Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe

A simple homemade pickling spice recipe to make refrigerator pickles, overnight pickles, canned pickles, and more!

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 (is that something you would want to know more about too??). 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!

What is pickling spice made of?

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. 

What recipes do you use pickling spice in?

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.

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Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe

A simple homemade pickling spice recipe to make refrigerator pickles, overnight pickles, canned pickles, and more!

• Author: Melissa Griffiths - Bless this Mess
• Prep Time: 5 min
• Total Time: 5 min
• Yield: About 1/2 of a cup

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

1. 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.
2. Stir to combine.
3. Add a lid and store until needed.

And there you have it – your very own pickling spice recipe and a few of my favorite quick pickle recipes to try it with. I don’t have a great canned pickle recipe yet (the recipes I’ve tried have resulted in squishy/soggy pickles), so if you have one, I’d love to know!

Enjoy from my kitchen to yours!