Make Crunchy Dill Pickles Every Time, An Old Fashioned Recipe

After 15 years of trial and error, mushy mistakes, and soggy failures—I’ve finally discovered the secret to crunchy, old-fashioned dill pickles… and today I’m sharing it with you!

This isn’t just any recipe. It’s one that feels like it could have been pulled from your great-grandmother’s pantry—simple, timeless, and passed down through generations.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make pickles that snap with every bite, hold their flavor, and look beautiful lined up on your shelf—this is the video for you.

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🫙 Pioneer Home Crunchy Dill Pickle Recipe
Makes 4 Quarts – Go ahead a double, triple, quadruple….
Ingredients:
• 6 lbs (small Whole) pickle cucumbers
• 8 tsp dill seed (or fresh heads of dill)
• 4 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 garlic cloves per quart jar
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns per quart jar
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white distilled vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar

Instructions:

In a pot, combine water, both vinegars, salt, and sugar. Bring to a simmer and stir until dissolved. Turn off heat.

In clean quart jars, add cucumbers, dill seed or dill heads, mustard seeds, garlic cloves, and peppercorns.

Pour hot brine over the cucumbers until fully submerged.

Process in a hot water bath for 10–20 minutes (depending on altitude and texture preference).

Let jars cool undisturbed. Store in a cool, dark place. Let cure at least 2 weeks before eating for best flavor and crunch.

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#homesteading #canning #pickles #oldworldcooking #fromscratch #homemaker #slowliving #vintagerecipes

The best recipes aren’t found in cookbooks. They’re passed down generation to generation. And few things are more timeless or more treasured than the humble pickle. And after 15 years of canning, trust me, I’ve made every kind of pickle mistake you can imagine. Mushy, sour, flavorless, you name it, I’ve jarred it. But I finally cracked the code. And today I’m sharing the best kept secret to crunchy oldw world pickles. The kind your grandma would be proud to pass down. So if you’ve ever wanted to master the crunchy pickle once and for all, this is the video you’ve been waiting for. Did you know people have been making pickles for over 2,000 years? So there’s lots of ways to make pickles. But today, we are not going to be fermenting. We’re not going to be doing the 2,000-year-old method. We’re going to be making pickles the way that my grandma has made pickles and the way my mom has been making pickles for years, and they’re delicious. Now, you’re going to want to start out with good, fresh garden pickles. If you have to go get some from the farmers market, special order them from a farmer, or pick them out of your own garden, fresh is best for pickle making. Then you’re going to want to take off the bloom side of the cucumber. This bloom side actually holds an enzyme that continues ripening the cucumber and can make your cucumber or pickles soft and mushy. Then you’re going to brine it. I think this really two of those things are a secret to really crunchy pickles. So I filled up a onegon jar with my cucumbers, cold water, and 1/4 a cup of salt. And then you’re going to want to refrigerate for two to four days. I would say closer to two is the sweet spot. I’ve tried this in a 5gallon bucket with loads and loads of cucumbers. And I couldn’t fit that in my fridge, so I kept it outside. And I would say that works for maybe one day, but really the key is keeping these cold. So I would highly recommend putting in a onegon jar and putting it right in the fridge. I’ve also tried this with sliced cucumbers and they turned mushy in the brine. So, overall, learn from my mistakes. Use those smaller whole cucumbers for making pickles. Keep them in the refrigerator because when you let them brine on the counter, they just get warm, mushy, and bacteria settles in. Keep them in the fridge. And whatever doesn’t work out, well, you can always give it to your chickens. So, after these cucumbers have been brining in the fridge for about 3 days, I would say 2 or 3 days is probably best, I’m ready to get canning. By the way, canning and pickling is just one way that I love bringing back tried and trueue, timeless homemaking skills. If that’s something that you’re passionate about, too, you should join our family here on the Pioneer Home. Press that subscribe button and follow me each week as I do just that. Down in the description box, I’m going to put for you guys a recipe for about four quarts of pickles. I feel like online whenever you go looking up pickle recipes or any canning recipes, the quantity is always so small and you go through all this effort. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to do all of this effort just to make two quarts of pickles. I’m going to make a load of pickles. So, I’ll put that down in the description box for you guys. And it’s all about the quality of ingredients that makes good good food, right? So, I like to do a mix of white distilled vinegar and cider vinegar. And this recipe also includes some water and a little bit of sugar just to balance out the tartness. In the past, I have not put water or sugar in my dill pickles, and I just thought they were way too sour and super overbearing. just way too sharp. I’ve also used my plain salt. I’ve used pickling salt. So, let me know down in the comments below if you know if there’s a preference with pickling salt or regular salt or why we have to use pickling salt rather than the regular. I’m not quite sure cuz I don’t really see a difference there. But for the spices, I think this is where pickling anything could get really fun. I like to add mustard seed and lots of dill seed. Fresh is even better. I’m using pepperc corns today, but you could also use pepper flakes. I know that’s what my mom uses. I was actually near an Amish store recently and saw this most beautiful garden next door to the shop and I asked if they wouldn’t mind sharing some of their fresh dill cuz that’s something that I failed to put in the garden this year. And I had a really sweet chat with this sweet gardener and she shared all of this dill seed with me and dill weed and that’s what’s going in our pickles today. And she also recommended putting in some grape leaves into the pickles to add to the crunchiness. I just love listening to people’s different recipes and all the recommendations that people have learned over the years and things that get passed on. Those are the best kept secrets. And I almost forgot to add the fresh garlic. So, don’t forget to add the garlic. That makes these so delicious. And you can even throw them into your potato salad or on a sandwich. And Jared is in the kitchen with me today. He is very involved in the garden. He plants the cucumbers and then he likes to be in here preserving them as well. And I have to say, he is the best at loading the jars with pickles. He would definitely win in a game of Tetris, fitting all the pickles, the most pickles you can fit in the jar as possible. And you know, I was just thinking about how big our garden is. And Jared grows a huge garden. And it’s pretty overwhelming at times with all of the weeds. But what I love about Jared is that he does not leave it all to me. Jared is there every step of the way. from planting to harvesting and preserving. He’s very involved in the kitchen and he’s even made all of our salsa this year. So, we really are in this together. So, I’ve cooked our brine on the stove with the water and the vinegar and sugar and salt. I brought it to a boil and let it dissolve. And then I’ve added it to our cucumbers and all our spices. And then I’m just putting them in straight into the water bath. It’s good to look up for your area, depending on your altitude, how long to process your pickles or whatever you’re canning. We live near sea level, so that would be about 10 minutes for a pint. And I think I did about 15 to 20 minutes for my quart jars. [Music] There’s nothing more satisfying than hearing that pop pop pop pop after you’ve processed and canned and you can hear all the sealing happening and then seeing all of your beautiful pickles on the counter. It’s so rewarding. So, these pickles really do have a great bite to them. The flavors are wonderful. Not too sour. And the dill is coming through. Our family loves pickles. I’m going to bring a jar with me as we go on our trip to go visit my in-laws. My father-in-law loves having pickles for snack. So, this is a gift that I’m going to be sharing with him. And I hope you guys found it helpful as well, sharing my secrets to really crunchy dill pickles. Thanks so much for joining me here today. Happy preserving and have a wonderful, beautiful summer day. I will catch you guys all next week for another video on restoring home, family, and spirit through triedand-rue homemaking skills. Love you lots.