Grandma’s Quick Pickled Cucumbers – Refrigerator Pickles
on Jul 08, 2017, Updated Apr 08, 2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
These Quick Pickled Cucumbers with green onion are made in the refrigerator for a simple summer snack or quick side dish!
My grandma was a wiz in the kitchen and always created the most incredible recipes for her family of 13 kids (11 of whom were boys!). I got this recipe for quick pickled cucumbers from her. She is an incredible woman, and thinking about her makes me happy. She’d create a simple brine and throw anything from the garden in—not just cucumbers, but onions, bell peppers, and whole cherry tomatoes.
It tastes like summer in a jar, and whether you’re an avid gardener or more of a grocery store frequenter, anyone can make these easy refrigerator pickles in no time.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Quick Pickled Cucumbers Recipe
- Quick & Easy: One of the best things about Refrigerator Pickles is that you can make them quickly and then let them sit in the fridge.
- No Special Equipment: Unlike traditional canning, this recipe doesn’t require any special equipment.
- Garden Abundance: If you have an abundance of fresh cucumbers, this recipe is a fantastic way to preserve them and enjoy them longer.
- Versatile Recipe: I love tossing in other veggies just like my Grandma did. Use whatever onions you have, add garlic or peppers, and whatever fresh or dried herbs and seasonings to get the flavor of pickles your family likes best. There’s no wrong way to do it!
🥒 For maximum use of the flavored liquid, reuse it a time or two! Just add more cucumbers or other vegetables to the brine!
Recipe Ingredients
- Vinegar — Apple cider, white, and rice wine are all good options.
- Sugar — This is optional, but it takes a little of the “bite” out of the vinegar.
- Garden Cucumbers — Kirby cucumbers or a similar thick-skinned variety is best!
- Onion or Green Onion
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Refrigerator Pickles
- Combine the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt.
- Add the cucumber and onion, cut into slices.
- Cover all the vegetables with the brine.
- Place in the refrigerator until ready to eat!
Recipe FAQs
Most recipes call for distilled white vinegar — it’s clear, colorless, and has a mellow aroma and tart acidic flavor. But you can really use whatever vinegar you like and have on hand, like apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar. This recipe is flexible!
If you ask my grandma, you can pickle any vegetables you like! A few common ones to pickle are cucumbers (of course!), radishes, carrots, red onions, asparagus, jalapeños, cauliflower, and green beans. The recipe will work for any of these veggies!
To pickle something, you must soak the vegetables in a vinegar brine. My brine calls for water, vinegar, sugar (optional), and salt. You let the cucumbers rest in the brine in the fridge until you’re ready to eat them. Letting them sit longer helps the flavors develop more, so an overnight soak is ideal, but they’re also okay to eat right away!
You want to choose a cucumber with thicker skin, like Kirby cucumbers as the thick skin helps the cucumber stay crunchy. Stay away from the English cucumber, like Persian cucumbers, as the skin is too thin.
Expert Tips
- Vinegar Options: White vinegar is the traditional vinegar for this recipe and a great place to start. Apple cider or rice wine vinegar are also good.
- Spice It Up: Want to add a little spice? Toss in a jalapeño cut in half (delicious!) or add some red pepper flakes.
- Pickle Jars: I love these glass containers with lids to have things like this in my fridge. I also use a mason jar and one of these reusable lids really often.
- Other Seasoning Options: If you love dill pickles, add some fresh dill, or even dried, to get that classic flavor! You can also add mustard seeds or garlic cloves to kick up the flavor.
The Best Jars For Pickles
Whether you’re making quick refrigerator pickles like in this recipe or water-bath canning your garden’s bumper crop harvest of cucumbers into pickles, the jars I always recommend are still the classic Ball Wide Mouth Mason Jars.
Available in a pack of 12, they’re affordable and top-quality thanks to the extra tight lids and durable glass. The 32-ounce size also holds plenty of cucumbers, and you can also use them for other recipes like my and my hot water bath canned .
Favorite Easy Pickle Recipes
Try these recipes if you’re looking for more pickling options:
- Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickled Banana Peppers
- Quick Pickled Cucumbers and Onions
- Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers and Vinegar
- Pickled Red Onions
- How To Pickle Peppers (Hot Water Bath Canning Method)
More Preserving Recipes to Consider
Preserving Guide
How To Preserve Asparagus
Preserving Guide
How To Preserve Apricots
Preserving Guide
How To Preserve Apples
Canning Recipes
How to Can Food: Learn the Basics
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Quick Pickled Cucumbers – Refrigerator Pickles
Equipment
- small bowl : I love these because they have lids and double as serving bowls.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup vinegar, (apple cider, white, and rice wine are all good)
- 2 tablespoons sugar, optional
- 1 to 2 teaspoons salt
- sliced garden cucumbers, (about 2 cups)
- sliced onion or green onion, (about 1/2 cup)
- additional vegetables as you like, (bell pepper, whole cherry tomatoes, etc.)
Instructions
- In a small bowl add the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine and until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion. Taste and adjust the ingredients to your liking.
- All the cucumbers should be covered in the brine, if you have lots of cucumber or are making a big batch, make more brine.
- Let the mixture rest in the fridge until you are ready to eat. The flavors develop over time, so an overnight soak is great but mine are normally gone by dinner.
Video
Notes
- I love adding the sugar and my mom does too, but my grandma doesn’t add that much (she only adds a few teaspoons). I say try it and see what you like.
- White vinegar is a great place to start but if you like apple cider or rice wine vinegar, they are also good. You really can’t mess this up. Just adjust to the taste and enjoy!
- The pickles will last at least a week in the fridge but get less crisp with time.
- You can reuse your brine for a time or two; add more cucumbers!
I made this as my first pickle recipe ever. I used apple cider vinear. It was too strong for me, but my daughter loved them. Is there any way I can make these so they can be canned in a water bath, or would I need to change ratio of water to vinegar? I’ll be making more for my daughter, either way. I’d like to try with white vinegar to see how different it will taste. It was super easy and I did write the recipe down as a keeper. 🙂
Has anyone tried canning these? I would like to can some for the winter.
This is my new addiction! Great recipe.
I made these 40 years ago. I also made yellow squash the same way, so so good. My husband would hide his jars.
That’s so fun, I’m going to try yellow squash next, thank you!
Has anyone tried sweeteners like stevia or something like that to replace sugar?
I have read many a recipe like yours; each varied in amounts of sugar/water/vinegar. I did find one that boiled the brine first. Any thoughts as to why?
Some people boil the bring to help dissolve all the sugar/salt and to help bring out some of the flavor in the spices!
If I put them in the jar, how long will they last in the fridge? Thank you.
They’ll last a week or two, they just start to get soft. If you like them really crisp eat withing the first day or two.
Thank you for this recipe! i love putting sugar in it too <3 we'll be putting them in our father's day burgers
I made this last night and hubby and I loved it! I used your basic recipe with sugar, distilled white vinegar and some white wine vinegar, just made more than one batch. I put in a sliced unpeeled english cucumber, sliced onion, carrot matchsticks and quartered a fresh jalapeno. We ate the whole thing. I’m redoing the veggies today and re-using the brine.
This was very helpful for the type of viniger to use.
These are so fresh and delicious! I add a tsp of dill and they are to die for! Perfect for snacking, on sandwiches and salads!
Yes! I like a few red pepper flakes too for a little heat! So much flexibility!