I have been wanting to make some homemade pickles, which is something I have never done before, when I saw a bag of mini pickles at Costco the other day. I just had to have them! I created an easy pickle recipe that you can either spice up or not with red pepper flakes to your liking, as well as adjust the sweetness. Since our grandkids were visiting this week I was in a hurry and wanted a fast recipe so I opted to make sliced pickles instead of leaving those adorable little things whole. I hope you enjoy the recipe.
A quick and easy sliced homemade pickles recipe that is sweet and spicy; and easily made gluten free.
Ingredients:
- 10 mini (or 2 - 3 regular sized) thinly sliced cucumbers with skin
- 1/4 yellow onion, chopped
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cups rice vinegar (There are sodium free and sugar free rice vinegar available.)
- 1/2 to 1-1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (optional) (I used 1-1/2 and they were medium to medium-high heat.)
- 1 teaspoon celery seed (optional)
Instructions:
- In a small sauce pan add vinegar and sugar. Heat until the sugar melts. (Don't try and take a whiff as I did. It will burn your sinuses!)
- In a large plastic or glass container with a lid, add cucumbers, onion, red pepper flakes and any other seasoning you desire such as celery seed.
- Pour the vinegar on top of the cucumbers; close lid and refrigerate until cold or overnight. They soften slightly as they chill, but remain crunchy.
- You can add your favorite spices such as celery seed, dill, etc.
- Once chilled, if you find the strong vinegar or spicy flavor too much, drain all of the juices and add water and refrigerate again. If necessary, repeat this process one more time.
Tips
!Serving Suggestions
Besides the obvious, hamburgers, you can chop them up and use them as a relish in tuna salad, hot dogs, etc.
Facebook Comment – Sept. 9, 2014,
“I made twelve jars of these, half spicy half just sweet and everybody loved them ”
~K.P.
Could these be processed (canned) or frozen?
Sometimes it says pickles and other times cucumbers. Kind of confusing. And no information about how long these last.
Of course, I have never heard of pickles being sold in bags. But then it was only recently that soup started being sold in boxes.
Hi Charlie,
Thanks for catching that. I changed the word “pickles” to cucumbers in the ingredients list.
Yes. Things are changing so much.
Carla
Oh, I love it! I definitely want to try this!!! Thanks!
SALT-FREE grabbed my attention! Thanks, I have some Nakano rice vinegar, which is sodium-free. Had not thought of using that for pickles
I usually try to cook low-sodium. I use Marucan. It’s sugar-free and sodium-free. I love these! I have readers email and tell me how easy they are to make and that often they don’t wait for them to cool for very long before eating. Enjoy!
I have been looking for a recipe exactly like this! Awesome! Thank you for posting!
You are very welcome, Megan. Enjoy!