Easy Refrigerator Pickles

Our secret brine recipe revealed! Find out what makes our pickles so delightfully tangy and crunchy. Whether your pickling cucumbers, radishes, carrots, peppers, onions, or… anything! This brine will do the trick.

By Sarah Golibart Gorman

Ingredients

Makes 2 quarts of pickles

• Brine

  • 1¼ cups distilled white vinegar

  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt

  • 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 2 cups cool water

• Spices (select any flavor profile you like)

  • Cumin seed

  • Coriander seed

  • Mustard seed

  • Red pepper flakes

  • Black peppercorns 

  • Oregano 

  • Fennel 

  • Celery seed

  • Dill*

  • Garlic*

  • Cilantro*

• Vegetables

  • Cucumbers

  • Carrots

  • Red onion

  • Bell pepper or mini sweet peppers

  • Hot peppers

  • Radishes

  • Any other produce you’d like to pickle

  *These ingredients can be found at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market, check What’s Fresh to see what’s in season

Method

1. Heat vinegar, salt and sugar in a pot on the stove. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add in cool water and set aside.

2. Chop your preferred veggies and pack into jars. Try to cut hard veggies (like carrots and radish) thinly so they can properly absorb the brine. Think about how you’d like to enjoy the pickles (straight up out the jar, in a salad, on a taco) and slice accordingly. We suggest cutting cukes into spears, peppers into strips, etc.

3. Add spices and herbs, add the lid, and gently shake to combine. Refrigerate and enjoy after 24 hours and up to a month. Once you finish the pickles, you can use the leftover brine to make dressings, marinades, and sauces - yum!