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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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We write our recipes with detailed instructions, tips and tricks, healthy eating plan points, and nutritional information. If you are ready to get started with more simplified instructions, simply scroll down to the bottom of the page where you’ll find our easy to print Sweet Refrigerator Pickles recipe.
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.
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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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?
You don’t need to heat the mixture?
Nope!
I made these keto with monk fruit blend! Great recipe! 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 :)
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!
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.
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 ;)
I just mixed up a batch. Will let you know!
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.
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