Easy Refrigerator Pickles

It is easier to make refrigerator pickles at home than you think! Simply slice some cucumbers, pour a flavorful brine over them, and let the vinegar do its magic. You’ll have keto pickles for a delicious snack and burger accompaniment in no time!

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Dill pickles are one of my family’s favorites. We love having these easy refrigerator dill pickles with Keto Turkey Burgers or Cowboy Butter Burgers! I take my burgers very seriously and load them up with lots of cheese, toppings, and sauce. They are messy but oh so good.

Use these keto pickles on sandwiches, in salads such as my Dill Pickle Chicken Salad, in Dill Pickle Salad Dressing, or even in my Keto Cheeseburger Soup Recipe.

If you’ve never made homemade pickles, you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to make homemade dill pickles.

Want more cucumber recipes? This Tajin Cucumber Salad is a wonderfully cool and creamy summer salad.

What are Refrigerator Pickles?

These are what are called “Refrigerator Pickles,” which are not shelf-stable, although the vinegar does preserve them somewhat, so they do last quite a while, but they do need to be stored in the fridge. Homemade refrigerator pickles are much easier to make than canned pickles, and they have more crunch than shelf-stable store-bought pickles since you let the brine cool before pouring it over the cucumbers. The standard canning process can also require special equipment that not everyone has.

Ingredients

• Cucumbers – I normally use mini cucumbers, but any variety will work.
• Dill seeds – For the classic dill flavor profile, I use only one flavoring: dill seeds. I tried using fresh dill, but it didn’t have enough dill flavor, so I switched to dill seeds.
• Pickling salt or kosher salt – Salt helps improve texture, draw out moisture, flavor the cucumbers, support fermentation, and reduce bad bacteria.
• White vinegar – While you can use any type of vinegar, white vinegar has the mildest flavor, which helps the dill flavor stand out.

How to Make Easy Refrigerator Pickles

1️⃣ Make Pickling Brine

Add the vinegar, water, and salt to a medium saucepan. Bring the brine ingredients to a boil. Cook for a few minutes until the salt dissolves. Let cool to room temperature and add the dill seeds or any other seasoning you want.

2️⃣ Add Cucumbers to Jars

Fill glass jars with the sliced cucumbers. I normally use quart jars to fit a lot of cucumbers in, but pint jars work too.

3️⃣ Add the Brine

Pour the cooled brine over the cucumbers. Put the jar in the fridge. Your delicious pickles are ready to enjoy the next day, but the flavor will develop further with longer storage. They have the best flavor and crunch about one week after making them.

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Variations

Feel free to play with it and add whatever you would like to your refrigerator pickles. Turn them into Keto Fried Pickles for a great keto appetizer.

• Spicy – You can add a chopped jalapeno or two to each jar of pickles or add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for spicy dill pickles.
• Garlic – For garlic dill pickles, add a clove of garlic or a few garlic cloves (minced or sliced) into each jar of pickles.
• Sweet – I have not tried making this recipe into butter pickles or sweet pickles, but if you do, please let me know how they turn out. For keto pickles, use a sugar-free sweetener.
• Mustard – You can also add mustard seeds, but I found that I can’t really taste them, so I don’t think it’s worth the effort.
• Spices – You can use a classic pickling spice if you want to. Pickling spice blends typically include yellow mustard seeds, black peppercorns, dill seeds, coriander seeds, bay leaves, and warm spices such as allspice, cloves, or cinnamon.
• Vinegar – You can play with the vinegar and use apple cider vinegar for a sweeter note or malt vinegar for a barley taste that will remind you of fish and chips!

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Common Questions

How long will homemade refrigerator pickles last?

Homemade refrigerator pickles typically last about 2-4 weeks in the fridge when stored in a clean, airtight jar. Some can last even longer if the vinegar level is high enough and the pickles stay fully submerged in the brine.

What is the 3 2 1 rule for pickles?

This is a simple way to remember the ingredients for a simple brine for quick pickles. It is three parts vinegar, two parts water, and one part salt. I use a little more water and less salt in my recipe.

What type of cucumbers should I use for refrigerator pickles?

Any variety of cucumber can be pickled. I like to use the mini cucumbers for these easy dill pickles as they make crisp pickles, and they fit nicely into a tall mason jar. They also have the perfect amount of seeds and nice, thin skin. But if you have some cucumbers in your fridge (or in your garden) that you want to use up, any kind will work—English cucumbers, Persian cucumbers, Kirby cucumbers, etc. I prefer cutting the cucumbers into spears, but you can also slice cucumbers into round slices. I find that the round coin pickles are less crunchy than the spears, but they do fit into your sandwich better!

Can I have pickles on keto?

Pickles on keto are a natural fit. They have zero grams of total carbs and therefore zero grams of net carbs. Pickle chips or spears are a great snack on a keto diet or in a gluten free lifestyle.

Can I pickle other vegetables?

Yes, you can use this method to pickle green beans, cauliflower, carrots, peppers, or even onions.

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This was originally a guest post from Erin of My Flourless Kitchen published on February 27, 2019. Revised and Republished by Taryn on May 19, 2026.