Homemade Spicy Garlic Dill Pickle Canning Recipe
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With just a few ingredients and some canning supplies, you can have some really good, garlicky and spicy dill pickles in your pantry. This spicy pickle recipe utilizes the “open kettle canning” method, which is now unapproved, and if you’re interested in more thoughts on it, check out my blog post on canning dill pickles to learn more. I’m a real weenie with spice, and while I enjoy it, I really can’t take the heat past buffalo sauce or some jalapenos. I use red pepper flakes in these pickles and they have a nice sweet and spicy and briny flavor to them that isn’t painful. If you prefer to be punished and like food with a painfully spicy kick, feel free to add your favorite spicy hot peppers or even horseradish into the mix!
Feel free to develop your own spicy dill pickle recipe using what you’d like. Â A rule of thumb for pickling is to keep the water to vinegar ratio at 1:1 and be a touch heavy with the vinegar and they turn out every time. Â You don’t need to worry about botulism if you follow this rule because there’s far too much acid for it to even survive. Â This recipe works to make a small batch of fridge pickles or quick pickles to use up just a few cucumbers from your garden as well. Â Pickling allows for some creativity to experiment with different ingredients and flavor profiles to suit you. Â
And the best part? Â Homemade pickles don’t contain those unnecessary preservatives and food dyes like the ones you find at the grocery store. Â I include a small amount of sugar with my pickles to help cut the acidity of the vinegar. Â It’s not necessary and you can choose not to use it entirely. Â It’s again, personal preference, but does help with that acidic pucker. Â You can also use this spicy brine to pickle other vegetables and not only pickling cucumbers. Â Think sliced peppers, carrots, onions, rooster testicles (IYKYK), and more. Â It’s amazing how one simple recipe can be used for many different things.
Let’s make some pickles!
Equipment You Will Want:
- Wide mouth quart or pint canning jars
- Lids & Bands
- Jar Funnel
- Ladle
- Jar Lifter
- Lid Magnet
Ingredients
- pickling cucumbers
- white vinegar
- water
- salt
- coconut sugar or granulated sugar
- mustard seeds
- garlic
- red pepper flakes
- celery seeds
- dill seeds or fresh dill
This recipe is per quart jar or per 2 pint jars.
Step 1: Prep the Cucumbers
Wash about 1 pound fresh pickling variety cucumbers and slice off the blossom end. Slice into pickles chips, spears, leave as whole pickles, or cut into the shape of your preference. Make sure cucumbers are room temperature and are not cold.
Set aside.
Step 2: Make the Pickling Brine
To a stock pot, add:
- 1 cup 5% white vinegar or cider vinegar if you’d prefer that
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbs salt
- 1 Tbs coconut sugar or granulated sugar or honey
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp celery seeds
- 1/4 tsp dill seed or 1 fresh dill head
Place over medium-high heat, bring to a boil stirring to dissolve sugar and salt.
​Cover and keep at a simmer.
Step 3: Sterilize Jars
While the brine heats, sterilize a wide mouth quart or two wide mouth pint canning jars. Wide mouth jars are easiest for packing for pickles. Sterilize jars by submerging completely in water and bringing it to a rolling boil for 10 minutes, or use my rebel method which is heating in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 225F.
Keep jars hot.
Step 4: Heat Lids
Wash new lids in warm, soapy water.
In a small sauce pan, bring water to a boil, add the clean lids, and cover to keep warm.
Step 5: Fill Jars
Do a little prep work and have everything you need in your workspace before you start open kettle canning. You want to work as quickly and efficiently as possible so your jars and ingredients stay very hot to give you the best chance of sealing.
With everything still hot, work 1 jar at a time, remove one of the hot jars from the boiling water or oven with a jar lifter.
Add in any hot peppers if you would like them alternating with the cucumbers.
Pack in sliced cucumbers keeping below 1/2″ headspace.
Ladle over boiling hot brine to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add more liquid if needed to maintain proper headspace.
Wipe rim of jar with a clean cloth.
Remove a hot lid from the pot with a lid magnet, place on top of the jar, and secure with a band. Set jar aside to seal.
If you are not comfortable with open kettle canning, simply place jars in a boiling water bath canner or steam canner for 10 minutes, but they won’t be very crunchy pickles. You could try the addition of pickle crisp or a grape leaf to help.
Step 6: Store
Allow jars to cool for 18-24 hours. After cooling time, remove bands and test seals. Any jars that did not seal can be refrigerated or placed in a hot water bath canner or steam canner to be heated slowly to seal them that way (but again…. they won’t be as crispayyyy). Allow jars to sit in a cool, dark place for 4-6 weeks before trying them to let them flavor and pickle fully. The longer they set, the better they get.
Shelf life is as long as the seal is good, they’re good. None of this the lids are only good for 18 months crap. If they’re sealed, they’re good. If there’s pickles from 1920 in Meemaw’s basement, I’ll eat ’em.
I hope you enjoy this easy recipe and feel empowered to experiment and make your own spicy pickles to store on the shelf or develop your own recipe. Canning isn’t hard and it shouldn’t be scary. You can do it!
Equipment
- Wide mouth quart or pint canning jars
- Lids & Bands
- ladle
- jar lifter
- Lid Magnet
Ingredients
- 1 pound pickling cucumbers sliced
- 1 cup 5% white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbs salt
- 1 Tbs coconut sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 tsp mustard seed
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp celery seeds
- 1/4 tsp dill seeds or 1 fresh dill head or 1 fresh dill head
Instructions
- To a stock pot, add vinegar, water, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, garlic, red pepper flakes, celery seeds, and dill seeds. If using fresh dill, set aside. Stir to dissolve and bring to a boil.
- Wash and prepare cucumbers. Set aside.
- Heat and sterilize 1 quart or 2 pint canning jars using the method you prefer. Keep jars hot if utilizing the open kettle canning method.
- In a separate small sauce pan, bring 1-2 cups of water to a boil. Shut off heat and add lids to water and cover to heat and stay warm.
- Working one jar at a time, add fresh dill to bottom if using and then layer in cucumbers, keeping below 1/2″ headspace.
- Ladle boiling spicy pickling liquid over cucumbers to 1/2″ headspace Debubble.
- Wipe jar rim and add hot lid. Secure with a band and set aside.
- Repeat until all jars are filled. Jars will seal upon cooling.
- If you aren’t comfortable with the open kettle canning method, simply waterbath or steam can your sterilized jars of pickles for 10-15 minutes.
- Let sit for a 4-6 weeks to pickle.
