The Bean & Seed

I’ve been making a lot of refrigerator pickles lately and want to share the easy recipe I’ve settled on. These are great to have on hand to eat on their own, or to add to burgers, chicken, or grilled cheese sandwiches. The goal of this recipe is to let Mary and I have all the pickles we want without all of the sodium and sugar found in the varieties sold at the grocery store. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some fast food replacement ideas that will feature these pickles as a primary topping. With that said, my refrigerator pickles are intended to have some character and bite to them as a focal point of my sandwiches rather than an afterthought.

Prep Time of 15 Minutes (Then 30 minutes cooling on the counter.)

Ingredients

• 1 english cucumber. I like these because they are thin compared to other cucumber varieties and make for a nice pickle size when sliced.
• 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar. Apple cider vinegar can be used, but know that this really changes the taste and deviates from what I think of when I think of a pickle. That said, pairing apple cider pickles with a burger is nice.
• 3/4 cup of water.
• 2 teaspoons of cane sugar.
• 1 teaspoon of salt. I’ve opted for Himalayan Pink Salt. It gives some color to the liquid.
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon of dill weed. This one is optional, but really adds bite to the flavor.
• 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric. Again, optional, but adds depth to the flavor along with a nice bit of color.

Step by Step

Slice your cucumber into slices somewhere just above 1/8th of an inch in width using a paring knife. Place sliced cucumber in a bowl or jar with a lid as you’ll be storing your pickles in this container when finished. Note, I typically have a little extra cucumber that I set aside knowing it’ll be too much for the recipe. How much extra I have will be determined by how far the pickling brine goes at the end.

Add mustard seeds, dill weed, and turmeric to the sliced cucumber.

Combine vinegar and water in a microwave safe container and microwave for 2 minutes.

Add salt and sugar to heated water and vinegar. Mix these together until the salt and sugar are dissolved. This is now your pickling brine.

Pour your pickling brine over your sliced cucumbers and other ingredients. At this step, determine if you can add any extra cucumber into the brine if you set some aside in the first step; you just need to make sure your brine completely covers all of the cucumber you’ve added. Stir together all of your ingredients to make sure they’re dispersed evenly.

Let your pickles cool at room temperature for 30 minutes and then refrigerate so that they can be served cold. I like to make these in advance of when I want to use them so they can continue to pickle in the fridge for a day or two before serving.

Refrigerate and use for up to 2 weeks.

Nutritional Information

Based on 8 servings… which is a lot of pickles in one setting, but they’re good and have a lot less sodium and sugar than store bought.

• Calories: 12
• Sodium: 245 mg
• Carbohydrates: 2 g
• Fiber: 0.2 g
• Sugar: 2 g
• Protein: 0.2 g
• Calcium: 6 mg
• Iron: 0.2 mg
• Potassium: 42 mg

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Thanks for reading, Matt

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