Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe
Published August 30, 2024. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Homemade Bread and Butter Pickle Recipe with garlic and spices is better than anything you’ll get from the store. You will be floored at how delicious these pickles are.
These sweet, sour, and salty-brined pickled cucumbers are often cut into ridged chips and served on sandwiches. Try them out in my Southern Potato Salad or Southern Deviled Eggs.
Bread and Butter Pickles
Bread and butter pickles are thinly sliced cucumbers marinated in garlic, vinegar, and spices to enhance their flavor. They have a sweet, earthy taste. Rumor has it that they got their name during the Great Depression when people made sweet and sour pickles and served them between buttered bread, hence the name.
As a kid, I could not stand these, but as an adult, I love them on sandwiches with lunch meat or mixed in with bound salads like tuna or egg. Once you try these, you’ll love how easy they are to make and how much tastier they are than store-bought.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Cucumbers — It is best to use pickling cucumbers like Kerby, Persioan, Boston Pickling Cucumber, or Bush Pickle.
- Vinegar – I used a combination of white distilled and apple cider vinegar. You can use either one.
- Sugar – Regular granulated sugar is used to sweeten up the pickles.
- Onion – You can use a red, white, yellow, sweet onion, or shallot. In addition, whole garlic cloves are used. Substitute the garlic for 1/2 teaspoon of dry granules or powder.
- Salt — I always use coarse salt in my cooking and baking, which flavors the pickles and helps preserve them.
- Spices — I used a combination of mustard seeds, celery seeds, ground turmeric, and cloves. Other spices, such as cinnamon, allspice, or crushed red pepper flakes, can also be used.
How to Make Bread and Butter Pickles
- Add your sliced cucumbers to a jar.
- Add the vinegar, sugar, onion, garlic, salt, mustard seeds, celery seed, turmeric, and cloves to a pot and bring to a boil or until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Next, Pour the brine over the cucumbers in the jar and cool to room temperature.
- Label and date the jars.
- Keep cool in the refrigerator for 4-6 weeks.
How to Seal Pickles
Once the brine has been poured over the top of the cucumbers, you will immediately screw on the lid and place it into a pot of boiling water with a rack in it, and cook for 10 minutes. Cool it to room temperature and keep it for up to 1 year. Pickles do not freeze well, so we advise against it.
You will know the jar has been sealed correctly if the lid on the jar does not move when you press in the center of it and you hear a pop while it is boiling.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make these bread and butter pickles up to 2 weeks ahead.
How to Store: Keep the lid on the jar and store it in the refrigerator under 40° for 4-6 weeks. Pickles do not freeze well, so I advise against freezing them.
chef notes + tips
- Sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles are the same thing.
- If you can’t find pickling cucumber varieties, you can slice a regular or hothouse cucumber into spears or chips.
- These can be eaten like regular dill pickles and are fantastic on Burgers, Nachos, a regular lunch meat sandwich, or even a falafel sandwich. Its unique taste can enhance the overall flavor of your food.
More Pickling Recipes
Video
Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe
Equipment
- mason jars
Ingredients
- 12 pickling cucumbers
- 2 cups distilled vinegar
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- 1 peeled thinly sliced yellow onion
- 3 finely minced garlic cloves
- 1 ½ tablespoons sea salt
- 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon celery seed
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 12-15 cloves
Instructions
- Slice your pickles to your desired slice and pack them into 4, 16-ounce sterilized mason jars.
- In a large pot, add the vinegar, sugar, onion, garlic, salt, mustard seeds, celery seed, turmeric, and cloves to the pot and bring to a boil or until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Evenly pour the brine liquid over the top of the cucumbers in the jar until they are completely covered.
- Cool to room temperature, add a lid, label and date, and store in the refrigerator for 4-6 weeks.
Dear Chef Billy,
I plan to make these tomorrow. I will use small kirby cucumbers. Can I pickle the whole cucumber rather than slicing it into spears? Do whole pickles keep longer? Thanks!
should be able to, but slicing them is better for flavor
Made these pickles yesterday. They came out fantastic. No more trips to the store for pickles. Next up dill pickles👍🏻
Thank you for giving them a try!
Hey Chef, This is one of my most favorites. I can’t wait to try these. I have been known to eat a jar full in a day. Not a real big one though. I love them so much. I would also be one of those who would spice mine up a little too. Can’t wait to make me a Batch, everything I make from your recipes…turn to Gold everywhere I go. Thank you Chef…
Thank you for giving it a shot!
Tried your bread and butter pickle recipe and they are delicious. Thank you!
Lori DeBoer
My pleasure. Thank you for giving the recipe a try!
These pickles were gun to make… and oh so good!
One of my favorite pickles is Bread and Butter. This recipe is absolutely spot on with a great balance of sweet and sour. I’ll be make my pickles instead of buying
same!
Made these today, outstanding flavor! Just yum! Thanks Chef 😊
I love bread and butter pickles and I also love them sweet and spicy. Is there a one or two ingredient add that you think would add some heat?
red pepper flakes, sliced jalapeños.
These sound great and am definitely going to try them. However, when you canned some of them via water bath, I noticed that you filled the jar clear to the top. I have always been told to leave at least 1 inch of headspace to allow for expansion. Have you ever had any not seal or leak because you filled them too full?
Do what works best for you.
Now I know where my extra cukes are going. Thanks Chef.
so good!!
Getting ready to make these. Great recipe.
These are delish!
so good!!
Is there a minimum wait time before you should eat these pickles?
I usually wait until they are cooled to at least room temp.
I saved this recipe for summer when I have a ridiculous amount of cucumbers in my garden!!!
I grew up on dill pickles but my husband is all about bread and butter. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe and for the info on where the name came from. I always wondered!