Homemade Canned Dill Pickles

Once dinner is over and you’ve enjoyed something sweet, do you go back go wanting a taste of something savory again? Maybe a touch of something salty. If you’re worried about overeating or stuffing yourself, grab a fork and enjoy these homemade dill pickles: one or two, however many you want. They’re light, savory, and so perfectly salty.

Canning pickles or any home canning at all is super simple. It’s as easy as fresh cucumbers, simple, easily accessible ingredients, and minimal measuring. As long as one or two of each ingredient is in each pickle jar, you’re good to go.

First, you’ll prep the jars with an easy step for the canning process:

The first thing that I always do before canning is to boil the jars and the lids. This hot water bath process loosens jar lids so when they cool, they’ll tighten onto the jar over time, and the hot jars themselves are cleaned wholly by the boiling process. This adds only 10 minutes to the processing time and is a simple step that everyone has the supplies for.

Speaking of supplies, here’s what you’ll need before you gather your ingredients:

Three jars, 500mL each to fit each ingredient, the cucumbers, and the vinegar brine.

A large pot with a lid to boil the jars and their lids in.

A wire rack for boiling once more.

Crisp pickles always turn out when you make this recipe right. Any air bubbles in the jars will disappear and the center of the lid will pop down over time, so when you find these in your pantry, you can open up the jar like it’s brand new and munch on some crunchy dill pickles.

Homemade dill pickles > store bought dill pickles, and here’s why:

These easy dill pickles are ones that I’d munch on any day. Store bought pickles do not rent space in my pantry. At the grocery store, so many jars have a large list of ingredients with preservatives, additives, natural flavors (which we don’t even know what this could be!), and worst of all, yellow food coloring. Why wash out the natural shade of a pickle? Why should it be yellow when pickled? That’s largely unnatural. Pickle recipes like this one are easy to make and this way, you know what you’re putting into your body and how good it is.

You’ll need dill stems, with… flowers?

That’s right! A dill seed not only makes for tasty stems, but also flowers! These sweet little flowers may not actually taste sweet, but they’re too cute. Along with dill stems, the fresh dill heads add to the dill pickle flavor that’s classic and well loved. Homemade pickles always trumps store bought, and natural, garden grown dill is one of the many ingredients that make the canning process turn out the most delicious jars of pickles.

Ingredients for Dill Pickles

Cucumbers naturally are what makes pickles, of course! You’ll need 3 lbs small cucumbers.

Peppercorn, bay leaves, dill stems, and garlic all add flavor and spice to the pickles.

Water and distilled white vinegar are always needed for pickling.

Sugar and pickling salt add the perfect touch of sweetness and the perfect salty touch to these whole pickles.