Pickled Cucumbers

This pickled cucumbers recipe is a quick and easy intro to pickling vegetables at home. These simple cucumbers are crunchy, tangy, a little sweet, and easy to customize to your own tastes! Make them with just 4 basic ingredients, 5 minutes of prep time, and 4 hours of chilling time.

My mother learned to cook from her grandmother, so she naturally collected a number of Ma-ma’s recipes over the years.

This recipe for quick pickled cucumbers is one of the first recipes that I really recognized as being a family recipe as a kid. Even now, when I think of our family recipes, my first thought isn’t necessarily of fruitcake cookies or angel food cake—it’s of these simple little cucumbers.

Perhaps that’s because my momma made them so often. They were one of the first things she’d make the minute fresh cucumbers hit the farm stand, and you were almost guaranteed to find a bowl of them in the fridge at all times until late September.

Pickled cucumbers may not be anything fancy, but one bite takes me back to my great-grandmother’s kitchen, to my grandmother’s kitchen, and to my mother’s kitchen. And that’s a pretty special thing.

My great-grandmother’s pickled cucumbers recipe

I know that you’re probably looking at the name “pickled cucumbers” and thinking, “Isn’t that redundant?” After all, pickles are made from cucumbers.

And yeah, you’d be right about that. But unlike dill pickles or bread and butter pickles which contain spices such as mustard seeds, peppercorns, or celery seed and need to rest for at least 1-2 days before eating, these quick pickles are done in just a few hours and are made with just cucumbers, vinegar, water, and sugar.

That’s to to say you can’t add some extra herbs or veggies if you’d like. (Scroll down to recipe variations for more on that.) But at their heart, these are a totally simple, dressed-down cucumber pickle. The easy vinegar brine really lets the cucumbers shine here.

They are super crunchy, super tangy from the vinegar, a little bit sweet, and super refreshing.

Ingredient notes

You only need 4 ingredients to make my great-grandmother’s quick pickled cucumber recipe:

• Granulated sugar: I promise there is enough vinegar to prevent the cucumbers from becoming sweet. Just trust me that you need the sugar, ok?
• White vinegar: This is one of the things you can easily change up to change the flavor of the pickled cucumbers. White vinegar is the original and most “classic” version, though.
• Water
• Cucumbers: We typically use regular cucumbers, but you could also use English cucumbers or Persian cucumbers. If you’re using regular cucumbers, be sure to peel them if the skin is bitter.

Since these are refrigerator pickles and are not processed (canned), you can play it a little more fast and loose with how many cucumbers you add. I usually use 1 large cucumber or 2 small-to-medium regular cucumbers for the amount of brine listed in the recipe.

And no—there’s no salt in this recipe! That’s not a mistake, I promise.

How to make pickled cucumbers

Think of this as your introductory pickle recipe. Once you make these, you’ll be less intimidated to try recipes like pickled garlic scapes, pickled peppers, or pickled carrots. 

Slice your cucumbers as evenly as possible. I usually like to slice mine just a bit thicker than ⅛-inch using my mandoline slicer.

Place the slices in a clean glass jar or bowl with a lid. A jar is best for storage, but my mom always kept hers in a big bowl. Use what you have!

In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar, and vinegar and bring this to a boil. Give it a quick stir to make sure the sugar has dissolved, then pour the hot brine over the cucumbers.

Cover loosely and cool to room temperature. Tighten the lid(s) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

You can eat these within a few hours, but they’re best if you let them sit for a day before enjoying. They really just get better with time!

Storage tips

Since these are not processed pickles, they need to be stored in the refrigerator.

How long will pickled cucumbers last? Honestly…a while.

Use a clean fork to remove the pickled cucumbers from the jar and make sure the edge of the jar stays clean and they’ll keep for a month or two. Not that they ever last that long around here!

Recipe variations

Ok, so my Ma-ma’s recipe is super straightforward: cucumbers and vinegar and not much else.

But that doesn’t mean that we’ve never gotten more creative with these! 

Vinegars

One of the easiest ways to customize your quick pickled cucumbers is by using a different kind of vinegar

While white vinegar is the go-to for pickles and was the vinegar we always used growing up, there are more interesting vinegars you could try that would add more flavor to your pickled cucumbers.

Some of our favorites are:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Red wine vinegar
• White wine vinegar
• Rice vinegar (aka rice wine vinegar)

Rice vinegar is especially beloved around here for this recipe!

Additional veggies

You can also add other veggies or herbs to your pickled cucumbers.

Thinly sliced white onions or thinly sliced green bell peppers were always popular with our family. Simply replace some of the cucumbers with either or both of these and add them to the jar. (You could even skip the cucumbers and just make pickled peppers or onions!)

You could also add as much fresh dill as you like or even toss in some green onions or garlic cloves! 

Serving suggestions

Growing up, my family always ate our pickled cucumbers straight out of the bowl as a side dish alongside main dishes like chicken broccoli casserole, chicken leg quarters, or chicken pasta bake, more like a cucumber salad than actual pickles.

As an adult, I still eat them straight from the jar, but I also love them on burgers and sandwiches—such as a Blackstone patty melt—as well. I love the crunch and tangy bite they bring without competing with the flavors of the sandwich.

They are also right at home on a charcuterie platter alongside your favorite cheeses, homemade mustards, flatbread crackers, and nuts.

If you’ve been looking for ways to use your bounty of summer cucumbers, I hope you’ll give my great-grandmother’s pickled cucumbers a try. This is a family favorite that is worth sharing.

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