can be easily customized to your liking. Some other great additions to this simple recipe are garlic cloves, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, hot peppers, red onions, or fresh dill if you want to make dill pickles.
How to make Sweet Refrigerator Pickles
- Thinly slice cucumbers, using a mandolin, knife, or any other tool you’d like. These crinkle cut knives are fun to use for pickles and other vegetables.
- Add sliced cucumbers and all the remaining ingredients to a large container that closes and stir it up a little.
- That’s it. You’re done. Seriously. Put the cucumber mixture in the refrigerator and wait patiently (or not patiently). You’ll be tempted to add more liquid to them, but it’s not necessary–they make their own. Just stir or shake them up a few times in the next few hours.
Recipe Tips
- We like to store our sweet pickles in a large mason jar that is glass, but if you’re comfortable with using a BPA free plastic container you could also use that. You may also divide the ingredients between smaller mason jars.
- The hardest part is the waiting. As the refrigerator pickles sit, they’ll add more liquid to the container. Eventually they’ll get soft (but the skins will stay crunchy!) and they will wilt a little, making room for you to add more sliced cucumbers.
- I usually add more cucumbers about once a week to keep the container full. Your sweet refrigerator pickles will be ready to eat in a few hours, but will taste so much better after about 48 hours.
- We have a container full of these sweet refrigerator pickles all summer long–from March to about October here in Arizona! I slice more cucumbers every week or so and add a little celery seed and sugar every 3-4 weeks. Even if you’re not adding more and rotating through them, I think they’ll be safe for a few months at least!
- We don’t recommend freezing the homemade pickles. Our sweet pickles recipe is best enjoyed in the refrigerator.
- It’s almost nearly impossible to only eat one sweet pickle at a time. We love bringing our refrigerator sweet pickles to BBQs to share with family and friends.
Favorite BBQ Recipes
- Instant Pot Cauliflower Salad
- Beef Greek Kabobs
- Cottage Cheese Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Tuna Macaroni Salad
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Easy Sweet Refrigerator Pickle Recipe
Servings 12 people
These Sweet Refrigerator Pickles are crispy and crunchy like bread and butter pickles, and you won’t believe how easy they are to make! Bread & Butter Pickles | Easy Refrigerator Pickles | Crispy Refrigerator Pickles
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Kitchen Knife
- 12 oz. Mason Jars
Ingredients
- 7-10 cucumbers washed
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons celery seed
Instructions
- Thinly slice the pickles, using a mandolin, knife, or any other tool you'd like. 7-10 cucumbers
- Add the ingredients to a large container and stir it up a little. 1 cup white vinegar, 2 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons celery seed
- That’s it. You’re done. Seriously. You’ll be tempted to add more liquid to them, but it’s not necessary–they make their own. Just stir them up a few times in the next few hours.
Notes
Recipe Tips
- We like to store our sweet pickles in a large mason jar that is glass, but if you’re comfortable with using a BPA free plastic container you could also use that. You may also divide the ingredients between smaller mason jars.
- The hardest part is the waiting. As the refrigerator pickles sit, they’ll add more liquid to the container. Eventually they’ll get soft (but the skins will stay crunchy!) and they will wilt a little, making room for you to add more sliced cucumbers.
- I usually add more cucumbers about once a week to keep the container full. Your sweet refrigerator pickles will be ready to eat in a few hours, but will taste so much better after about 48 hours.
- We have a container full of these sweet refrigerator pickles all summer long–from March to about October here in Arizona! I slice more cucumbers every week or so and add a little celery seed and sugar every 3-4 weeks. Even if you’re not adding more and rotating through them, I think they’ll be safe for a few months at least!
- We don’t recommend freezing the homemade pickles. Our sweet pickles recipe is best enjoyed in the refrigerator.
- It’s almost nearly impossible to only eat one sweet pickle at a time. We love bringing our refrigerator sweet pickles to BBQs to share with family and friends.
Nutrition
Calories: 171kcal | Carbohydrates: 43.1g | Protein: 1.8g | Fat: 0.6g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 1170mg | Potassium: 399mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 37.6g | Calcium: 610mg | Iron: 0.2mg
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I need a helper like Jack…send him my way! I love what kids say when they start cooking and seeing just how much sugar and such is in our food. It’s a better lesson than just telling them. I’ll be making these very soon.
We do refrigerator “pickles” too but not sweet. It’s just thinly sliced cucumbers and onions with white vinegar and water (2/1). I can’t keep them in the house.
My grandmother used to make something with sour cream or something and it was delicious — unfortunately, I never was able to get the recipe :(
Thanks for sharing!
Don’t know if this is your grandmothers recipe. . .Peel and slice 3 cucumbers. Diced one half onion. Dill weed, salt and pepper to taste, and about 3 tablespoons of sour cream. Mix all together and refrigerate for an hour.
These are so delicious! When I was a kid my parents had this huge garden and we would make pickles like this too and eat them all summer & fall.
Yum, this would be great for summer sides/salads!
I’ve never tried this but would love to! I think my son would love helping.
I LOVE homemade pickles (used to make them all the time with my grandparents). Better believe I will be trying this out shortly. My True T-49 fridge is going to be stocked with so many goodies like this in the coming weeks! Great post, great memories.
Can you use green tomatoes instead of cucumbers?
I’ve never done that but I’d encourage you to try !
Do they sit on the counter for 48 hours or in the fridge?
In the fridge, Monica!! They are much better when they’re cold :)
How long do they stay good for….? Thinking of making some as a Christmas presents!
I usually keep them for a few months. I have never had “bad” ones, though, so I’m not sure! My grandmother used to can them and keep them in the basement–I think they would keep longer that way!
Do you have to use pickling salt or can you use regular salt for the refrigerated sweet pickles?
I use regular salt!
These sound so yummy. Jack’s a smart kid! :)
Fastidious answer back in return of this matter with firm arguments and telling everything concerning that.
Thank you so much for this simple recipe. I made a batch and it didn’t last a week. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
I just mixed up a batch. Will let you know!
fyi -your recipe says 2 T celery seeds but photo shows seeds in a “teaspoon”. Did you mean for it to be 2 teaspoons celery seeds? Thanks
Sharon
Hi Sharon, I’m sorry that was confusing–it was just for the picture, to show the ingredients. The measurements in the recipe are the correct ones, not the picture ;)
ahhh Thank You! Just wondered b/c other recipes use less celery seeds. I just Made 2 batches- can’t wait!
Thanks for the recipe & quick reply :)
I kind of love the celery seeds ;)
I can’t wait for you to try them! I hope you love them as much as we do.
CAn you clarify the quantity of cucumbers since they vary in size so much. How many cups of sliced cukes are we talking? Thanks
Hey Liz! This recipe is super forgiving – I’m going to guess about 10ish cups of cucumbers, but know that I have it with made more and I’ve made it with less, and they’ve turned out delicious!
I tried making these with pickling cucumbers and these didn’t come out good. Ended up throwing most away. I don’t know if it was the type of cucumber or not. It looks like you may use regular cucumbers.
Yes, I use regular cucumbers :)
I made these keto with monk fruit blend! Great recipe! Delicious!
You don’t need to heat the mixture?
Nope!
I didn’t use a big enough jar so I tried pouring it into a bigger jar. Then tried to get the undesolved sugar in the bigger jar. Yikes, what a mess! If I make these again, I will make a sugar/vinegar syrup heated on the stove to dissolve sugar. THEN CHILL and pour over cucumbers. I usually make a syrup for pickles and it works MUCH BETTER!
Hi Debby, I’m sorry you had trouble moving your pickles from one jar to another–do you think a 2 star review on the recipe was fair?