Homemade Dill Pickles

Homemade dill pickles are easy to make and delicious. They make a great addition to a sandwich, burger or on their own.

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Making homemade pickles was something my grandmother and my aunts did every year. Summer into early fall was the canning season for our family. They would make preserves, jams, chili sauce, and all kinds of pickles.

Dills were always my favourite followed by my grandmother’s icicle pickles. For the rest of the family, mustard pickles were the favourite. But no matter what the favourite was, there was always an assortment of homemade pickles on the table at every family meal.

Easy To Make with Few Ingredients

This recipe is easy to make. And has only six ingredients that are easy to find. The hardest part about this recipe is the 14-day wait for the pickles to be ready before you can eat them.

Dills are made with pickling cucumbers. These are usually found in July in local grocery stores and usually are sold in baskets or bushels. This recipe uses three 3-litre baskets of pickling cucumbers.

The pickles can be cut in different ways. When I make this recipe, I slice the cucumbers into spears for snacking, slices for burgers and chips for sandwiches. The chips and spears can also be used to make deep-fried pickles, another family favourite.

Canning and Storing Homemade Dill Pickles

To make this recipe, you will need to properly can the jars. If you are new to this process, there is a guide to canning on Bernardin’s website including the tools you will need. You can also find the tools in kits you can buy on Amazon.

The homemade Dill Pickle recipe makes a large batch. I use 1.5 L jars and usually fill 12 jars. I like the larger jars for slices and spears because they fit well in the larger jars. For chips, I usually use smaller pint-sized jars since you can fit a lot of pickle chips in the smaller jars.

The way you cut the pickling cucumbers to make the pickles will yield different amounts of the finished product.

Tips for making Homemade Dill Pickles

It is best to make sure you have all equipment ready before you start making this recipe. I usually gather everything and place it out on the counter in order of how I am going to use them.

Make sure you read through the recipe before starting to make this recipe. If you are not familiar with canning, I suggest you read up on it before starting to make this recipe. Canning is like second nature to me since I watched my grandmother canning and preserving all the time and made my first batch of pickles at 13 years old with my cousin. Once you become familiar with canning, it is pretty easy to do.

Homemade Dill Pickles

Stacy

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Processing Time 14 days d

Course Pickles

Cuisine American

Equipment

• Mason Jars and Lids/Rings
• Canning Pot

Ingredients

  

• 9 litres pickling cucumbers
• 1 cup pickling salt
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 8½ cups white vinegar
• 15 cups water
• 12 tbsp dill seed 1 Tbsp for a pint jar, 2 Tbsp for 1 L jars
• 12 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced in half more if desired

Instructions

 

• Wash all cucumbers and slice into spears, chips or slices. Set aside.
• Wash all canning tools and mason jars in hot soapy water. Then place them in canning pot and fill with water.
• Bring the pot of water and jars to a simmer and keep hot.
• Meanwhile, add pickling salt, vinegar, water and sugar to a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil.
• Heat mixture until all salt and sugar is dissolved.
• Remove one jar at a time from the hot water using tongs.
• Fill the jar with cucumber slices, spears or chips, making sure you pack the jar well. The cucumbers should be tight in the jar.
• Add 1 Tbsp of dill seed to the jar along with a couple of garlic clove halves for pint sized jars. 2 Tbsp of dill seed and 4-5 garlic cloves for 1L jars
• Fill jar with brine to ½ inch from the top of the jar
• Continue with remaining cucumbers until all jars are filled
• Run a plastic knife down the sides of all jars to remove any air bubbles.
• Add additional brine if needed
• Place caps and rings on jars to finger tight.
• Use water bath method to seal jars. (See Notes)
• Allow jars to cool after water bath on a tea towel on the counter. Listen for the clicking sounds, which means the jars are sealing properly.
• Store jars of pickles in a cool, dark space for 14 days before opening.
• Refrigerate a jar after 14 days, then enjoy.

Notes

A water bath helps to seal the jars. You can find information and instructions for water bath on Bernardin's website. For pickles, you should follow the instructions for High Acid Foods.

Keyword Pickles

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