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! This easy pickle recipe is low carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.

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Today’s guest post is from Erin, a low-carb and gluten-free blogger from My Flourless Kitchen, a great new blog with lots of delicious and simple comfort food and dessert recipes.

Hello! I am thrilled to be providing a guest post for Taryn’s blog! Today I will be sharing my recipe for Easy Dill Pickles! So easy and with none of the yucky preservatives or sugar you find in the store-bought kind.

A little about me: I am Erin, a low-carb and gluten-free recipe developer, and food blogger! I have always been into cooking and playing around with recipes, especially coming up with low-carb versions of the delicious, rich comfort foods and treats that my family enjoys. I love that I am still able to indulge in guilt-free lasagna, pancakes, muffins, and bread without gaining weight or feeling bloated and tired as I do with the white sugar/white flour versions. I created My Flourless Kitchen as a place to keep track of my recipes and also as an opportunity to share them with like-minded folks like you!

Dill pickles are one of my family’s favorites. We love having dill pickles with Cajun Chicken sandwiches and Fully Loaded Cheeseburgers, which are killer! I take my burgers very seriously and load them up with lots of cheese and toppings and sauce. If you were wondering, a fully loaded cheeseburger at my house includes Jamaican jerk aioli, homemade ketchup, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, tomato, avocado, and pickled jalapenos all on a flourless rosemary bun! They are messy but oh so good.

How to Make Refrigerator Pickles

These are what are called “Refrigerator Pickles,” which are not preserved to be 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). They are much easier to make than canned pickles and they are crunchier since you let the brine cool before pouring it over the cucumbers.

Pickling Brine for Keto Pickles

I keep my pickling brine very simple. It is just a combination of white vinegar, water and pickling salt. (I add water so the pickles aren’t so sour that they make your face pucker.)

You can play with the vinegar and try using apple cider vinegar for a sweeter note or malt vinegar for a barley taste that will remind you of fish and chips!

For the salt, I like to use a salt that doesn’t have any iodine or weird anti-caking ingredients because they cause your pickles to turn a weird, dark color and will make the liquid go cloudy. I use pickling salt, which is just table salt without any iodine or anti-caking ingredients. It dissolves really easily, even in cold water. You can also use kosher salt or sea salt. They just take a bit longer to dissolve.

Common Questions

What type of cucumbers for refrigerator pickles

Any variety of cucumber can be pickled. I like to use the mini cucumbers for these easy dill pickles as they stay nice and crunchy 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. I prefer cutting the cucumbers into spears but you can also cut them into round coins. I find that the round coin pickles are less crunchy than the spears, but they do fit into your sandwich better! After you make these give homemade sauerkraut a try!

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.

Flavorings for keto pickles

For the classic dill pickle flavor, I use only one flavoring: dill seeds. I tried using fresh dillweed but it didn’t have enough dill flavor so I switched to dill seeds. You can also add mustard seeds (like the store-bought ones often have) but I found that I can’t really taste the mustard seeds so I don’t think it’s worth the effort.

For spicy dill pickles, you can add chopped jalapeno or two to each jar of pickles. They are delicious! For garlic dill pickles, add a clove of garlic (minced or sliced) into each jar of pickles.

I have tried making this recipe into butter pickles or sweet pickles but if you do please let me know how they turn out.

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.

And this Tajin Cucumber Salad is a wonderfully cool and creamy summer salad.

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📖 Recipe