The Best Pickles
You will love these garlic sweet dill pickles because they are the best! The flavor of garlic with dill is awesome. They’re great on grilled burgers, ham and cheese sandwiches, or in chicken salad. Oh yes, they’re pretty good just by themselves – which is why an opened jar never lasts long at my house.
Not only are they delicious, they’re also soooo easy to do.
We’re talking the usual sugar, vinegar, water and salt; add some fresh dill and a garlic bud and (of course) the sliced cucumbers.
How easy is that?!
About the Recipe
I can these by the quart and by the pint. The size jar I open up depends on how many people will be eating at my table that night.
For each pint jar, you will need two cups of sliced cucumbers. You can slice and measure all of them ahead of time, or just do it jar by jar. Then you’ll know exactly how much brine you’ll need.
I got this recipe from a friend, and later I also found it in the Mennonite Country Style Recipes cookbook.
So if your garden is producing an excess of cucumbers this summer, wash and slice those cukes and add the garlic and dill; then pour in the liquid and you’re all set.
This recipe makes enough brine for 6-8 pint.
How Water Bath
If you think you don’t have a way to hot water bath something, you’re wrong.
Use a large kettle with a rack. If you don’t have a rack, you can use slats of wood or put a towel in the bottom. You need something on the bottom of the kettle so the jars won’t be touching the bottom. Put the jars in the kettle and put enough water in to come up to the necks of the jars. Bring water to a boil and boil for 8-10 minutes.
When you take them out of the water, the lids might not be sealed. Give it some time and before long, you’ll hear that popping sound that signals the lid is sealed.
This is a re-post from four years ago. We’re nearing the end of cucumber season, so this is the time to be canning these beauties.
My Favorite Garlic Sweet Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup vinegar
- 3 cups water
- 2 Tablespoon salt
- 1 garlic bud
- 1-2 sprigs fresh green dill
Instructions
- Wash and slice medium-size pickles 1/4 inch thick into jars.
- Place 1 garlic bud and 1-2 sprigs fresh green dill into each quart
- Combine the other ingredients in a saucepan.
- Heat to boiling, then pour over the cucumbers in jars.
- Process in boiling water bath for 8-10 minutes.
- Let sit in jars for 1-2 weeks.
Your recipe isn’t very good at explaining how many pickles or how many jars so this is a guessing game
Oh dear. I’m sorry about that. The brine (liquid) makes 6 pints. That’s stated at the beginning of the recipe, but you are right. My recipe doesn’t tell you how many cucumbers. This depends on the size and length of each cucumber. You will need 2 cups sliced cucumbers per pint jar. What I like about this recipe is that I can wash and slice my cucumbers and put them into the jars. Then I know how much brine I need. I can double or halve the recipe depending on how many jars I have filled. I usually just put the garlic and the dill in the bottom of each jar and then slice the cucumbers on a cutting board and toss them in the jar. When one jar is filled, I do the next one. But you can slice them all and measure how many you have. Then you will know how many jars you need. I hope this helps! I will edit the recipe to make it easier to understand. Thanks for pointing this out to me!
I cannot wait to make this at home. This looks delicious! Haven’t gone out and made a recipe like this in a while. So excited to try it – thank you for sharing!
It’s so easy. Enjoy!
Can you can the cucumbers whole or will they wrinkle up which has been my experience with other recipes but using more sugar ???
I have never tried canning them whole with this recipe, but I am sure you can. They’d be good just for eating on the side, I’m sure. I recommend that you use smaller ones that will be easier to serve a “finger foods”. If you do it, let me know how they turn out!
Cider vinegar or white vinegar?
I use white vinegar. I think cider vinegar will make the brine darker.
Come to think of it, it would. Adding some red Jalapeno to mine. Thank you for sharing.
I’m not a fan of Jalapenos but I’m sure they will be good for folks who like them!
These are the best pickles i have ever canned. Everyone seems to love them, and I have even converted people who have never liked pickles. Thank you for the recipe! I’ll be making these every summer.
Thanks for dropping in! I’m not surprised 🙂 but happy that you like them as much as we do!
I just made a batch of these pickles in pints. I think they are going to be really good. One thing though…I noticed that after the water bath, my pickles float up about a half an inch. Any idea why?
I don’t really know, but mine do that too, sometimes. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. Fruit often floats to the top after it is canned.
I am going to try making these today. Thank You
You’re welcome. So easy, and so fun to eat, for sure!
I’m anxious to try this recipe when our garden gets going this summer. We love dill and garlic. We grow both here on our farm. My question is “ are they crispy?” Or do I have to add alum or pickle crisp to make them crunchy?
Thank you, Aurora
I’m not sure what you mean by crispy. They are great on sandwiches and I would say they are more soft than crunchy. They are not soggy or flimsy. Does that help?
when they are in the water bath are the tops on or off? thanks
You put all the ingredients into the jars, put the lids and rings on tightly, then put them in the water bath. When they come out of the water bath, they will be sealed or will seal shortly thereafter. You will get to listen to the “dings” of the lids sealing. 🙂
Just regular salt ? Or pickling salt ?
Regular salt.
These are the best pickles. I made them last year and had to ration them through the winter because we loved them on everything. This year I made sure I canned extra!! This is a recipe I’m actually going to write down because I never want to lose it. I also put this brine over fresh jalapenos and it is incredible as well!
Thanks for dropping in! I agree with you. We love, love, love these pickles. Thanks for sharing. This reminds me I need to check my jars and see how many pickles I have left!