I’m a dill pickle girl. I have been since I was a little girl. Many years ago, when we were eating dinner at my parents’ house, my Mom offered us some homemade bread and butter pickles. I quickly declined. If it’s not dill, I don’t want it. (And I really dislike sweet pickles.)
But, when Eric had some, I decided to try a little taste. Then, I had to steal them off of his plate. Who knew? Those homemade bread and butter pickles were amazing!
So, just a few days later, I had to make my own batch. I was pleased at how easy they were to make. I also loved that I could make these homemade bread and butter pickles with no special canning equipment. Score!
Easy and Delicious Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe
My Mom is pretty darn swell, so she picked up almost all of the ingredients I needed. (Mom for the win!)
The first step was to wash the pickling cucumbers that she had picked up for me. I forgot to count how many I started with. I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 – 16.
Next, I thinly sliced all of the pickling cucumbers. I ran out of room in the bowl I was putting them in, so you’ll see that I just stuck a cucumber’s worth in each of the big jars that I was getting ready to use.
I also chopped up the onion. And I cried. And I chopped some more, and I cried some more.
I am normally not crazy about onions, so I only used about half the amount in the recipe, but I decided that it was probably important to the recipe to actually put them in. (Plus, on the up side, the onions get pickled too, so they just taste a lot like pickles in the end.)
I filled up six jars with cucumber slices and chopped onions.
My Mom warned me many times to really jam the jars full of cucumbers and onions. I thought I had. Let me tell you — I definitely had not. Next time I make them, I am going to push much harder than this. They aren’t all that full, though they do look really full.
Update: Since I first shared this recipe in 2009, I have gotten much better at really packing things into the jars. Well, sometimes.
I combined one teaspoon Celery seeds, one tsp mustard seeds, four cups of sugar, two cups of white vinegar, and two tablespoons or salt.
(Quick note: If you don’t want to buy a whole container of the spices that you need for this, you should check if anywhere in your area sells spices by weight in bulk. I got some of mine at a local health food/natural living store.)
I boiled the mixture. I also got too close and sniffed just at the right moment, and it kind of burned my sinuses. Okay, maybe not really burnt them, but it was not pleasant.
Do you know what was less pleasant? When I did it again.
I’m funny about pouring boiling hot liquids. So, instead of pouring the boiling hot liquid from the pan straight into the jars, I used a super-sized mixing cup (okay, it’s really a bowl with measurements on the side).
Yummy! Hello pickles and onions and spices! You look so good.
So, here’s the proof that I did not pack in the jars full enough. See how each jar has quite a large area of liquid at the bottom? Yeah, you see it? Well, that’s the proof. (It got a little bit worse after this too!)
Printable: Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe
- 1 teaspoon Celery seeds
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 4 cups sugar
- 2 cups vinegar
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 large onion
- pickling cucumbers
- Slice unpeeled cucumbers (thinly) and sliced onion into glass jars. Pack tightly.
- Bring spices, sugar and vinegar to a boil.
- Pour over cucumbers and onions.
- (Quick note: I didn't have enough liquid for the amount of cucumbers I had, but the nice thing is that the mixture comes together really fast. So, I just whipped up another ¼ batch of the liquid to finish up my jars. So, don't worry if you don't have the right amount.)
- Store in fridge. Mix occasionally. (Keeps for many months.)
Enjoy!
Other Recipes You May Love:
Easy and Delicious Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe was originally published on September 8, 2009. It was last updated in May 2017.
Join 23,000+ Other Awesome People
Subscribe to the Real Life at Home weekly newsletter to get our latest content, exclusive free printables, learning activities, and ideas for celebrating with your kids all year
I love bread and butter pickles, so I’m going to have to whip up a batch of these beauties. They look perfect! (And I cry, too, I slice onions. Unless I wear swim goggles. Seriously. I look stupid, but my eyes don’t hurt.)
Hey…I just printed off your recipe and I am fixing to make pickles by it…hoping it is as good as you say..(I think it will be good)
Mona
Your comment caught my eye cause I was like, did I post a reply on here?! 🙂 So then I had to post!
Can these be processed in a water bath canner so that you can store them in a pantry instead of the fridge??
I’m not sure on the answer on that. I haven’t done other canning, so I don’t know. I do know that they tend to seal just from the heat when I have made them before.
You sure can. I had this recipe in a 4-H book on canning. They are the most delicious pickles you can eat. I used to make at least 10 dozen quart jars of these pickles each year. I would also make them and before canning them I would make pickle relish from them. They are so good my boys would eat them by the jars full.
I lost my 4-H book in a move and have looked for the recipe since then. There was one recipe I found that also called for cloves but we just love the plain bread and butter pickles or relish. Mixed with Miracle Whip the relish also makes a relish for fish.
I am going to try this with cauliflower. I have way too much, and I love these pickles.
That sounds good!
I wanted to tell you that my grandma made the best pickles ever!!! She passed away a several years ago but we recently finished her last jar of pickles. So sad! We all realized how disappointed we were that we never had the pro teach us how to can or make her butterscotch pie with the mile high meringue! 🙁 I recently decided to give it a whirl so I got her old recipe from my mom of course it was chicken scratched on an old notecard with minimal instructions. I thought I’d give Pinterest a go before attempting her recipe just to see how hers compared and make sure I wasn’t missing a step. I looked at a good 10-15 and none were the same so I was about to stop when I came across yours again. My name is Angie as well so I thought why not check out one more. The recipe is identical to my grandmas. Except
she doesn’t boil anything which is crazy! And mom said she would keep it in the fridge for months! I’m so curious to hear where your recipe came from. And wanted to thank you. I’m not sure why you chose to label every picture with angie-many little blessings, but I definitely found myself counting them tonight. Thank you for blessing me in such an ironic way. God works in mysterious ways.
I got the recipe from my Mom who got it from a friend of hers. I’m not sure where her friend got it.
I’m so happy that you were able to recreate that same taste of your Grandma’s pickles. Food can be such a powerful way of reliving memories, can’t it? Both of my grandmothers have passed away, and there are many things that they made that I think, “Man, I wish I could have that again.” Maybe that should be a goal of mine – to work on trying to make some of those special memory foods.
I am curious do I use white or Apple cider vinegar
It’s white vinegar. The spices and such just change the color. 🙂
First timer here, do you let it cool before placing the lids or after you put the hot liquid in to seal?
You’ll put the lid on right away. The heat will actually cause the lid to seal. 🙂
My husband LOVES these pickles. He says we are never buying store bought pickles again! So happy to find this recipe????????
That’s awesome, Kathy! I’m so happy to hear that. 🙂
I made these yesterday, and they are delicious! So simple to whip up and make small batches as needed. I am curious though, since my lids have sealed, then I should be able to just store them outside of refrigerator? I do can tomatoes and green beans, first time in years doing pickles. Glad I tried this recipe, will be my go to from now on!
Terri –
If you regularly can and that makes you feel comfortable that they are shelf stable, then you can certainly do that. Since I don’t can and the recipe that I got from a friend of the family said to keep them in the refrigerator, that’s just my comfort level. 🙂
This is my first time making pickles and I have a question, why do they need a lot of sugar?
Thanks!
Miren –
I suspect you can find dill pickle recipes that would need much, much less sugar. But, these are bread and butter pickles, which are a lot closer to sweet pickles. So, they need sugar for the sweetness. You could always try to make a much smaller batch with less sugar and decide if you like the flavor with less sugar before making a regular sized batch with less sugar.
Or, like I said, you could also seek out a dill pickle recipe for less sugar. 🙂
I’ve made dill pickles and the recipe said to sit for 4 weeks. Don’t you have to let these set for a while in order to get the flavor. I plan to can mine..
I usually let them sit for a few days before I start eating them, but I don’t usually wait weeks. Well, except sometimes I do, but that’s just because I might already have some left from my last batch before that one.
Hi, this sounds really good and I’m going to try it! My question is, do you heat the jars before putting the hot liquid in them? I’m concerned about the jars cracking from the sudden heat. Thanks!
Hi Lynn –
I think canning jars are generally made to withstand boiling liquids. I just use canning jars from my cabinet, so they are room temperature (per se). I’m all about feeling more comfortable though, so if it helps with concerns, I would maybe fill the jars with hot tap water first and then dump that out. While I don’t think that’s necessary, I often do unnecessary things just so I feel like I’m doing things on the safe side.
This is all not to say that I don’t think a jar could crack and break. But, I think that would be more likely to happen if there is already a crack or defect in the jar. So, be sure to look over your jars closely before you use them. The last time I made pickles, I was surprised to find a giant chip out of one of the jars. Yikes! That could have been ugly!
Is the salt you use just regular table salt or pickling salt? I can’t find picking salt.
I use regular table salt in this recipe.