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I grew up eating these sweet refrigerator pickles and now my kids love them as much as I do. They’re a crispy, crunchy, sweet pickle that tastes great on hamburgers or as a side dish.
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 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 typically steer clear 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.
- 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.
How to make Sweet Refrigerator Pickles
Step 1: 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.
Grab your largest jar for the pickles, about 1/2 gallon will be best at first.
Step 2: Add sliced cucumbers and all the remaining ingredients to a large container that closes and stir it up a little.
Some cucumbers will stick out of the liquid that you added. The cucumbers will make a bit more liquid, and they’ll also get a bit softer, allowing them to all fit under the liquid in a day or two.
After a few days you can transfer into a smaller jar.
Step 3: 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. Shake the container a few times a day for the first few days and you’ll be good. Trust the process.
Recipe Tips
- We like to store our sweet pickles in a large glass mason jar, you could also use plastic. 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 (depending on how much we eat) 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, vinegar, and sugar every 3-4 weeks. Even if you’re not adding more and rotating through them, they’ll be good for a few months.
- 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 pickles to BBQs to share with family and friends.
More BBQ Recipes
Easy Sweet Refrigerator Pickle Recipe
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Kitchen Knife
- Half Gallon Jar or Container
Ingredients
- 7-10 cucumbers washed, skin left on
- 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. 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
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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Can the cucumbers be put in pint jars & then pour syrup over each jar?
Yes! It’s that easy :)
How many quarts does this make?
Should we try two quart jars ? And just make more liquid?
Can we add pickle spices also ?
Hi Mary Beth – you can use a half gallon jar for these, and after a few days you can transfer into a smaller jar.
My recipe makes sweet pickles, if you’d like to make dill pickles you can definitely do that as well. If you’re going to add dill pickle spices, I’d skip the celery seeds in this recipe and add only 1/4 cup sugar. Taste them before adding any additional sugar.