Bless This Mess › Recipes › Snacks › Pickles

Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar

By Melissa

on Apr 19, 2018, Updated Sep 13, 2022

Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar make the most delicious refrigeration pickles that only take about 5 minutes to make. This homemade pickle recipe is a great snack that takes up almost no room in the fridge!

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Homemade Refrigerated Pickle Recipe

Making your own pickles sounds like a whole lot of work and you might even be thinking of hot water baths, canning, and boiling rings. I’m here to tell you that you can make the most amazing homemade pickles by simply adding cucumbers and vinegar and a few other ingredients together and letting them sit in the fridge. If you’ve never eaten quick pickles or refrigerator pickles, then you are missing out. They have so much flavor and the best texture. The cucumbers stay nice and crisp because they don’t go through much of a heating process. When you can pickles, you are boiling them in a hot water bath inside of the jars for a while, normally at least 10 minutes, which really changes the texture of the cucumber. When you make refrigerator pickles, the fresh cucumbers only get hot water poured over the top of them.

They have all the flavor and such a great texture with half the work! You do need to note that this is not a canning recipe. These pickles are meant to be stored in the refrigerator and eaten within a week. If you are looking for a shelf-stable pickle recipe, this isn’t it. I love that I can make a batch of these sweet and spicy pickles in the morning and they are ready to eat by the afternoon. They are even better if you let them sit overnight.

You’ll love how easy it is to make your own sweet and spicy cucumbers and vinegar!

Tips and Tricks for Making Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar

• Sometimes when I make this in the summer and I have jalapeños in my garden along with the cucumbers, I’ll sub in two diced jalapeños for the red pepper flakes. So delicious!
• You can add a clove or two of fresh garlic (cut in half) to the brine if you like garlic pickles.
• You can also add fresh or dried dill to taste.
• You can substitute the peppercorns and whole mustard seed for pickling spice (here’s my homemade pickling spice recipe) if you like. Use a generous tablespoon of pickling spice for this recipe.
• Kirby cucumbers work best for this recipe though you can use just about any kind. The long English and just normal old grocery store cucumbers work fine, though the Kirbys tend to have the best texture for the longest amount of time.
• These are awesome on pulled pork sandwiches, on a hummus and veggie sandwich, and on this turkey sandwich.  And I love them with Sloppy Joe Baked Potatoes, too!

More cucumber recipes:

• Grandma’s Quick Pickled Cucumbers – Refrigerator Pickles
• How to make a cucumber Sandwich
• Mediterranean Cucumber Salad
• Quick Pickled Cucumbers and Onions

If you’ve tried this spicy pickle recipe or any other recipe on Bless this Mess, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories.

Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Melissa Griffiths – Bless this Mess
• Total Time: 36 min
• Yield: 2 cups of pickles 1x

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Description

Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar make the most delicious refrigeration pickles that only take about 5 minutes to make. This homemade pickle recipe is a great snack that takes up almost no room in the fridge!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 medium or 5-6 small cucumbers (Kirby are great), about 2 cups.
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons whole yellow mustard seed
• 1–3 teaspoons red pepper flakes

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Instructions

1. Prepare the cucumbers by slicing them how you like, spears or rounds both work great. Place them in a glass mason jar or a bowl.
2. In a medium pan, add the water, vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, whole mustard seed, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
3. Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the prepared cucumbers.
4. Let the cucumbers and vinegar mixture rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (though overnight is great, too) before enjoying.
5. Keep pickles in the fridge, submerged in the brine, for up to a week.

Notes

• Sometimes when I make this in the summer and I have jalapeños in my garden along with the cucumbers, I’ll sub in two diced jalapeños for the red pepper flakes. So delicious!
• You can add a clove or two of fresh garlic (cut in half) to the brine if you like garlic pickles.
• You can also add fresh or dried dill to taste.
• You can substitute the peppercorns and whole mustard seed for pickling spice (here’s my homemade pickling spice recipe) if you like. Use a generous tablespoon of pickling spice for this recipe.

• Prep Time: 5 min
• Cook Time: 1 min
• Category: Snack
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American

Don’t ask me why cucumbers and vinegar make such magic, but man. am I glad I live in a world with pickles.

Enjoy from my kitchen to yours.