Easy Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
These easy refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles taste exactly like the ones my mom used to can. Except, these Refrigerator Pickles are no muss, no fuss!!!
If you’re new to canning or don’t have all the proper equipment for the full-fledged canning process, this simple recipe for homemade sweet pickles is the perfect place to start!
Reader Endorsement:
From Vermaast via Pinterest: I made 24 pints of these bread and butter Pickles and they came out great. They are delicious.
Why You Must Make
- If you’ve never made pickles before, this is an easy recipe that doesn’t require processing.
- They’re sweet and delicious!
- Perfect for snacking or adding to a sandwich!
Expert Tips
If you’re lazy like me and don’t want to go through the full routine of actually canning pickles, these refrigerator pickles bread and butter pickles are perfect for you! The process will still take a few hours, but it’s a very simple procedure. Happy preserving!
Buying and Prepping Your Cucumbers
- Use the freshest, unblemished cucumbers you can find. Pickling cucumbers are smaller than the variety you may use in your salads, so look for those.
The Pickling Process
- Before brining, wash your cucumbers without soap to remove any dirt or contaminants.
- To make these pickles, slices of cucumber and onions were heavily salted and covered with ice. Over three hours, the ice began to melt and the vegetables were brined.
- A double rinse is needed to remove excess salt and then, the cukes and onions were added to a hot pickling mixture of vinegar, sugar, and spices.
- The ratio of vinegar and sugar can vary among recipes as well as the spices used. This recipe hits the mark of perfection for me! Feel free to tweak it to your taste buds. For example, these sweet pickles are pretty sweet, you may want to decrease the sugar, but I find these perfect!
Storing Your Refrigerator Pickles
- These bread and butter pickles were packed in jars and cooled before screwing on the lids and refrigerating. Now isn’t that simple?
- Since this method did not involve sterilization, they should be eaten within a couple of weeks (some sources say they’re good for 6-8 weeks).
- If you grow pickle-sized cucumbers in your garden, make an extra batch and share these with your friends and neighbors!
Frequently Asked Questions
Unlike true canned pickles that need to be processed in a water bath to make them shelf-safe, refrigerator pickles are actually heated at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time. This does not hermetically seal them, so they must be stored in the refrigerator for a limited amount of time.
These refrigerator pickles are nothing more than a subclass of sweet pickles. The origin of their name may come from the Great Depression when they were possibly used as a sandwich filling when combined with bread and butter.
Refrigerator pickles will keep well for 3-4 weeks as long as they’re stored in the refrigerator. Watch the brine and if it starts looking murky or if the pickles’ texture starts to deteriorate, it’s time to discard them.
You May Also Like:
- Homemade Claussen Knock-Off Pickles from Foodie with Family
- Kool-Aid Pickles from Tornadough Alli
- Easy Pasta Salad with Pickle Relish
- Cubano with Sliced Dill Pickles
- Pickled Onions
- Easy Dill Pickle Dip
- More Snack Recipes
Note: I purchased my canning labels from Felix Doolittle. Watch for sales around the holidays.
Easy Bread and Butter Pickles
Easy, refrigerator bread and butter pickles like my mom used to make!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pickling cucumbers, sliced
- 8 pearl onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup canning salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- A pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
- In a large container, combine the cucumbers, onions and salt. Cover with crushed ice and mix well. Let stand for 3 hours. Drain; rinse and drain again.
- In a large pot, combine the sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric, and cloves and bring to a boil.
- Add cucumber mixture, then return to a boil. Remove from the heat.
- Carefully ladle hot mixture into jars.
- Let cool, then screw on lids and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
- If you'd like to store them longer, refer to a canning manual or website for directions.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 73Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1180mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 0gSugar: 17gProtein: 0g
Each summer, we’d pile into our unairconditioned station wagon and take the eight-hour trek up to visit our North Dakota relatives. There were no seat belts nor radio in that car, either. My dad was a frugal man! We’d kill time by picking out our favorite farmhouses and playing license plate games as we headed north on I-35. Once our trip corresponded with a total eclipse of the sun, so we drove across the Canada border for an awesome show by Mother Nature.
More typically, we’d create our own adventures with our cousins. We climbed into the barn lofts, visited the dogs and horses, ate homemade caramels and tacos, and helped make bread and butter pickles. My dad was more of a dill and garlic sort of guy, but, like my mom and her clan, I loved those sweet pickles flavored with mustard and celery seeds.
I’m certain my aunt, Angela, actually canned hers, but I took the easy route with these easy bread and butter pickles. At that age, I was much more interested in eating refrigerator pickles than paying attention to the process, but I’m delighted it was so easy to replicate the taste.
70 Comments on “Easy Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles”
This year, we are on the search for the perfect bread and butter pickle recipe. I’m excited to give yours a try!
These look yummy Liz! I made some a couple of weeks ago they were fantastic. Made dill also but the bread and butter are my favorites. Your’s is the first bread and butter recipe I’ve seen that uses tumeric. Wish I had seen it, I have a ton of tumeric on hand. Guess I’ll have to make more!
I love pickles. Any kind of pickles.
And these pickles? I want them!
Looks like a fabulous pickle recipe, which I will be making soon … thanks for sharing!
These are one of my favorite kinds of pickles! Thanks for the recipe Liz!
After seeing these homemade who would ever want a store bought not me ….a must make
While I’m not a fan of B&B pickles, I wouldn’t pass them up on a burger either!
I sure would love to try this recipe! Your labels are simple adorable. The whole presentation is lovely 🙂
So crunchy and appetizing!
Love bread and butter pickles! And yours look fabulously delicious! Love the label!
I so remember those kind of car trips. Sometimes I’d put my little sister on the floor in the back seat and make her up with my makeup. Then she’d raise her head and look at my mom in the rear view mirror. My mom would almost drive off the road 🙂 I could eat my weight in these pickles! Love them!
I’ve never canned pickles before Liz, so I’m saving your recipe for future summers. Bread and Butter pickles are my mother’s absolute favorite flavor too! Been canning tomatoes every other day and we’ve still got them coming on the vines . . . guess it makes up for not having even one tomato last year due to the torrential rains we had. Ah, Mother Nature!
xo
Roz
I love how quick and easy these are to put together they look and sound simply delicious. Nothing beats a treat that can take you back to your childhood!
Every year my family drove from So. Calif. to our family farm in Rogersville Mo. My dad was a non-stop driver so if you had to go to the bathroom you had to make a dash for the restroom at the gas station! When Dad was ready you had better be in the car. No stopping to see the sights (I was grown before I got a chance to see the Grand Canyon!) Half way there we would stop at a motel so that he could get a few hours of sleep. We would hang out at the pool (if there was one) and then start out again with Dad at the wheel. Whee! Look out! My parents are gone now but I remember what fun we had laughing and talking and singing on those LONG trips! We put a lot of miles on that station wagon!
I’m really not a fan of pickles, but awesome job! These look like the real deal ones you see in stores. But I’m sure taste much much better 🙂
Love your idea of a fridge-version!
I always shop the perimeter of the store. Luckily yesterday I found Oreos on the perimeter 😉 Pickles have always been one of my favorite snacks. This is such an interesting method for making them.
Gorgeous pickles, full of idyllic childhood memories – just perfect for a nostalgic summer snack!
You made my favorite! BTW I love that sticker you have on the jars! That is sooo cute!!
I’ve never made pickles before. So glad you went first and explained the process in such easy to follow terms.
Bread and Butter Pickles is one of my favorites! I’m making a big batch next week when we get back home for an event! Your road trips brought up memories for me. Every couple of years, when I was a kid, we drove from our Pennsylvania home to visit my parents families in Alabama. It was a long 2 – day trip and we filled the time playing license plate games too, and playing an alphabet game where we had to find things outside the car that started with a, then b, c, etc. We couldn’t use each other’s words, and couldn’t move onto the next letter until we found something noone else had used for the previous letter. I can still remember how pissed I was when my dad spied a quilt hanging in someone’s backyard in Tennessee right when he was looking for something starting with a ‘Q’. Mom and I tried to bribe him with cookies to allow us to all share quilt for our ‘Q’s.