This homemade dill pickle recipe is super simple and results in crisp pickles that beat anything you can find at the grocery store.
Like all of the other pickles recipes on Inspired Taste, these are refrigerator pickles, meaning you can enjoy them in as little as a day. I love the simple dill pickle brine in this recipe. It’s super simple to make and gives the cucumbers a classic flavor.
These are great right out of the fridge as a snack or served alongside your next juicy burger, veggie burger, or sandwich! For another easy cucumber pickle, try our sweeter bread and butter pickles.
Key Ingredients
- Cucumbers: For the best pickles, choose Kirby cucumbers. They’re short, fat, and have bumpy skin, making them ideal for pickling because they hold up well in the brine and stay crisp. If you don’t have access to a garden, farmers market, or farm, use smaller, thin-skinned cucumbers like Persian cucumbers or English cucumbers as a substitute.
- Fresh Dill: I use a generous amount of dill since we’re making dill pickles. I chop half of it to float in the brine and leave the rest as whole sprigs, which I push into the jar for a pretty look.
- Garlic: I add whole cloves of fresh garlic to my pickle brine because I love the flavor. If you’re sensitive to garlic, use a little less, and if you love it, mince it or add a few more cloves.
- Vinegar: Use distilled white vinegar with 5% acidity (most are, but double-check the label).
- Pickling Spices: For classic pickles, I combine a teaspoon of sugar with peppercorns, pickling or sea salt, yellow mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and dill seeds. I also love a dried arbol chili pepper for a hint of spice (but this is optional). If you do not have any, use a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Pickles
Tip 1: These easy pickles only require two steps. Like all the other delicious pickle recipes on Inspired Taste, these are refrigerator pickles, which means they are quick to make, and you don’t need to wait very long before enjoying them. Here’s what to expect:
- Let sliced cucumbers sit with salt, whole black peppercorns, chopped fresh dill, garlic cloves, and an optional arbol chili pepper for 30 minutes.
- Add them to a jar and cover them with our simple dill pickle brine.
Tip 2: Hot brine vs. cold brine. Depending on the type of crunch and color you love in your cucumber pickles, you have two options for the brine:
- (Option 1) Hot brine pickles: If you prefer pickles with a slightly softer crunch similar to classic store-bought varieties, hot brining is your answer. Pour the hot brine directly over your cucumbers. While this method softens the cucumbers slightly and results in a slightly duller green color, many people love the texture! Another big advantage of the hot brine is that you can start snacking on these pickles the next day!
- (Option 2) Cold brine pickles: For pickles with a snappy crunch and a fresh green color, cold brining is the way to go. For this method, allow the brine to cool completely before pouring it over the cucumbers. Be patient, as the full pickling process takes a bit longer (typically 3 to 5 days). But trust us, the wait is worth it for that extra crunch and bright color. These remind me more of my favorite deli-style pickles!
Ways to Use Dill Pickles (Other than snacking!)
Outside of munching on them straight from the fridge, I use these to make homemade tartar sauce, creamy pasta salad, and this creamy potato salad.
They are amazing with wraps, sandwiches, and burgers, too. I love adding them to smash burgers, black bean burgers, lobster rolls, tuna salad, and more!
More Pickle Recipes
Perfect Dill Pickles
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We created this recipe for dill pickles with our friend and chef, Richard Hattaway. He helped us dial in the recipe and has truly made our family’s go-to pickles! You have two options when making these pickles: hot-brined or cold-brined pickles. Hot-brined pickles are ready in a day, offering a quicker option, while cold-brined pickles take 3 to 5 days before they are ready. Cold-brined pickles are more crisp and retain a vibrant green color. For a more detailed comparison, please refer to the article above.
You Will Need
6 pickling cucumbers, like Kirby (21 ounces or 600g)
5 cloves garlic
4 sprigs fresh dill
1 dried arbol chili pepper, optional
4 whole peppercorns
1 cup white vinegar, 5% acidity (236ml)
½ cup water (118ml)
2 teaspoons pickling salt for cucumbers (12g)
¼ teaspoon pickling salt for brine (2g)
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon whole coriander seeds
¼ teaspoon dill seeds, optional
Directions
1Prepare the cucumbers: Cut the ends off the cucumbers and cut them into spears lengthwise (I typically get 6 spears per cucumber).
2Prepare the garlic: For garlicky pickles, mince the garlic. For a milder garlic flavor, leave the garlic cloves peeled and whole.
3Prepare the dill: Chop half of the dill and keep the rest as whole dill sprigs.
4Salt the cucumbers: In a large bowl, toss the cucumbers with 2 teaspoons (12g) of salt, peppercorns, garlic, chopped dill, and optional arbol chili pepper. Let them sit for 30 minutes.
5Add to a jar: Pack the cucumbers tightly into a 1-quart mason jar (1 liter). If some cucumbers don’t fit, cut them in half and place them on top of the packed spears. Scrape all the dill, garlic, and salt from the bowl into the jar. Slide the chili and slide the remaining sprigs of fresh dill down the side of the jar.
6Make pickle brine: In a small saucepan, bring vinegar, water, ¼ teaspoon (2g) salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and dill seeds to a boil.
7For hot-brined pickles: Immediately pour the hot brine over the cucumbers to fully submerge them. Leave about ⅛ inch of space between the top of the brine and the jar lid. Let the jar cool to room temperature, then tighten the lid finger-tight.
8For cold-brined pickles: Allow the brine to cool to room temperature before pouring it over the cucumbers to fully submerge them. Leave about ⅛ inch of space between the top of the brine and the jar lid. Tighten the lid finger-tight.
9Refrigerate: Place the jar upside down in a bowl for the first night, then turn it right-side-up the next day. Hot-brined pickles will be ready the next day, while cold-brined pickles need 3 to 5 days before they’re ready to enjoy. The jar of pickles will last in the fridge for up to one month.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Cucumbers: The best cucumbers for pickling are Kirby, Boston pickling, and other pickling-specific varieties. They are short, fat, and have bumpy skin, making them perfect for brining while retaining their crispness. Smaller Persian cucumbers are a good alternative.
- Dill seeds: These are classic in pickling recipes. They are not the same as dried dill weed. I find them online or in natural/organic food stores.
- Canning: These pickles have been specifically designed for the refrigerator and are meant to be kept in the fridge at all times. However, if you’re experienced in canning, you could adapt them for long-term shelf stability. This would involve using sanitized jars, new lids, and possibly a pressure canner.
- Salt: Pickling salt is best, but you can also use Morton’s kosher salt or sea salt. Avoid table salt due to additives. If using Diamond Crystal salt, you may need to adjust the quantity as it’s larger than pickling salt. We recommend measuring by weight for pickles. If you measure by volume (like tablespoons), you will need about 50% more Diamond Crystal salt.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. Calculating how much salt is in the pickle spears is difficult, so we have included all of the brine in the calculations.
I ended up making 2 pint jars by doubling the brine recipe. My pickles ended up being super sour. How long are you supposed to boil the brine for? Should i add more water instead of doubling the vinegar next time? My family loved them, so hoping i can figure out how to make them less sour.
This recipe looks delicious! Does it matter if the cucumbers are cut into spears or sliced for chips?
No, pickle chips work nicely in this recipe.
If you decide to can these for long term storage, you only need to waterbath can them. Pickles don’t need to be pressure canned.
made the pickle recipe and entered contest… but i did make a slight adjustment, husband hates cucumber pickles, but loves carrots and bell pepper pickles, so i used your recipe and made 3 jars. using carrots, bell peppers and onions ….good thing too,… he ate 1 WHOLE jar yesterday , as snacks and with meals. said it was the best pickles i’ve made to date. now i gotta try your pickled jalepeno pepper recipe
These pickles are delicious and so easy to make! I used the cold brine option and English cucumbers since I already had some of them. I will be making fresh pickles regularly with this recipe.
You have made our day with this review!:)
My daughter and I purchased some dill at the beginning of the season and it’s growing like crazy. So…. we googled a pickle recipe and WOW! We not only had fun making them, we love eating them. East, delicious and great for the summer heat!
Wow! We have heard that growing your own dill can be difficult. We LOVE dill so we need to try. So glad you enjoyed your pickles 🙂
I have a lot of cucumbers! This looks like a good recipe! Can this recipe be doubled or tripled as is?
Yes, definitely!
So happy I came across your recipe! I have tried so many dill pickle recipes over many years trying to find one where the cucumbers were crisp and tasted great, this is it!! Made these this Summer, did the refrigerator kind and they are delicious crunchy everything a dill pickle should be! Can’t thank you enough! Love them!
Yay! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review. We are thrilled that you loved your pickles 🙂
This was a very easy recipe to make, my only problem was finding Dill seeds, I used Dried Dill weed instead and the pickles came out great! Thank you.
Hi Mike, so glad you enjoyed them. We have also had some trouble finding dill seeds. We just leave it out when we can’t find it.
Is there a way t make these Dill pickles shelf stable. I’m up in age and try to store foods as I don’t have away to the store very often.
Hello Barbara, These pickles have been specifically designed for refrigeration storage. They are meant to be kept in the fridge at all times. However, if you’re experienced in canning, you could potentially adapt them for long-term shelf stability. This would involve using sanitized jars, new lids, and a pressure canner.
Can you use Dill weed instead of fresh dill?
Hi Chuck, I am assuming that you mean dried dill weed. Yes, you should be able to.
If I use the hot brine, will the jars seal and be shelf stable?
Hi Denise, These pickles have been specifically designed for refrigeration storage. They are meant to be kept in the fridge at all times. However, if you’re experienced in canning, you could potentially adapt them for long-term shelf stability. This would involve using sanitized jars, new lids, and a pressure canner.
Could you tell me how long the dills will keep in the fridge. I enjoy your site and like how you make things that are easy and not to expensive. Thank you both so much.
Hi Connie, The pickles will last at least a month, possibly and week or two longer. Just make sure that they stay covered in the brine.
an exciting new site to add to my list – great video for baked cabbage Thank you
So happy that you found us! You are going to love the baked cabbage 🙂