Spicy and Sour Refrigerator Pickles Recipe

Spicy And Sour Refrigerator Pickles

I don't think my husband and I could survive without a jar or two of pickles in the refrigerator to serve with hamburgers, hot dogs, and pulled pork sandwiches. So it really says something that this recipe has become our go-to recipe for cucumber pickles. I've even used the same brine to pickle jalapeño slices. I first tasted these pickles while judging a cooking contest at Burt's Bees corporate headquarters in Durham, North Carolina. The recipe is adapted from Beth Ritter's winning entry. Ritter says it appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram years ago and was attributed to Dock and Opal Everett, who used to own a produce stand in Waco, Texas. I use a mandolin to make quick work of slicing the cucumbers, jalapeño, and onion.

By Andrea Weigl / Photography By Fred Thompson | March 15, 2014

Ingredients

SERVINGS: Makes 2 quart jars

2 pounds pickling cucumbers, such as Kirby, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 jalapeño, seeded and sliced
1 onion, sliced
4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup pickling salt
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

Instructions

Combine the cucumbers, jalapeño, and onion in a large bowl.

Heat the vinegar, pickling salt, sugar, celery seeds, turmeric, mustard seeds, and peppercorns in a medium stainless-steel saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved, about 10 minutes.

Pack the vegetables evenly into hot, sterilized jars. Ladle the brine over the pickles, leaving 1/2-inch of headspace. Seal the jars with lids.

Let the pickles sit in the refrigerator for 5 days before eating. These pickles are good for 1 year, but best within 3 months.

Read the story + other recipes: Putting Up Pickles And Preserves

From Pickles & Preserves: a Savor the South® Cookbook by Andrea Weigl. Copyright 2014 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press.