Easy Refrigerator Pickles (Quick, Snappy No Canning!)
on Aug 28, 2025
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These quick and easy refrigerator pickles use a time-tested Southern trick – salting with ice cubes – to guarantee crisp, snappy cucumber pickles every time. No canning, no boiling, just fresh tangy perfection in a jar.
Pickles are the condiment that thinks it’s a side dish — we eat them by the spoonful in my house, as well as layer them onto burgers and sandwiches. While store-bought pickles are fine, homemade refrigerator pickles have a fresh, just-made flavor that’s unbeatable.
The magic here is in the quick no-boil brine: vinegar, water, salt, fresh dill, onions, and a pickling spice blend. Once you pour it over your sliced cucumbers, the fridge does the rest.
What's In This Post?
These pickles are cold, crisp, tangy, and impossibly fresh tasting, thanks to one brilliant old-school Southern tip: salting cucumbers with sugar, then covering them in ice cubes and letting them sit in the fridge before bringing. It’s not just folksy charm; there’s actual kitchen science behind it.
The salt and sugar work together to draw excess water out of the cucumbers (later, soggy pickles), while the ice keeps everything chilled so the cucumbers stay firm. By the time they meet the brine, they’re primed to soak up flavor and lock in that gorgeous snap.
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Here’s Why Refrigerator Pickles are the Best
- No canning gear – You just need a jar and a fridge.
- Customizable – Add garlic cloves, mustard seeds, peppercorns, or red pepper flakes to pump up the flavor.
- Fast payoff – They’re good after 24 hours; great after 3 days, and still crunchy and a bit more sour after a week or longer.
- Budget-friendly – Peak-season cucumbers + pantry bring = the best pickles for pennies.
Ingredients
- Cucumbers and onions – Choose firm, small pickling cucumber varieties, such as Kirby or Persian.
- Vinegar – Rice vinegar is softer and less acidic than white wine vinegar, and has a gentle sweetness, but you can use either. Or try apple cider vinegar for a fruitier tang.
- Sugar and salt – work together to balance the acidity and help the cucumbers stay crisp
- Dill – Add herbal freshness and classic pickle flavor.
- Pickling spice blend – Buy a premade pickling mix and add some fennel seeds (if desired) for a hint of anise flavor. I love the pickling blend from Melissa’s.
- Salt – Make sure to use kosher salt; fine or table salt will make the pickles too salty.
How to Make Refrigerator Pickles
- Prep the cucumbers and onions: I usually do cucumber slices, but you can do spears if you prefer. Sprinkle with the kosher salt and sugar, tossing to coat evenly.
- The Southern Ice Cube Trick: Cover the cucumbers and onions with the ice cubes. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Why it works
The ice chills the vegetables, firming them up while the salt and sugar draw out excess moisture. This helps the brine penetrate in the next step, and gives you that snappy pickle crunch.
- Make the brine base: In a separate measuring cup or bowl, combine the vinegar with the pickling spice and fennel seeds.
- Pack the jars: Drain the cucumbers and onions, reserving about 1 cup of the melted ice water. Add the water to the vinegar mixture. Pack the cucumbers and onions into a clean half-gallon jar or two quart-sized jars, layering them with the dill sprigs. Pour in most of the brine. Use a wooden spoon or chopstick to press down into the vegetables, to gently release any trapped air bubbles, then pour in the remaining brine until everything is submerged.
- Refrigerate and wait (the hardest part): Seal the jars tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before eating. The flavor deepens over time, so if you can resist, let them sit for a few days. These pickles will keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.
Mixing the melted ice cube water with the brine
You can use all vinegar to brine pickles, but it will make them super tangy. I love using a blend of the cold water from the partially melted ice cubes combined with vinegar. The water contains some of the sugar and salt that were mixed into the cucumbers, and makes the brine even more layered and flavorful.
Serving Ideas
- These refrigerator pickles are the perfect tangy side or topping for pulled pork sandwiches, beef burgers, and turkey burgers.
- Also, whenever you see a recipe call for pickles, use your own homemade refrigerator pickles! These are great chopped and added to tuna salad, egg salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, and more.
All the Refrigerator Pickle Questions, Answered!
Stored sealed in a jar in the fridge, they will stay fresh and crisp for at least 4 weeks. They’re safe for weeks beyond that, but the texture and flavor aren’t at their best.
Yes! The sugar used in the salting stage with the ice cubes helps draw out water and slightly balances the tang, but you can skip it if you want a purely savory pickle. You will get a slightly sharper flavor.
Choose firm, small varieties like Kirby, Persian, or pickling cucumbers. Avoid standard slicing cucumbers because they have more water and softer skins, which means less crunch.
Nope. The recipe skips the whole canning process. Just pour the brine over the cucumbers, refrigerate, and enjoy within a few weeks.
Yes, once or twice. Just add fresh cucumbers within a week or so. Be aware that the flavor will be milder with each batch.
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Quick & Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients
- 6 Kirby, Persian, or baby cucumbers (about 1 1/2 pounds; thinly sliced)
- 1 large onion (halved and thinly sliced)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 1 ½ cups rice wine or white vinegar (white wine or distilled)
- 2 teaspoons pickling spice blend
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
- 6 sprigs dill (be generous)
Instructions
- Place the cucumbers and onions in a big bowl. Sprinkle the salt and sugar over and toss to distribute evenly. Toss well, cover with the ice cubes, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Combine the vinegar and celery seeds or pickling spices.
- Drain the cucumbers and onions, reserving about 1 cup of the melted ice cube water. Pack the cucumbers and onions and the dill into a half-gallon jar or two 1-quart jars. Add the reserved cold salt-and-sugar-water to the vinegar mixture. Pour most of the brine into the jar, and use a wooden spoon or chopstick to press down and release any air bubbles, then pour in the rest of the brine. Seal the lid of the jar and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
- The pickles are ready to eat after 1 full day, but they get more and more “pickley” as you let them sit. These will keep for at least 4 weeks in the tightly covered jar in the fridge.
Notes
Tips for the Best Refrigerator Pickles
- Slice evenly for a consistent crunch.
- Use Kirby or Persian cucumbers for a firm texture. Avoid regular slicing cucumbers, which tend to get watery and have a lot of larger seeds.
- Don’t skip the ice cube step — it’s the key to Southern-style crispy pickles.
