Bread and Butter Pickles are easy to make with simple ingredients, then seal and store in the fridge. No fancy canning equipment required.
This easy recipe makes slightly tangy, sweet pickles, perfect to enjoy as a Side Dish or toppings to go on Homemade Burgers and other favorite Sandwich Recipes.
Sabrina’s Bread and Butter Pickles
These delicious pickles are sure to become your favorite sandwich pickle. The Homemade Pickles are made with a handful of fresh ingredients like cucumber, bell pepper, and onion. Then the vegetables are mixed in a vinegar sugar syrup that gives them the perfect sweet and tangy flavor.
Pickled veggies of all types are a great addition to any meal. They’re kept in the fridge for a easy grab side, like Pickled Turnips!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 10 cups pickling cucumbers , sliced, do not peel
- 1 onion , thinly sliced
- 1 green bell pepper , minced
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the cucumbers, onions, bell pepper, garlic, and salt, and toss well.
- Let sit for 3 hours.
- In a large pot add the water, sugar, white vinegar, mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric, and cloves.
- Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.
- Drain any liquid that has seeped out of the vegetables.
- Add the vegetables to the hot liquid and stir well.
- Transfer to small glass jars and store in the refrigerator until serving. (They will start to absorb the brine flavors after 24 hours.)
Nutrition
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Table of Contents
About this Recipe
Easy refrigerator pickles are great if you’re a fan of pickles but don’t want to go through any complex canning steps. After letting the vegetables sit, the hands-on process time is just a few minutes. Then you just put the Bread and Butter Pickle recipe in the fridge to set. The finished result is the perfect sweet pickle with some crunch, perfect for Summer.
Chef’s Note
This pickle recipe is so good, you’ll want to enjoy them as often as possible! The most obvious way to serve pickles is in sandwiches and hamburgers. However, you can also try serving them in more unexpected dishes. Chop the pickles and mix them in your favorite Coleslaw or Potato Salad Recipe. You could also use this Butter Pickles recipe as a topping for dishes like Tater Tot Casserole, Big Mac Salad, or Totchos.
How to Store
- Serve: For optimal flavor, leave the pickle container in the refrigerator for at least a week before opening and serving. When you serve the pickles, don’t leave an opened jar out at room temperature for more than a few hours.
- Store: As long as they’re tightly sealed in an airtight container, you can keep the pickles in the fridge for up to 1 year. So, this is a great recipe to make in advance and enjoy for months.
FAQ’s
Bread and Butter Pickles are an American classic at this point. They were first created by cucumber farmers, Omar and Cora Fanning, during the great depression. One of the ways the couple got through the hard time was by exchanging jars of their homemade pickles at the local grocer for bread and butter. Hence the name, Bread and Butter Pickles.
Boiling the brine for pickles allows the sugar granules to dissolve, and the different liquids to combine. Heating the liquid will also bring out the flavors of the seasonings you choose to use in your brine.
The pickles will take some time to cool off in the refrigerator, however you can enjoy your pickles right away. Just remember the longer they sit in the jar, the more classic pickle flavor they will absorb. When you eat them can be a matter of personal preference as some people like theirs a little less, or a little more pickled.
These different types of pickles use different seasonings in the brine to give them distinct flavors. Bread and Butter Pickles, in particular, use more sugar and the end result is a sweeter flavor to go along with the other pickle flavors.
Variations
- Seasonings: You can flavor the pickles in lots of different ways, depending on what spices you mix into the brine. Try adding in ground ginger, red pepper flakes, chili powder, paprika, or cumin.
- Vinegar: If you don’t have white vinegar for the pickling liquid, you can use apple cider vinegar or malt vinegar.
- Spicy Pickles: If you want a spicy pickle mixture, try slicing jalapeño peppers and let them soak with the other vegetables before adding them to the canning jars.
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Ideas to Serve
You say they keep, tightly sealed, in the fridge up to a year. But what about, once opened ? How long will they stay good, in the fridge, once the jar has been opened? Thank you.
For optimal flavor, leave the pickle container in the refrigerator for at least a week before opening and serving. When you serve Bread and Butter Pickles, don’t leave an opened jar out at room temperature for more than a few hours. Once opened the Bread and Butter Pickles can last up to 3 months in the refrigerator.