Homemade Dill Pickle Recipe Great for Canning or Refrigeration

This homemade dill pickle recipe is great for canning or simple refrigerator pickles. I have used it both ways and they are a hit!

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Homemade Dill Pickles

We are overflowing with pickling cucumbers this year. I planted double what I planted last year because I couldn’t keep them long enough to pickle. My then 6 year old ate them all, he loves cucumbers. This year I planted an entire section dedicated to his own cucumbers away from my pickling ones.

Anyway, I’m now harvesting almost a basket of cucumbers a day. So, all the pickles are being made.

I have looked through quite a few pickle recipes on Pinterest as well as the Ball canning book, but I didn’t love any of them enough to make them. So, I somewhat came up with my own homemade dill pickles!

Here’s What You Need:

• About 4 pounds of pickling cucumbers
• Whole Peppercorns – about 10 peppercorns per jar
• 12 Fresh Dill Sprigs – 2 for each jar – you can also use dried if needed
• 12 – 18 garlic cloves – 2-3 smashed cloves per jar
• 3 cups White Vinegar
• 4 cups Water
• 1/4 pickling or canning salt – any salt without an anti caking agent
• 2 tbs sugar
• 6 clean pint jars, rings, and lids
• Water Bath canner or large stock pot with lid and rack if canning
• Pickle Crisp – optional

Here’s What You’ll Do

You start with cleaning your cucumbers and give them a good scrubbing to get them nice and smooth.

Next, cut your cucumbers to desired size and length. I had enough this last time to have a few jars of spears, slices, and whole.

Once your cucumbers are ready, bring to a boil your vinegar, water, salt, and sugar. Once it reaches a boil you can turn it to low to keep warm. You just want to dissolve the salt and sugar.

Place your cucumbers into your jars, along with the garlic, dill, peppercorns, and pickle crisp, if using. Then ladle the hot vinegar water over top until there is a 1/4 inch headspace.

Remove any air in the jar, wipe the rims, and place the rings and lids on the jars until they are finger tight.

If you are doing refrigerator pickles, all you need to do is wait for the jars to cool completely then store in the refrigerator. They will last for a few months.

If you are canning:

I recommend using Pickle Crisp if you are canning for long term storage. This will help keep the pickles crisp and crunchy, rather than soft during the canning process.

Place the hot jars in a water bath canner filled with water. You want at least an inch or two of water above the jars.

Place the lid on the canner and bring the water to a rolling boil. Once it is boiling, set a timer for 10 minutes.

When the 10 minutes are up, turn the heat off, take the lid off, and let the cans sit for 5 minutes.

Once the 5 minutes are up, remove the jars and place on a towel on the counter. Do not disturb them for 12 hours.

When the 12 hours are up, you can remove the rings and check the seal by using a spoon and tapping on the lids. Watch this video for reference.

If the jars pass the spoon test, wipe them down, label/date them, and place on the shelf. If not, you can reprocess within 24 hours.

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The Ball Canning Book is a great option if you are new to water bath canning or looking for new recipes! Also, check out YouTube and Pinterest for advice, recipes, and how tos!

I have learned everything about canning from watching others via YouTube, as well as my friend Amber over at Grace Walk Farm she has courses and live classes. I highly recommend checking her out if you want to learn all you can!

Until next time,

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Want more canning recipes? Check out this post!