This is truly a wonderful, no-canning skills needed recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles.
Watch the video showing you how to make these Bread and Butter Pickles, then scroll to the bottom of this post so you can print out the recipe and make them at home.
This Bread and Butter Pickles recipe is one that I love with all of my heart.
When I was little (old enough to stay by myself), I’d sometimes hang out at my Dad’s house in the summers while he he went off to work. Lunchtime would roll around and I’d open his refrigerator to see what sorts of things a Dad keeps in there. Sweet pickles and American cheese were always to be found. Yes, I like all varieties of pickles, and (gasp!) I like American cheese too. I discovered the joy of eating them together.
But before I gross you out too much, I must share with you my first experience with pickling: Bread and Butter Pickles
Although sweet pickles are my favorite, bread and butter pickles run a close second. Their sweet and tangy crunch are pretty irresistible.
How to Make Bread and Butter Pickles:
Start with buying some pickling cucumbers. They’re smaller than a salad cucumber. Your market should carry them, and in the summer months you’ll find them at farmer’s markets too.
Slice them up. Good, thick slices that will still allow the pickle to yield a crunch when you bite into it.
If you have one of these fancy doo-dads, you can make fancy pickles with ridges.
The pickles get a good dose of Kosher salt, then they can sit in the fridge for an hour. Then those pickles get rinsed off in the sink. Just rinse all of that salt off really well so that salty flavor won’t follow the pickles into the pickling liquid.
Make the pickling liquid. Combine the sugar…
…with white vinegar,
cider vinegar,
brown sugar,
mustard seeds,
celery seeds,
and turmeric. Bring that all to a boil.
Meanwhile, add some sliced sweet onion to your sliced cucumbers.
Pour the hot pickling liquid over the cucumbers and onion.
Let it sit there at room temperature for an hour or so.
Move those cucumbers and onions to the cutest jar you have, and refrigerate them for 24 hours. This is when the magic process of pickling is going to happen.
If you’re impatient like me, you won’t wait 24 hours. I tried my Bread and Butter Pickles after just a few hours and they tasted perfectly pickled to me. So sweet and crunchy and incredibly tangy.
If you’re a pickle fan (and you should be), you probably will enjoy these. They are so simple to make, and how cool would it be to be able to share homemade Bread and Butter Pickles at a summer barbecue?! And I promise that you don’t have to eat them with American cheese (but you’re tempted to try it now, aren’t you?)
If you are looking for more recipes using cucumbers, you might also enjoy my Tomato, Cucumber and Basil Salad or this Cucumber- Gin Fizz Cocktail. Cucumber Sorbet, Cucumber Salad, and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches are also great recipes starring cucumbers!
Bread and Butter Pickles
Ingredients
- 5½ cups (1½ pounds) thinly sliced pickling cucumbers
- 1½ tablespoons Kosher salt
- 1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 cup white vinegar
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon celery seeds
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
Instructions
- Combine the cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl; cover and chill 1½ hours. Move the cucumbers into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain well, and return the cucumbers to bowl. Add the onion to the bowl.
- Combine the sugar and the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumber mixture; let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Don't cut the cucumbers too terribly thin. You want them to have a little bit of crunch to them!
- You may find that your cucumbers are already ready to sample within just a few hours of marinating in the pickling liquid (rather than waiting an entire 24 hours!)
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These were easy and delicious; I used regular cucumbers and sliced with a wavy cut on the mandolin; I added Ball Pickle Crisp to the liquid (1/4 tsp per quart) to keep the pickles crunchy.
stupid question but i have never done home made pickles and i was wondering if you could USE regular cucumbers or do they have to be pickle ones? i have a ton of regular that i have nothing to do with 🙂
I don’t think you can use regular cucumbers vs. pickling for pickles.
According to several commenters here, regular cucumbers have worked fine. I’ve done both in the same batch because sometimes my garden gets overgrown and I’m not sure which plant is which, lol. I’ve never had a bad batch with this recipe
I have just made my second batch and they are awesome. I did add a few pinches of pickling spices but I don’t think it even needed that. Lots of compliments. Enjoy!!!
We are very excited to try these – as I comment, they are sitting in a large pyrex bowl on the countertop cooling. These will be the second pickles I’ve made this year – the first ones were dill & garlic pickles. This may be a helpful tip – when you stick them in a bowl to marinate, make sure the bowl is large enough to hold it, but take a 1Gal freezer bag and fill 1/3 – 1/2 way with water. Place the freezer bag over the bowl which will force the cukes down into the marinade and ensure that they get fully covered.
I’m using fresh Boston Pickling cucumbers and Georgia sweet onions straight from my garden this year!
Searched the internet this noon for a bread and butter pickle recipe, found this one, checked the kitchen larder, found I had everything needed and proceded to use some of the cucumbers from our garden. They are just regular cukes but worked just fine. I was afraid of all the salt, so I only soaked the slices for 20-30 minutes. I used Splenda instead of white sugar and we had them on toasted hot dog buns stuffed with american cheese to go with our butterbean and pork supper. It was delicious and plan to make more as soon as I buy more ingredients. Cucumbers are growing like wildfire from all the rain and hot weather. Just a delicious top off for a Sunday supper!!
I love these pickles! (and I don’t even like sugar in anything!) I did change two things though – I used celery salt instead of celery seed (because I didn’t have any seed) and I added a tsp of pickling spice. YUM!!! My garden is overflowing with cuces so I think I will be making a lot of these!
been doing cooking and growing for 40+ yrs. good and easy recipe. beats some pickles ive made in past. thanx for sharing.
I am going to try and add cloves and a small hot pepper. I will let you know how it turns out.
I just made this recipe with picking cucumbers from my garden and they were so delicious and so easy! Thanks so much for posting the recipe.
Made these today and they are awesome. Thank you for sharing this recipe!