Name: Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 1520 min
Ingredients: 7 pickling cucumbers; 1 white onion; 3 tablespoons kosher salt; 1 cup light brown sugar; 1 cup white vinegar; ½ cup apple cider vinegar; 2 teaspoons celery seeds; 2 teaspoons mustard seeds; ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

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This recipe for homemade bread and butter pickles is easy, delicious, and doesn’t require canning. Just 20 minutes of prep and let your refrigerator do the rest of the work!

Made with cucumbers, onions, and a homemade brine, this recipe is quick to prepare. Enjoy them with your favorite burger, sandwich, or as a snack by themselves.

This recipe first appeared on Spend With Pennies where I am a contributor.

Bread and butter pickles in a mason jar.

Why We Love this Recipe

One of the best parts about refrigerator pickles is that you don’t need canning jars to make them! Fresh cucumber slices are infused with flavor from a seasoned vinegar mixture, then stored in the fridge.

It takes just 15 minutes of hands-on time, then 25 hours to marinate. The result is a batch of sweet and salty pickles that the whole family loves!

Bread and butter pickles in a pint mason jar.

What Are Bread & Butter Pickles?

Bread and butter pickles are sweeter than dill pickles. They’re brined in a vinegar-sugar mixture with other ingredients and spices.

There are a few ideas where the name “bread and butter pickles” comes from:

Some say it was popularized during the Great Depression because butter-and-pickle sandwiches were all people could afford for lunch.
It may also be related to traditional English cucumber sandwiches, which are filled with cucumbers and butter or cream cheese.
As the story goes, they didn’t have money for groceries, so they traded the sweet pickles for essentials like bread and butter. They also sold them to make cash, marketing them as “bread and butter pickles.”

Regardless of their origins, I think we can all agree that they’re delicious! Especially on a sandwich with Homemade Bread, deli meat, and cheese or cheeseburgers!

Ingredients:

Cucumbers: Pickling cucumbers are smaller in size, and fresh is best! Get them at the grocery store, a local farmer’s market, or grow them in your own garden.

Onions: Slice ‘em thin, they add lots of flavor to the brine!

Brine: This is made with a base of white and apple cider vinegar. It’s seasoned with light brown sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, and kosher salt.

You can also add red pepper flakes for an extra kick.

How To Make Refrigerator Pickles

While this recipe does need to chill for 25 hours for the best tasting pickles, it is quick to prepare with just 3 simple steps!

Step 1: Thinly slice the cucumbers and onions and place in a large bowl with salt. Chill and let the salt pull out excess water to make room for the brine! After chilling, rinse off the salt, drain excess water, and put the cucumber and onions back in.

Cucumbers and onions slices and placed in a metal bowl.

Step 2: In a small saucepan, combine all brine ingredients (per the recipe below).

Brine being poured over sliced cucumbers and onions to make pickles.

Combine: Pour it over the top of the sliced cucumbers and onions and chill!

Sliced cucumbers and onions in a metal prep bowl with brine.

Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container or pint jars.

How To Serve Them

Pickles are great for so many things, here are a few ideas for how to enjoy them!

With burgers and sandwiches
In chicken or tuna salad
In potato or pasta salad
Battered and fried
With Bloody Marys
With deviled eggs

Pickles in three mason jars stacked in a pyramid.

Bread and Butter Pickles

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