Quick Refrigerator Pickles

The beautiful dill flowers remind me that pickle season is around the corner. If I’m honest, it’s always pickle season. We love adding pickled red onions to meals as often as possible. I love quick pickling cucumbers when we make fried chicken. I only can once or twice a year, but I refrigerator pickle leftovers much more often. It’s good to have a quick pickle formula that you can tailor to whatever you’re cooking. This is the one I use when I have fresh dill, fresh cucumbers, or just when the inspiration hits. I use a 1:1 vinegar-to-water ratio, 2 teaspoons of salt per cup of water, and 2 T-4 T sugar per cup of water–depending on preferred sweetness).

Ingredients

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of vinegar (see notes below)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 onion
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1-4 T sugar (depending on whether its sweet corn not)
• 1/2 t red pepper (we like heat around here, feel free to omit)
• Herbs and spices (see notes below)
• 1 quart mason jar full to the neck with vegetables

Steps

1. Add everything but the vegetables to a small saucepan and heat to boiling to make a brine.
2. While the brine is heating up, chop vegetables and place in your mason jar.
3. Once the brine comes to a boil, pour it over the vegetables in the jar so that it covers all the vegetables.
4. Let it cool down to room temperature and then put a lid over it and place in the refrigerator.
5. It’s best to let sit at least 24 hours before cracking it open, but it’s okay to crack it open in 6 hours if you absolutely must. It will stay good for at least a month in the refrigerator.

Notes

• The type of vinegar I use depends on the flavor I’m hoping to achieve. I think white wine vinegar usually produces the sweetest variety. I rarely cook anything without apple cider vinegar. I usually use a combination of both. If I’m pickling cucumbers for asian food, I’ll use a combo of white wine vinegar and Mirin or Rice Vinegar.
• Sugar-I genuinely love sweet pickled onions and cucumbers or even better sweet and sour, so I usually use closer to 2-4 Tablespoons of sugar. You can use as little as 3 teaspoons
• Herbs-I’m honestly not a huge dill pickle fan, but if I were, I’d use more dill than I do. A traditional pickle flavor is a combination of cloves, peppercorn, mustard, and coriander. Again, I prefer a simpler taste, so I leave these out. We like heat so we always use a little red pepper, not everyone does. Experiment to learn what your family prefers.