Hamilton Beach Homepage

Make Quick Dill Pickles (Quickles) at Home

It’s easy to pick up a jar of pickles at the store. There are plenty of brands to choose from and they are great to keep in the fridge as a burger or sandwich topper or even for a quick snack. I’ve definitely been known to dive fork-first into the pickle jar – and know I’m not alone. But this summer, use your garden’s bounty to make your own pickles at home.

Quick and Easy Dill Pickles

Yield: Serves 32
Author: Hamilton Beach Test Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons pickling spice, divided
  • 6 bay leaves
  • 6 sprigs fresh dill
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
  • 16 small cucumbers, cut lengthwise into fourths
  • 3 ½ cups white vinegar
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 ½ cups boiling water
  • 6 jars (12 ounces each)

Instructions

  1. To each jar, add 1 teaspoon pickling spice, 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig dill and ½ clove garlic.
  2. Divide cucumber spears between jars.
  3. In a large bowl, stir together vinegar, salt and sugar.
  4. Pour water over vinegar mixture, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved.
  5. Divide vinegar mixture evenly between jars. Let stand 1 hour or longer to cool to room temperature. Cover with lids.
  6. Refrigerate up to 3 months.

Notes

Test Kitchen Tip: Substitute 6 small yellow squash, cut into 1/8-inch slices for the cucumbers and add 1 thinly sliced shallot with remaining ingredients or substitute 2 large red onions, quartered and thinly sliced for the cucumbers.

These quick pickles pickle quickly – that’s why we call them quickles. You can control the salt content and the flavor when you make them yourself and experiment with pickling different vegetables – not just cucumbers. Try summer squash, onions, cabbage, beets and even brussel sprouts. Whatever you see in the grocery store, pick fresh from the garden, or have plenty of in the kitchen.

First, you’ll need some jars. We found these at our local grocery store, but you can buy them online or use some that you already have on-hand. If you go crazy for canning in the summer (one of our staff members makes delicious tomato jam every year), you likely have plenty to use in the pantry already.

To each jar, add pickling spice, a bay leaf, a sprig of dill and ½ a clove of garlic.

Then divide your veggies into the jars. We used mini cucumbers for the classic pickles (their height was perfect for our jars). You could slice them into spears or leave them whole. We cut summer squash into thin slices, layering it with a little bit of sliced shallot. We also thinly sliced red onion for pickling.

In a large bowl, stir together vinegar, salt, and sugar. Pour boiling water over the vinegar mixture, stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved. We used our Hamilton Beach® electric kettle to quickly boil water for our pickling process.

Divide the vinegar mixture evenly between the jars using a funnel or a measuring cup. Let the soon-to-be pickles stand for about an hour until they’ve cooled to room temperature. Then cover with the lids and store.

You can eat these quickles as soon as 24 hours later if you are in need of a quick pickle fix, but you can store them for up to 3 months.

Not only are these homemade quick pickles a beautiful gift to give to friends and family throughout the summer, they’re the perfect way to stretch the shelf life of your summer produce.

Whether you’re serving homemade pickles alongside your favorite grilled burgers and fries or topping Taco Tuesday staples with pickled onions, you’ll find excuses to use these quickles in recipes all summer long.

Other must-try recipes from the Test Kitchen:

Slow cooker eggplant caponata

16 strawberry recipes perfect for summertime

Related Posts

The ultimate green power smoothie recipe

There are many ways to fuel your day with your favorite greens. Whether it's a loaded kale salad, sweet and spicy collards, or matcha muffins, greens don't just look pretty; they can be delicious and nutritious, too. If you're looking for a simple...

Nicoise salad with grilled tuna

Nicoise salad is a French salad with tuna, hard-boiled egg, green beans, potatoes, olives and other vegetables. It is often served with a refreshing vinaigrette dressing. ...

How to get perfectly cooked eggs every time

A Hamilton Beach® Egg Cooker is the ultimate small kitchen appliance for quickly cooking the perfect egg. From poached eggs to omelets to hard, medium and soft-boiled eggs, this handy little tool is all you need to enjoy eggs for breakfast, lunch,...

Comments

  1. It would be very helpful to include nutrition values per serving – calories, carbs, fiber, protein, etc.

  2. I would like to commend you on the quality of your kitchen products. I just used my food processor and it is so easy, safe and does a perfect job. I used another famous brand for years, but this one is so much easier and better. All my kitchen small appliances are Hamilton Beach now. Coffee pot, toaster, can opener, food presses or and I love them all. Thank you for making such a good product at a reasonable price.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *