Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles Recipe

There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about opening the refrigerator and spotting a jar of homemade bread & butter pickles tucked on the shelf. 🥒✨ Sweet, tangy, crunchy, and bright, they taste like summer captured in a jar—no canning pot, no special equipment, and no stress required. These refrigerator bread & butter pickles are the perfect entry point into the world of quick pickling: simple ingredients, minimal cooking, and big payoff.

This recipe gives you classic, old-fashioned flavor: crisp pickling cucumbers tossed with thinly sliced sweet onion, then bathed in a golden brine made from white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, sugar, warm spices, and a hint of turmeric. After a short rest, the cucumbers transform into a crave-worthy condiment that you’ll want on burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, cheese boards, or even straight from the jar with a fork.

Because these are refrigerator pickles, you don’t have to worry about complex canning steps. Everything happens in your fridge, and the result is fresher-tasting and often crisper than shelf-stable versions.

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What Makes Bread & Butter Pickles Special?

Bread & butter pickles are known for being:

• Sweeter than dill pickles, but still tangy
• Mildly spiced, not overly hot
• Crunchy and slightly chewy, with that classic pickle bite
• Perfect alongside savory, salty foods (think fried chicken, grilled cheese, burgers, or charcuterie boards)

The name “bread & butter” goes back to the early 20th century, when these pickles were served with simple bread-and-butter sandwiches as an inexpensive yet flavorful meal. Today, they’re more likely to show up on a loaded burger or as a snack, but that sweet-and-sour balance is still what makes them so addictive.

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Why Refrigerator Pickles Are So Easy 🧊

Traditional pickles often require canning equipment and careful sterilization so they can safely sit on pantry shelves for months. Refrigerator pickles, by contrast, are:

• Quick to make: The actual active time is small—some slicing, a short simmer, and a bit of resting.
• Beginner-friendly: No canning process, special jars, or sealing steps needed.
• Fresh-tasting: Because they’re stored cold and not processed in a hot water bath, the cucumbers stay pleasantly crisp.
• Flexible: You can adjust sweetness or tang slightly, or tweak spices, and learn what you like best.

The tradeoff is that they’re not meant for long-term room-temperature storage, but for everyday eating straight from the refrigerator—which, honestly, is how most of them disappear anyway. 😄

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Ingredient Breakdown 🥒🧅

Let’s walk through what you’re using and why it works so well in this recipe:

Cucumbers

• 5½ cups (680 g) pickling cucumbers, sliced ¼-inch thick, about 1½ pounds
  Pickling cucumbers (often called Kirby or “pickler” cucumbers) have firm flesh and thinner skins than common slicing cucumbers. This keeps them nice and crisp and prevents them from getting mushy in the brine.
  Slicing them about ¼-inch thick gives you that ideal bite: not paper-thin, not chunky—just right for sandwiches and snacking.

Salt

• 1½ tablespoons kosher salt
  The salt does more than season—it helps draw out moisture from the cucumbers, which:
  • Intensifies their flavor
  • Keeps them crunchy
  • Prevents the brine from being diluted
    Kosher salt is key because it has a milder, more consistent salting power than fine table salt.

Onion

• 1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
  The onion brings sweetness, aroma, and a little bit of bite. As it sits in the brine, it softens and becomes wonderfully tangy-sweet—almost as delicious as the pickles themselves. These onion slices are amazing piled onto burgers or sandwiches. 🧅

Sweet & Tangy Brine

This is where the magic happens:

• 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (120 ml) apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup (240 ml) white vinegar
• ¼ cup (53 g) light brown sugar

The combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar gives a layered sweetness: clean and bright from the white sugar, plus a subtle molasses note from the brown sugar.

White vinegar delivers a sharp, clean acidity, while apple cider vinegar adds fruity depth and warmth. Together, they create that classic bread & butter pickle flavor—bold yet smooth, sweet but not cloying.

Spices

• 1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon celery seeds
• ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric

Mustard seeds and celery seeds are traditional in bread & butter pickles. They add gentle warmth and a savory, slightly herbal note. The turmeric does double duty: a subtle earthy taste and that beautiful golden color you expect in these pickles. ✨

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Step-by-Step: How to Make Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles

1. Salt and Chill the Cucumbers 🧂

In a large, shallow bowl, combine cucumbers and salt. Cover and chill for 1½ hours.

Lay your sliced cucumbers in a shallow bowl, sprinkle with the kosher salt, and toss to coat evenly. The salt will start pulling out excess water, which:

• Concentrates the cucumber flavor
• Helps them stay crisp even after sitting in the brine

Cover the bowl (plastic wrap or a plate on top works fine) and refrigerate for about 1½ hours. During this time, you’ll likely see some liquid pooling at the bottom—that’s exactly what you want.

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2. Rinse and Add the Onions 🧅

Transfer cucumbers to a colander, rinse thoroughly under cold water, and drain well. Return cucumbers to the bowl and add the sliced onion.

After salting, move the cucumbers into a colander and rinse them under cold running water. This step removes the excess surface salt so your pickles don’t end up overly salty.

Let them drain well—shake off any extra water. Then, return the cucumbers to the bowl and add in the thinly sliced sweet onion. Toss them together gently so everything is evenly mixed.

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3. Make the Pickling Brine 🍯

In a medium saucepan, combine granulated sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and ground turmeric. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

In a medium saucepan, you’ll combine all the brine ingredients:

• Granulated sugar
• White vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Brown sugar
• Mustard seeds
• Celery seeds
• Ground turmeric

Set the pan over medium heat and stir as it warms up. You don’t need a rolling boil—just a gentle simmer. The goal is:

• Dissolve all the sugar
• Wake up the spices in the hot liquid
• Blend everything into a smooth, fragrant brine

Once the sugar has fully dissolved and the mixture is just starting to bubble around the edges, you’re ready for the next step.

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4. Pour the Brine Over the Cucumbers and Onions 🥣

Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumber and onion mixture. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Carefully pour the hot brine over the cucumber and onion mixture in the bowl. The heat will start to slightly soften the cucumbers and onions while infusing them with flavor.

Stir gently to make sure all the slices are submerged or at least well-coated. If needed, you can press them down lightly with a spoon.

Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 1 hour. During this time:

• The cucumbers and onions begin absorbing the sweet-tangy brine
• The spices continue to bloom in flavor
• The color starts shifting slightly towards that classic pickle hue 💛

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5. Chill and Store in the Refrigerator ❄️

Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

After the hour at room temperature, cover the bowl and transfer it to the refrigerator. For best flavor, give the pickles 24 hours to fully develop.

You can either:

• Keep them in the same bowl (covered), or
• Transfer them to glass jars or another airtight container

Once they’ve rested, you’ll have wonderfully flavor-packed bread & butter pickles ready for snacking and topping.

They keep well in the refrigerator for up to 1 month, as long as they’re stored in an airtight container and kept chilled. Always use a clean utensil to scoop them out to maintain freshness.

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How to Use Your Bread & Butter Pickles 🍽️

These pickles are incredibly versatile. Here are some delicious ways to enjoy them:

• Piled onto burgers or grilled chicken sandwiches
• Layered inside grilled cheese for a tangy twist 🧀
• Chopped and added to tuna salad, egg salad, or potato salad
• On a charcuterie or snack board, with cheese, crackers, and cured meats
• Tucked beside fried chicken, barbecue, or pulled pork
• Simply eaten straight from the jar as a quick snack 😋

Their sweetness and acidity cut through rich, fatty foods beautifully, making them a perfect companion to indulgent dishes.

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Make-Ahead Notes and Texture Tips

• If you like your pickles extra crisp, don’t slice the cucumbers too thin; that ¼-inch thickness is ideal.
• The salting step is important for texture—don’t skip it.
• The flavor improves over the first few days, so they’re often even more delicious on day 3 or 4 than on day 1.
• If you want a slightly less sweet pickle next time, you can gently reduce the sugar, but this recipe as written gives you that classic bread & butter sweetness.

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