Grandma's Dill Pickle Recipe

5 from 10 votes

Grandma's Dill Pickle Recipe

How to make classic homemade dill pickles using fresh cucumbers, dill, spices, and brine. This recipe follows a simple hot water bath method and makes eight pints or four quarts (liters).

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword cucumber, pickling, preserving

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 10

Resting time 1 30

Total Time 1 10

Servings per jar

Calories 11kcal

Author Lovely Greens

Equipment

Mason jars (pint) pint or quart
canning lids (regular size) I'm using Tattler canning lids
jar lifter
water bath canner or tall pot
preserving funnel optional
debubbler optional

Ingredients

pickling cucumbers / gherkins
1 Tbsp dill leaves
1-2 whole dill flower heads
1/2 tsp peppercorns
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
water
white vinegar
pickling salt or canning salt

Instructions

Prep Work

For the crunchiest dill pickles, first clean the gherkins and cut off the blossom end of the fruit. Then, half-fill the sink with cold water (about two gallons), pour in 3/4 cup salt, and stir to dissolve. Soak the gherkins in this salt water for twelve hours (or overnight). Rinse them with cold water and drain them through a colander before making this dill pickle recipe.
Set the clean canning jars on your work surface. They don't need to be sterilized since the water bath at the end will kill off any microbes, but they do need to be clean. To each quart jar, add half a teaspoon of black peppercorns, two whole garlic cloves, a bay leaf, about 1 Tbsp dill leaves, and 1-2 dill flowers.
Start packing the gherkins into your jars, trying to get as many in as possible. If the fruits are small (less than 3" long), put them in whole, but if they're larger, cut them into wedges. This helps to get more into the jar and makes it easier to serve once the jar is opened.

Make the Brine

For approximately every four quarts of tightly packed gherkins, you'll need to bring two quarts of water and one quart of white vinegar to a boil. Add 1/2 cup of salt and stir until dissolved. Let this cool until just warm, and then pour it into each of the jars, filling to a centimeter (just less than 1/2") below the top of the jar's brim. If there are air bubbles in the jar, try to remove them by poking at them with a butter knife or debubbler.
Clean the tops of the jars with a clean rag and then fit on your preserving lids on. Screw the rings on snugly, but not overly tight.

Water Bath the Dill Pickles

Place a metal preserving rack or towel at the bottom of a deep preserving pan or large stock pot, and then place the jars inside. The jars should be at least an inch apart, and the pan needs to be deep enough to have the jars inside, with over an inch of water comfortably covering the tops.
Cover the jars with warm/hot water from the tap, cover with a lid, and then bring the pan to a boil. Remove the lid and boil the jars for ten minutes, and no longer.
Lift them out of the water, using a jar lifter. Set the jars on the counter and allow them to cool to room temperature. You'll know that the jars are properly sealed when you hear the lids popping.
Allow the pickles to infuse with the brine for at least two weeks before eating them. Stored in jars in a cool cupboard, your pickles will last up to a year. Once opened, keep them in a fridge and eat them within a month for the best flavor and texture.

Notes

* You could add spices to your dill pickles if you would like, including mustard seeds, horseradish, red pepper flakes, and coriander seeds.

Nutrition