Pickles are a favorite snack of mine. They are crunchy, briny and full of flavor, but light and not calorie ridden. Its funny to me that pickled cucumbers are known as pickles, because you can pickle just about any vegetable. I love to pickle peppers, asparagus, and okra! Try these homemade dill pickles with jalapenos!
The method for pickling varies depending on the type of vegetable you use. This recipe to pickle cucumbers came from a family friend. This is her family recipe that she granted me permission to post on the blog. It’s an awesome recipe, leaving the perfect amount of crunch in each pickle.
Variations to the Homemade Dill Pickles with Jalapenos recipe:
There are two ingredients that
require adjustments to personal taste in this homemade dill pickles with jalapenos recipe. First is how you prepare the garlic. The recipes says you can use whole, sliced, or minced garlic. More pieces of garlic (e.g. minced) will increase the amount of garlic flavor in the pickles. However, if you want to eat the pickled garlic, the larger the pieces, the easier it will be.
You can also adjust salt to taste. If you watch sodium content, be aware that pickles are usually very high in sodium. One of the perks to making homemade pickles is that you can control the amount. Four tablespoons of salt will make low-sodium pickles, while eight tablespoons will be similar to store bought pickles. My personal preference would be somewhere in the middle, maybe six tablespoons. Enjoy!
- 10-12 medium pickling cucumbers (~4-6 inches each)
- 3 quart jars with lids and rings
- 9 cloves garlic, whole, sliced, or minced depending on your preference
- ¼ medium white onion, cut into petals
- 6 jalapenos, sliced and seeded
- 9 medium dill seed heads
- 1½ cups white vinegar
- 4½ cups water
- 4-8 TBS pickling salt
- Sterilize 3 quart jars buy filling them with water and place in a water canner. Fill the canner with water so that jars are covered. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Carefully remove jars and reserve water for the water bath process. *You can skip this process if you are not planning on long term storage and simply want to make refrigerator pickles.*
- Wash cucumbers and rub the spines off with your hands. Cut cucumbers into half inch spears (6-8 spears per cucumber).
- Evenly distribute seasonings among jars. Pack jars with cucumber spears as full as possible (if not full you will run out of brine liquid). If spears are shorter than the jars (mine were), cut some spears to lay flat in the top of the jar so that the jar is full to the top.
- Combine all ingredients for the brine in a medium pan and bring to a boil.
- Poor brine over cucumber spears in the jars. All jars should be full of liquid. If you don't have enough liquid, make enough more to completely cover all the cucumbers.
- Bring the canner full of water back to boil.
- Meanwhile, sterilize lids by placing in a pan of water and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat.
- Place lids on jars and tighten them using a ring. Place jars into the boiling water and turn off the heat. Let jars sit in the hot water until it cools, 6-8 hours. Dry the rings so they do not become rusty.
- If any jars did not seal, refrigerate those and eat them first.
How long do you brine before you can eat?
It depends on what kind of flavor profile you are looking for, and the size of the pickle. The larger the pickle (whole vs slices) the longer the wait. 3-6 weeks is the average waiting period before eating, but they can be eaten sooner (1 week) or later (I never keep mine longer than 1 year). The longer they sit the saltier and more vinegary they will become (to a point).
If I used dill seed, do you have an idea how much I would use in placement of dill seed heads?
I have tried it with 1 tsp of dried dill seed per pint jar. The flavor is less pronounced than the dill heads, but it works!
Hi Alison,
Could I skip the sealing the jars, if I refrigerate immediately? If yes, how long should I wait until opening them?
Thank you,
John
Thanks for your question, John. If you skip sealing the jars they will not be safe for long term storage, or storage out of the refrigerator, so I do not recommend it. If you tried it, you must refrigerate the pickles. You could eat the pickles within 24 hours, but they will only last for 1-2 weeks.
Can you just use jalapeño no onion or garlic
Yes! The onion and garlic are just for seasoning, so they can be omitted if that suites your preferences.
Do the jars need to be completely covered with water when sitting for 6-8 hours or as much as they can be? My canning pot doesn’t fully cover the jars
As long as the jars are very close to being covered, I think it would be fine.
It calls for 4-8 tbs of pickling salt and wanted to know what the fluctuation in measurement provides? What the benefits to using 4 rather than the 8 and visa versa are.
Its just based on how salty you want your pickles to be. 8 TBS is like what you get in the store, but one large pickle has about 30% of the amount of salt that you should eat in an entire day. If that is a concern, try using less. I prefer my pickles with 6 TBS because I tend to eat a low-sodium diet. They are a little salty, but not too much. Hope this helps!
Can you use regular salt instead of pickliing salt
Thanks for your question! I would not recommend regular salt for pickles because it will turn the pickling brine cloudy. A cloudy brine is also an indicator that your pickles have gone bad. Therefore if you use regular salt, your pickles will always look like they are not safe to eat!
Would I be able to modify the recipe by slicing the cucumbers horizontally, rather than slicing them into spears, or would this completely change the cooking times and such? That way they can be easily added to burgers, or eaten with a fork/spoon while also getting the other ingredients in the same mouthful. 🙂
Thanks for your question Austin! Yes, you can slice the cucumbers, or even pickle baby cucumbers with this recipe. Because this is a “no cook” recipe (you turn off the heat when you add the full jars) I think you can do just about anything with success!
Are these real spicy or do they just have a kick to them ?
No, they are not real spicy. The jalapeños add a mild flavor, and you can even make the recipe without them if you desire. Thanks for your question!
Can dill seed be used?
Thanks for your question Patricia! I have tried dill seed, and it worked, but I didn’t think the flavor was as good. If you can’t find the dill heads, than absolutely try the seeds and let us know what you think!
I’m guessing you can do slices and not just spears (from the pictures of the finished jars)??
Yes! Slices, spears, and even baby pickles all work with this recipe! Thanks for your question Sarah!
Can you cut the recipe in half? Also, is fresh dill an acceptable substitute for the dill seed heads?? Have most of the ingredients from the garden and can’t wait to finally make this!! 🙂
Sarah, yes the recipe can be cut in half, you will just need to adjust the jars you use. If you need to use a half pint, slices are easier than spears! Dill seed is where the dill flavor comes from. If you can’t find the heads, try getting a jar of dill seed!
How much head space is needed in the jar?
Hi Andrew, and thanks for your question! 1/2 inch should be just fine! Let us know how your pickles turn out!
Can these pickles be put up by using a pressure canned and if so, how long and how much pressure?
Hi Selene, and thanks for your question! Personally, I would not recommend pressure canning pickles. The reason for this is because the additional pressure of the canner is likely to leave you with mush instead of a crisp pickle. It’s not an issue of safety, but the quality of the end product.