How to Make Pickles: Refrigerator, Canned and Fermented

By the Garden Voila editorial team · Updated October 27, 2026 · How we verify

There are three main ways to make pickles at home. Quick refrigerator pickles are made by pouring a hot vinegar brine over fresh vegetables in a jar and refrigerating them; they are ready in a day or two and keep for several weeks in the fridge. Shelf-stable fresh-pack (quick process) pickles use a tested vinegar brine and are processed in a boiling water bath, for example 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts of many dill pickle recipes. Fermented pickles, such as traditional crock dills, cure in a salt brine for three to four weeks as lactic acid bacteria sour them. For any pickles stored at room temperature, use a tested recipe, vinegar of 5 percent acidity, canning or pickling salt, and never reduce the vinegar or dilute the brine beyond what the recipe allows.

Pickling at a glance

What ingredients do you need for pickles?

• Pickling cucumbers: short, bumpy varieties with thin skins, such as ‘Boston Pickling’, ‘National Pickling’, ‘Calypso’ and ‘Homemade Pickles’, 3 to 5 inches long for whole pickles. Slicing cucumbers and waxed grocery cucumbers make soft pickles.
• Vinegar with 5 percent acidity, white distilled or cider. Never use homemade vinegar or vinegar of unknown strength.
• Canning or pickling salt, which has no iodine or anti-caking agents that cloud brine or darken pickles.
• Fresh spices and herbs: dill heads or seed, garlic, mustard seed, peppercorns, bay leaves.
• Soft water if possible; hard water can cloud brine or affect fermentation.

The Ohio State University Extension fact sheet on making pickles explains why the acidity of vinegar and the ratio of vinegar to water matter for safety: the acid is what makes pickles safe to water bath can.

How do you make quick refrigerator dill pickles?

1. Wash 2 pounds of pickling cucumbers, scrub off the spines, and cut 1/16 inch from the blossom end, which contains enzymes that soften pickles. Slice into spears or chips, or leave small ones whole.
2. Pack the cucumbers tightly into clean jars with fresh dill sprigs, a few peeled garlic cloves and a teaspoon of mustard seed per pint.
3. In a saucepan, combine equal parts 5 percent vinegar and water, plus about 1 tablespoon of pickling salt per cup of liquid, and a little sugar if you like. Bring to a boil to dissolve the salt.
4. Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers to cover them completely.
5. Cool, cover and refrigerate. Pickles are ready in 24 to 48 hours and taste best after a week.

Refrigerator pickles are not processed, so they must always be kept in the refrigerator. Most keep good quality for about a month; follow your recipe’s guidance and discard any with mold, slime or an off smell.

How do you can shelf-stable dill pickles?

A tested USDA quick fresh-pack dill pickle recipe follows these steps:

1. Prepare cucumbers: wash, remove 1/16 inch from the blossom end, and leave whole or cut into spears. Some recipes soak them in a salt brine or ice water for several hours to keep them crisp.
2. Prepare jars and the water bath canner, keeping jars hot.
3. Make the brine from vinegar, water, pickling salt and spices in exactly the recipe’s proportions, and bring it to a boil.
4. Pack jars with cucumbers, dill, garlic and mustard seed, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
5. Cover with hot brine, keeping 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and apply lids and bands.
6. Process in a boiling water bath: for many quick dill recipes, 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts at 0 to 1,000 feet, adding time for higher altitudes. Start timing when the water returns to a full boil.
7. Cool, check seals, and store. Let pickles stand for four to five weeks before eating so the flavor develops.

For crisper pickles, some USDA recipes allow low-temperature pasteurization: processing jars in water held between 180°F and 185°F for 30 minutes, monitored with a thermometer. Use this only with recipes that specify it. See water bath canning for beginners for the full canning process.

How do you make fermented pickles?

Fermented, or brined, pickles develop their tangy flavor from lactic acid produced by naturally present bacteria. Pack whole pickling cucumbers into a clean crock or food-grade container with dill, garlic and spices. Cover them with a brine of pickling salt and water at the concentration your tested recipe gives, along with a little vinegar in some recipes. Weigh the cucumbers down with a plate and a water-filled bag so they stay at least 1 to 2 inches under the brine, and cover the container with a clean cloth. Keep it at 70°F to 75°F, where fermentation takes three to four weeks; at 55°F to 65°F it takes five to six weeks; above 80°F pickles may become soft. Check several times a week and remove any surface scum. When the bubbling stops and the pickles are evenly translucent and sour, refrigerate them, or heat the brine and can them using tested times. See how to make sauerkraut for more on fermentation.

How do you keep pickles crisp?

• Use fresh cucumbers, ideally pickled within 24 hours of harvest. Cucumbers held longer lose crispness and can become hollow.
• Choose pickling varieties and avoid waxed store-bought cucumbers.
• Remove the blossom end, which contains softening enzymes.
• Chill cucumbers in ice water for several hours before pickling.
• Use calcium chloride (sold as pickle crisp granules) according to the label; alum and lime are no longer recommended, and lime must be rinsed out thoroughly if a tested recipe calls for it.
• Do not overprocess, and use low-temperature pasteurization when the recipe allows it.
• Grape, oak or horseradish leaves contain tannins that some cooks add to fermented pickles; they are optional.

What else can you pickle?

Almost any firm vegetable can be quick pickled for the refrigerator: carrots, green beans (dilly beans), beets, onions, peppers, cauliflower, zucchini, radishes, okra and asparagus. For shelf-stable canned pickles of these vegetables, use tested recipes, because each vegetable has its own required vinegar ratio and processing time; low-acid vegetables like beans and beets rely on enough vinegar to become safe. Pickled beets and dilly beans are popular tested recipes. Grow your own pickling crops with our guides to cucumbers, beets, carrots and dill.

What causes pickle problems?

Can you reduce salt or sugar in pickles?

In quick fresh-pack pickles, salt can be reduced or left out because vinegar provides the safety, though texture and flavor change. Sugar can be reduced in sweet pickles only by using tested reduced-sugar recipes. In fermented pickles, never reduce the salt: the correct salt concentration controls which microorganisms grow and keeps pickles safe. Never reduce the amount of vinegar or increase the amount of water in any canned pickle recipe, and do not add extra low-acid vegetables such as onions or peppers to tested pickle or relish recipes.

Common pickling mistakes

• Using vinegar of unknown or low acidity.
• Diluting brine to make pickles less sour.
• Using table salt or flake salt measured by volume instead of pickling salt.
• Using slicing or waxed cucumbers.
• Leaving the blossom end on.
• Storing refrigerator pickles at room temperature.
• Using untested recipes for canned pickled vegetables.
• Using copper, brass, iron or galvanized pots, which react with acid; use stainless steel, enamel or glass.

The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning includes a full chapter of tested pickle, relish and fermented vegetable recipes, and the Wikipedia article on pickled cucumbers covers the history and regional styles of pickles around the world.

Preserving more of your harvest? Our food preserving guide helps you choose the right method for each crop.

Pickles FAQ

How do you grow cucumbers for pickling?

Pickling cucumbers are compact, productive plants that set many fruits over a few weeks. Sow seeds outdoors after the soil warms to at least 65°F, in full sun and rich, well-drained soil, and give them consistent water; drought stress causes bitter, misshapen and hollow fruit. Harvest every day or two once plants start producing, picking cucumbers at the size your recipe needs, usually 1 1/2 to 2 inches for gherkins, 3 to 5 inches for whole dills, and up to 6 inches for spears and chips. Pick in the cool of the morning, refrigerate immediately if you cannot pickle the same day, and pickle within 24 hours for the best texture. Watch for cucumber beetles, which spread bacterial wilt, and powdery mildew late in the season.

How many cucumbers do you need?

As a guide, a bushel of cucumbers weighs about 48 pounds and makes 16 to 24 quarts of pickles, or about 2 pounds of cucumbers per quart. A canner load of 7 quarts needs about 14 pounds, and a load of 9 pints needs about 9 pounds. Use the plants needed for a harvest goal calculator to estimate how many plants to grow for the jars you want; pickling varieties typically yield several pounds per plant over the season.

Bread and butter pickles and other sweet pickles

Sweet pickles use a brine of vinegar and sugar with spices such as mustard seed, celery seed and turmeric. Bread and butter pickles are made from thinly sliced cucumbers and onions, salted and chilled for several hours, then drained and briefly heated in the sweet vinegar brine before packing and processing. Sweet gherkins and candied pickles use multi-day methods in which the syrup is gradually strengthened. Always use a tested recipe for sweet pickles to be canned, and use reduced-sugar recipes rather than cutting sugar in a standard recipe.

How should you store pickles?

Store processed pickles in a cool, dark, dry place, ideally between 50°F and 70°F, and use them within a year. Refrigerate them after opening and keep them submerged in brine. Fermented pickles that are not canned must stay refrigerated, where they keep for four to six months, slowly becoming more sour. Refrigerator pickles stay in the fridge from the start. Label every jar with its contents and date so you rotate older jars first.

References used in this guide: Ohio State University Extension, Making Pickles; National Center for Home Food Preservation, USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning; Wikipedia, Pickled cucumber.