How to Make Homemade Dill Pickles: Recipe Included

Episode 4 of Store Bought is here, and it might be the one people have been waiting for — homemade dill pickles. We’ve made dill pickles on this site before, but this time we’re doing it differently: cucumbers picked up at the grocery store, and a fully tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation instead of a shortcut spice mix. Same goal, better foundation.

A Short History of Dill Pickles

Pickling cucumbers is one of the oldest food preservation methods still in everyday use. Cucumbers themselves are native to India, and archaeological evidence points to ancient Mesopotamians pickling them in an acidic brine as far back as 2400 BCE — making this a roughly 4,400-year-old tradition, not a modern one. The practice spread from there across the ancient world: Aristotle praised pickled cucumbers for their healing properties, and Roman soldiers, including those under Julius Caesar, were fed pickles as part of their rations.

Dill itself came into the picture later, with the herb’s use in pickling taking hold in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. Dutch farmers began growing cucumbers in what’s now Brooklyn as early as 1659, selling them pickled from barrels on the street — the start of what became America’s largest pickle industry. Waves of Eastern European Jewish immigrants to New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s brought kosher-style dill pickles with them, cementing dill as the definitive pickle flavor in America. By the time dill pickles showed up on grocery store shelves, they were already the product of thousands of years of history across multiple continents.

Why This One’s Different

Most of this series has focused on ingredients that don’t need much prep — beans, garlic, pears. This recipe keeps that same spirit: no overnight brine soak, no fermenting, no waiting days before you even get to the canning part. Wash, cut, pack, and process — done the same afternoon.

A Note on Safety

This recipe comes directly from Ball — the same company that makes the jars most of us already use, and a source that tests its published canning recipes for safety, the same way NCHFP does. The vinegar-to-water ratio is what makes it safe for a water bath. Don’t reduce the vinegar to make a milder pickle — cutting the acid lowers the brine below a safe pH. If you want a more sour pickle, you can safely increase the vinegar; you just can’t safely decrease it.

Homemade Dill Pickles Recipe

This is Ball’s Kosher Dill Pickle Spears recipe — a classic, tested approach with plenty of crunch.

Yield: About 4 pint jars Prep time: 20 minutes. Processing time: 15 minutes for pints (water bath), adjusted for altitude. Headspace: ½ inch

Ingredients

  • 2½ lbs pickling cucumbers, 3 to 4 inches long
  • 2½ cups water
  • 2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup pickling salt
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 4 small bay leaves
  • 12 dill sprigs
  • 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
  • 4 small hot peppers (optional)
  • Ball Pickle Crisp (optional, for extra crunch)

Instructions

  1. Prepare your boiling water canner and heat the jars in simmering water until ready to use — don’t let them boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with the bands.
  2. Wash the cucumbers (and hot peppers, if using) in cold water. Slice 1/16 inch off the blossom end of each cucumber and trim the stem ends so the cucumbers measure about 3 inches. Cut each cucumber into quarters lengthwise to make spears.
  3. Combine the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower to a simmer.
  4. Into each hot jar, place 1 garlic clove, 3 dill sprigs, ½ teaspoon mustard seed, 1 bay leaf, 1 hot pepper (if using), and Ball Pickle Crisp (if using). Pack the cucumber spears into the jar, leaving ½ inch of headspace, trimming any spears that are too tall.
  5. Ladle the hot brine into the jar, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe the rim clean, center the lid, and apply the band fingertip-tight. Repeat until all jars are filled.
  6. Place jars in the boiling water canner, making sure water covers the jars by at least 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil and process pint jars for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
  7. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and let the jars sit 5 minutes before removing them. Don’t retighten the bands if they’ve loosened. Cool 12–24 hours, then check the seals.

A Few Notes

  • Want to skip measuring individual herbs and spices? A pre-made pickling spice mix can be used in place of the garlic, dill, bay leaf, and mustard seed listed above — just substitute it in rather than adding it on top. The water-vinegar-sugar-salt brine stays exactly the same either way.
  • Pickling cucumbers are small, crisp, and unwaxed — no need to peel them. Wide-mouth jars aren’t required, but they do make packing the spears in easier.
  • Pickle Crisp is optional but genuinely helps if you want extra-crunchy pickles; it’s not a safety ingredient, just a texture one, so feel free to skip it.

More From Store Bought

This is Episode 4 — head over to the Store Bought hub page to catch up on Dilly Beans, Pickled Garlic, and Canned Pears if you missed them, and to see these homemade dill pickles and every other episode as they go live.

If you’re local, come find us at the Buffalo Gap Farmers Market — we’re always happy to talk through what’s in the jar and why.

Sources & Further Reading

  • Ball Mason Jars — “Kosher Dill Pickle Spears.” The tested recipe and processing time this episode is based on.
  • New World Encyclopedia — “Pickled Cucumber.” On the Mesopotamian origins of cucumber pickling and its spread through the ancient world.
  • Bob’s Market and Greenhouses — “History in a Pickle.” On dill’s arrival in pickling traditions and the rise of the American pickle industry in Brooklyn.

 

If you’re new to canning, be sure to read our water bath canning information.

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