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Author:
Tracy Nawara
Everyone loves pickles. You can find some delicious varieties at the grocery store or a specialty food store. Some pickles are garlicky, sweet, spicy, or brined simply in vinegar. You don’t have to stop at pickling cucumbers either; you can pickle just about anything!
What most people don’t know is that it is incredibly simple to pickle cucumbers at home. The best-ever home pickle recipe is these Canned Spicy Dill Pickles, sealed in the jar for freshness. Canning may be intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never want to buy store-bought pickles again!
If you are a gardener and happen to have tons of cucumbers in your harvest, this is the perfect recipe for you. It’s also great if cucumbers are on sale at the grocery store or farmer’s market and you can buy your veggies in bulk. You’ll also need quite a few serrano chili peppers for this spicy pickle recipe, so keep your eye out for a large number of serranos.
This is an easy way to process 8 pint-sized jars of pickles. If you do not want to can these pickles, you can make them into refrigerator pickles by refrigerating them after placing the pickles inside the jars. These will keep for up to 1 month in the fridge, or much longer at room temperature if you decide to process the jars.
Start by sterilizing your canning jars and allow them to cool enough to handle while you continue with the next steps. Also, warm the canning jar lids in a small saucepan filled with water over low heat.
Prepare your water canning bath as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
Wash your cucumbers very well and dry them with paper towels. Slice off the very end of each cucumber and then slice into ¼-inch rounds. Place them in a bowl and set the cucumbers aside.
In a large stockpot, add the vinegar, water, salt, brown sugar, and turmeric. Turn the heat to medium and allow this mixture to heat. Using cheesecloth and kitchen twine, wrap the coriander, mustard, fennel, cumin, and half of the fresh dill into a pouch and tie the top with twine to keep the pickling spices inside the pouch. Place into the pickling liquid and allow the spices to steep in the vinegar solution.
Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer for 5 minutes.
To your now-cooled jars, divide the rest of the dill, garlic cloves, white peppercorns, and halved serrano chili peppers among the 8 jars. You can remove the pepper seeds if you don’t want the pickles too spicy. Then place the cucumber slices into each jar, filling almost to the top. Carefully pour the pickling brine over the pickles, leaving ½-inch of space from the top. Make sure the liquid is completely covering the cucumbers.
To seal your pickle jars, screw on the band of the lid until just finger-tight. Using protective heat gloves and a jar lifter, place each sealed jar into the water bath, making sure the water comes over the lids by 2 inches. Bring the water bath to a boil and process the jars for 8 minutes.
Remove the jars carefully using the jar lifter onto a thick, even layer of towels. Allow the jars to come to room temperature and let them rest for 24 hours.
Double-check that the jars are sealed after 24 hours. When pressing the center of the jars, the lid should not move up and down. If it does, place that jar in the refrigerator. If the lid is completely sealed, store the pickles in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. The pickles will be ready to eat in 2 weeks. Once opened, store leftovers in the refrigerator.
