Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe
on Apr 23, 2018, Updated Jul 23, 2024
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A homemade Pickling Spice recipe to make refrigerator pickles, overnight pickles, canned pickles, and more! This simple recipe will take you less than 10 minutes.
This recipe might not be one that you make tomorrow, but when you are in the middle of making pickles (the canned kind or the simple refrigerator kind) and you run out of pickling spice (or your little store doesn’t carry it), this might just come in handy. I’m here to save the day, friends, one pickle at a time.
I am pickle crazy, if you haven’t noticed. I love normal canned pickles, overnight pickles, pickled peppers, and pickled hot peppers. Heck, I’ve even been getting into fermented pickles, and they are amazing. All of them are so great in my opinion, and I’m here to get you excited about making pickles, too. In the world of homemade pickles, pickling spice is essentially just a blend of spices that you use to season your pickles. It’s what makes a good pickle taste like a good pickle!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect for refrigerator pickles, overnight pickles, canned pickles, and more, making it a staple for any pickle enthusiast.
- Takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, so you can enjoy delicious, homemade pickles without the hassle.
- Includes an optional tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes, allowing you to adjust the spice level to your preference.
Recipe ingredients
- Black peppercorns
- Mustard seeds
- Coriander seeds
- Dill seed
- Allspice berries
- Bay leaves – Crumbled
- Red pepper flakes – Optional
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe
Step #1. Break the bay leaves into small pieces with your fingers.
Step #2. Combine all the ingredients in a small jar.
Step #3. Stir everything together to mix well.
Step #4. Seal the jar with a lid and store until needed.
Recipe FAQs
I make mine from a mix of black peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dill seed, allspice berries, bay leaves, and optional crushed red pepper flakes. Some recipes include cinnamon, but it’s not my favorite in it, so I don’t include it.
I have a few pickle recipes that I LOVE and make often. Here’s the list:
Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar
Quick Dilly Cucumbers in Vinegar
Homemade Claussen Knock-Off Pickles from Foodie with Family (this recipe is AMAZING and I give it as gifts all summer long)
The fun part about those recipes is that you can reuse the brine! I just toss in more cucumbers when we’ve eaten through the jar of pickles. I’ll do this a time or two before tossing out the brine and the cucumbers still taste delicious.
Expert Tips
- Use the freshest spices possible to ensure the most robust and vibrant flavors in your pickling.
- Feel free to tweak the spice quantities to match your personal taste preferences or the specific type of pickles you’re making.
- Store the spice mix in an airtight container in a cool, dark place to maintain its potency for longer.
- For a finer texture, you can lightly crush the spices with a mortar and pestle before mixing them.
More Pickling Recipes to Consider
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Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons dill seed
- 1 tablespoon allspice berries
- 2 bay leaves, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a small jar with a lid (one cup wide-mouth canning jar works great). Use your fingers to break the bay leaves into small pieces.
- Stir to combine.
- Add a lid and store until needed.
Notes
- Use the freshest spices possible to ensure the most robust and vibrant flavors in your pickling.
- Feel free to tweak the spice quantities to match your personal taste preferences or the specific type of pickles you’re making.
- Store the spice mix in an airtight container in a cool, dark place to maintain its potency for longer.
- For a finer texture, you can lightly crush the spices with a mortar and pestle before mixing them.
Sounds delicious! Can’t wait to try it. However I’m looking at the nutrition facts and scratching my head … where do all the fats, carbs a & protein come from? Please excuse my ignorance lol I’ve never pickled anything before and haven’t used one of the ingredients before in whole form (allspice berries). Just curious! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes and stories to go with them!!
I just a paid service and sometimes it’s just weird, there’s no reason that should have fat in it… I’ll try to see if I can get it to fix it.
The classic! Thank you!
Hi Melissa, Thank you for sharing this recipe. This will be my first time canning Dill Pickles, would you use 1 tsp with dill in making dill pickles?
Yep, it’s excellent with dill, you can also use fresh! I like using dill weed instead of the seeds when using dry.
No. The coriander and all spice is a terrible blend for pickles. You must have never used your recipe . its awful and gives the brine a terrible flavor. Your recipe its set up for failure.
How much of this are you using for a quart jar?
I generally use 1 teaspoon per quart but it depends on what the recipe calls for.
Recipe for Irish-style pickled hard boiled eggs ? perhaps
Soak I’m pickling lime for 24 hours. Won’t be mushy
Some reasons for mushy pickles:
Use water without fluoride or chlorine, do not use table salt, cut the blossom end off cukes. Hope this helps.
Hi thanks for the pickling recipe; write me back and ill send my no boil crunchy dill pickles! Thomasflinn@gmail.com hugs Tommy
Thank you for the great advice for pickling spice. I tried it and totally enjoyed it with my pickling onions.