Homemade Dill Pickles

Pin It Now!

No, not the annoying baby brother of Tommy Pickles from the Rugrats cartoon (my son is currently obsessed with this '90s throwback).  I am talking about yummy, vinegar soaked cucumbers.  No glowing neon green liquid here, these are fresh, flavorful, and SO easy!  This recipe is from Bobby Flay's Cuban Sandwich Recipe on foodnetwork.com.  I didn't have all the fresh dill and whole seeds for the spices, so I just subbed a small amount of the ground spice equivalent, including garlic.

These will go great with homemade hamburgers.  If you go through the trouble of making everything from scratch for a crazy good burger experience (yes, I am one such crazy person), why not go all the way with homemade pickles too.  These happen to be for my son's upcoming birthday party for his "burger bar" lunch.  Perfect compliment to hand formed burger patties, homemade hamburger buns, homemade mozzarella cheese, homemade condiments and a variety of other happy toppings.

Homemade Pickles:

• 3 Kirby cucumbers, sliced into 1/8-inch thick slices (I made 1-1/2 recipes worth of vinegar solution, and used 12 mini cucumbers, 3-4 in. long, and put them in 4-16 oz canning jars)

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

• 3/4 cup packed coarsely chopped fresh dill (if you don't have it, skip it and add more dill seeds)

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (1/4 to 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (make sure it does not contain iodine, that will make the pickles cloudy)

• 3/4 teaspoon dill seeds (I put more since I didn't have fresh dill on hand, maybe 1-1/4 tsp)

• 1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seeds (1/4 tsp ground Coleman's mustard powder)

• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds (1/8 tsp powder)

Put the sliced cucumber in a medium bowl (which has a fitted lid).

Combine 1 cup of water, the vinegar, dill, sugar, garlic, salt, dill, mustard and coriander seeds in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar and salt is dissolved. Remove from the heat and taste for tartness, add more sugar if too sour and let cool to room temperature.

Pour the cooled liquid over the cucumbers, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 48 hours, stirring the mixture at least once.

 *According to research, these should last several months in the fridge as long as you use good cucumbers that were not rotting already or had soft spots.