Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
Delightfully crisp, sweet, and tangy, these refrigerator bread and butter pickles come together quickly and easily. No canning pots, hot water baths, or fancy tools are required for this recipe!
Foolproof Pickle Recipe
Years ago, I vowed to spend the summer learning to can fresh fruits and vegetables, pickles included. Summer was over in a blink, and my cans were still empty. I couldn't let the summer go by without an attempt to preserve anything, so I gave refrigerator pickles a try. I never looked back!
I never knew how easy making pickles at home could be. These bread and butter pickles are:
- Simple and quick
- Totally foolproof – no canning or fancy equipment is needed
- A little sweet and a little zesty
- Totally addictive
- A year-round staple in my fridge
Ingredients for Bread and Butter Pickles
There are two main components to these refrigerator pickles:
- Cucumbers: I recommend pickling cucumbers for this recipe, but small regular cucumbers work in a pinch.
- The Brine: This is where the classic sweet and tangy flavor comes from! Use a combination of vinegars (white vinegar and apple cider vinegar), sugars (granulated sugar and brown sugar), and spices like mustard seed, celery seed, and ground turmeric. For an extra kick, add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Step-by-Step Instructions
These bread and butter pickles couldn't be easier to make! Here's a quick overview of the process:
- Prepare the Cucumbers: Cut the cucumbers into ¼-inch thick slices – I like using a crinkle cutter for classic bread and butter pickles. Sprinkle them with salt, toss to combine, cover the bowl, and refrigerate for about 90 minutes.
- Rinse: After the cucumbers marinate with salt, rinse them with cold water, drain, and mix in the thinly sliced onion.
- Make the Brine: Combine the remaining ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour: Pour the brine over the cucumbers and onions. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for about an hour.
- Transfer & Refrigerate: Transfer the pickle and onion mixture (including the liquid) into airtight containers. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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Tools for Homemade Pickles
While refrigerator pickles don't require any specialty canning tools, I love using these two items for authentic bread and butter pickles:
- To Slice: This crinkle cutter is my favorite! But you can also use a knife or mandoline.
- To Store: – I adore this large 67.5-ounce jar, but you can also divide the pickles between traditional pint jars or use any airtight container you have at home.
What to Serve with Bread and Butter Pickles
Bread and butter pickles taste a little tangy, a little zesty, a little sweet, and wildly delicious. They add a welcome burst of flavor to:
- Burgers (like cast iron skillet cheeseburgers)
- BBQ sandwiches (I love this easy pulled pork recipe)
- Simple deli meat + cheese sandwiches
- Charcuterie boards
Try These Pickle Recipes Next
If you like this simple homemade pickle recipe, you’ll also love the following:
- Sweet and Spicy Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles
- Quick & Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles
- Dill Sandwich Pickles
- And of course, you will LOVE this dill pickle dip!
Watch How to Make Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles:
If you make these pickles and love them, I would so appreciate it if you would take a moment to leave a rating below. Thank you! ❤️️
Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
Ingredients
- 5½ cups (680 g) pickling cucumbers, sliced ¼-inch thick , about 1½ pounds
- 1½ tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
- 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (240 ml) white vinegar
- ½ cup (120 ml) apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup (53 g) light brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon celery seeds
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
Instructions
- Combine cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl; cover and chill 1½ hours. Move cucumbers into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain well, and return cucumbers to bowl. Add onion to the bowl and toss with the cucumbers.
- Combine the granulated sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds and ground turmeric in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the hot vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture; let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 month.
Notes
- Cucumbers: Pickling cucumbers work best, but you can substitute small regular cucumbers if needed.
- Sugar: You can adjust the sugar quantities based on your preferences.
- Jars: You can store this entire recipe in one of these large Bormioli jars (I’ve loved these forever!) or you divide it up using regular pint-size jars.
- Storage: These pickles will keep in your refrigerator for up to 1 month.
- Long-Term Storage: This pickle recipe is not meant for long-term storage, so you should not can it or store it at room temperature for any length of time.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This recipe was originally published on August 25, 2011.
I just made them and OHHHHHH MYYYY!!!!
THEY ARE DELICIOUS! Not vinagry at all!
They are amazing!!!
I don’t think they will last in the fridge at all!!
Thank you!!
This is a super easy recipe and the pickles are delicious!! For a spicy kick I added a fresh jalapeno from my garden. I placed this beautiful concoction in mason jars and gifted them to friends and coworkers. GREAT RECIPE!!!
Love quick and easy
This pickles are the bomb! I
wouldn’t change a thing aboutthis recipe! So easy and
delicious! I’m addicted! Thank you for an easy and perfect
bread and butter pickle recipe!
Amazing flavor!
Just made these with homegrown cucs and onion. We like sweet and spicy so I added one of our Hungarian hot wax peppers (seeds and all!) thinly sliced when I added the onion. I was out of celery seeds so subbed fennel seeds and out of sugar so subbed 3/4C honey (I REALLY need a pantry restock!). They turned out SO GREAT!! I’ll be making another batch just as soon as the cucs ripen enough. Yummers.
Love, love this recipe, will definitely make them again.
Just made my second batch. I mistakenly left the final mixture on the counter top over night – forgot to put in refrigerator. Is that a problem?
Perfect balance. The sweetness is there, but it’s not syrupy sweet. A very clean taste if that makes sense. I reversed the amounts on the vinegars because I like AC vinegar, and I emptied my bottle of white vinegar and there was only half a cup. I used way more onion than called for as I didn’t measure, I just used a mandolin to thinly slice a whole sweet onion. Which is fine because if I don’t eat them all before I make a burger, I’ll just put pickles and pickled onions on the burger. Just great, simple and easy. Just those three spices were perfect. Thank you.
Absolutely perfect as is. I have made them numerous times now and everyone LOVES them. Crispy, tart, sweet…YUM!
I love these pickles! 4th time making them! Thank you for sharing!
These are awesome, so easy and crispy and delish, made some last week and making more today, perfect recipe, will always have homemade bread and butter in the fridge thank you for sharing
My family and friends love the Bread and butter pickles. We grow our own cucumbers and I enjoy making them the receipe is so easy.
I made these but added 3 Tbsp of pickling spice . Sooooo delish!!! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!
My pickling cucumbers have started coming on heavy in my garden and I looked for recipe for B&B pickles. I found yours, made a couple of jars using your recipe exactly. I waited two days and popped one open for a taste….”OMG!” I love these pickles. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
I used this recipe to make Sweet Hoagie Peppers, swapping out red and green bell peppers for the cucumbers. Phenomenal!
I also did a batch of Bread and Butter Giardiniera, as I dislike the texture of olive oil-based giardinieras. We’ll find out how those went in a few days.
I have been making bread & butter pickles for maybe 40+ years and have never added brown sugar
Right I was wondering about the brown sugar. Would that alter the taste or liquid consistency? I’ve always used white sugar to.
Hi, the brine is coming to a boil on my stove now. I’m just curious as to why there is no water in the brine solution. I’ve never made refrigerator bread and butter pickles before, however I’ve made refrigerator dill pickles often, and there is water in the brine along with the vinegar.
These pickles are perfect as is. I don’t know why people have to start mucking about with the recipe. It’s easy, quick to make and tastes amazing. Yeah, you can substitute ingredients if you want, but WHY? And if you do, why tell us about it?
I Love it when people share if their alterations worked well or not. sometimes i’m out of an item or need to reduce sugar for health reasons or whatever and it helps to see if someone has tried it and how it work.
what i don’t like is when people alter a recipe and give it a bad rating cause its not the actual recipe they’re rating.
How long can you keep in fridge?
Just made these….WOW!! We love them. When I went to add the apple cider vinegar…it was bad. So I added white balsamic in its place!! Tastes great!!
Hi
I am looking to try these can I omit the brown sugar.
Love these pickles. Made them twice and both times my pickles shriveled. Does any one know why this happens? Followed recipe as written
I was wondering why you suggest not to can this recipe? We so love these that we would like to preserve them to last us thru the winter. Such an awesome recipe! We just love them & so does everyone I give them out to!
I wonder if the measurements of ingredients in this recipe are not safe for canning. That could be why she states it in the recipe. I would love to can these for winter and wonder if anyone knows what it needs in order to be safe.
I added 3 taps of ground cloves. It turned out delicious. Great recipe!!
I made these yesterday afternoon and couldn’t even wait the 24 hours to try them. They are delicious! More tangy than most sweet bread and butter pickles and very crisp!! They’ll be amazing on hamburgers. The onions are delicious too!
I wish we could access pickling cucumbers year-round so I could always have a jar of these on hand. I’ll have to can some as well but they won’t be the same! (I used 10% vinegar which may have added some tang).
PS. I used 10% acetic acid vinegar so that may be why mine are a little tart – but I love it!
Can these be stored in Tupperware or other plastic containers instead of glass jars
I have just discovered this recipe and I was wondering how long would these last in the fridge before you have to throw them out, provided there are any left.
Thank you
The recipe states 1 month in the fridge.
The recipe looks great, and I intend to try it this week, however, I wanted to write a review to address a recurring problem, Nutritional counts are not of any real value unless a serving size is indicated. Is the recipe 300 calories for the whole batch or for an undisclosed number of grams or ounces of pickles?
Right above the nutritional value box it states that the value is based on 1 cup in juice
I was given 6lbs of cucumbers, what to do, so I went to your website, the best pickles ever, maybe the bread an butter, Next I want to make garlic and dill, yummmm.
I really LOVE this recipe. I come back here to get it every summer when the cucumbers are ready to harvest. Good job girl!!
Actually, these are quite good! (I was prepared to be disappointed, as I’ve always done the traditional type canning.) For some reason, yellow mustard seeds were sold out in both my local grocery stores, so I substituted brown mustard seeds. I also used half light & half dark brown sugar. Very tasty!