Is your garden overflowing with cucumbers? If you have time to slice them up and add them to salt water, you have time for fresh homemade fermented pickles. This is seriously the simplest recipe ever and make the best tasting slightly sour pickles.

This easy fermented pickle recipe honestly seems like a pretty sorry excuse for a blog post.

I mean really. How could anything with so few steps and ingredients ever be considered revolutionary enough to be worthy of your time, dear reader?

Well, if your garden overfloweth with cucumbers and/or you want to start incorporating more fermented vegetables into your diet,  I think you will love this super simple recipe.

Honestly, it has been a game changer for me with my last few cucumber harvests.

I remember last year, we ate more vinegar cucumbers, cucumber cream cheese sandwiches on sourdough, and plain old salted cucumbers than we could stand. Soon I started making cucumber mint infused water by the gallon. But after all that, what else was a girl to do?

I mean making pickles is hard, right? Surely no mom of four has time for that!

Now I’m thinking, why the heck didn’t I just make more pickles?!

Spoiler alert.

There are only three ingredients in this recipe: cucumbers, water and salt.

That’s it.

You may be thinking, “but fermenting vegetables is intimidating and scary, right?”

Isn’t there some recipe that doesn’t require fermenting?

There are. But, guess what? They are actually HARDER than this simple recipe, and no where near as beneficial for the gut!

Read more on the benefits of fermented vegetables HERE.

Homemade Fermented Pickles Are Super Simple To Make

Before I started fermenting vegetables myself, I was overwhelmed by all the options that I saw all over Pinterest. “How to Ferment Vegetables with Whey”, “Best Starter for Homemade Fermented Vegetables”, “Why Lacto Fermentation is the Best”, “Best Air Locks for Home Fermeting”……Whaaaaaaa?

For a few years I decided, clearly fermenting is difficult. I’m going to go crawl in a hole now and avoid any article that resembles a fermenting tutorial.

Friends, I’ve been there. If you’re where I was, let me gently back you off that ledge and give a quick science lesson.

Salt is a special little mineral that prevents the growth of harmful bacteria.

When ferments are submerged in a salt brine, the good bacteria present on the fresh vegetables, namely Lactobacillus, can proliferate and grow uninhibited by bad bacteria. It also helps turn sugars in lactic acid.

So, my point is…all you need for vegetable fermentation is salt, veggies and water. The process really couldn’t be any easier and less intimidating.

Read about how to make homemade sauerkraut here and homemade kimchi here.

Think of fermentation as growing your own probiotics.

Now, on to the easy fermented pickle recipe.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Watch How To Make Them:

Homemade Pickles Ingredients

4 Tablespoons Salt

1/2 Gallon Water

4 Medium Cucumbers

Tools you may need:

Half gallon jar. Quart jar will also work, I just like to make big batches at a time.

Fermenting weights

Fermenting lids

Berkey Water Filter (optional)

Knife

Cutting board

Homemade Pickles Instructions

Making the brine

Add four tablespoons of salt to a half gallon size mason jar.

I like to use Pink Himalayan Salt. You could use sea salt or Celtic salt, but don’t use iodized table salt.

Next, bring a couple cups of filtered water to a simmer. This is going to be used to dissolve the salt.

Add the hot water to the salt and stir to combine. Fill the jar the rest of the way with filtered water and set aside to cool.

Slice Cucumbers

Add sliced cucumbers to another half gallon mason jar. I like using small firm pickling cucumbers.

I like to slice them in approximately half inch rounds. If they are too thin, they can get soggy, and who likes soggy pickles??

Optional Add-Ins

Now, this is the part where you could get creative and add parsley, dill, cloves of garlic clove or whole black peppercorns.

Emphasis on the COULD.

As in, you don’t have to.

I didn’t. 

My kiddos love these sour pickles, and I just don’t want to mess a good thing up. I’m afraid they would turn their noses up at garlic parsley pickles with peppercorns, and we wouldn’t that.

If you wanted to make dill pickles, add a about two heads of fresh dill per half gallon.

I added some parsley for the photo, but like I said, I just pulled that little sprig right back out and got on with my plain Jane pickle makin’.

After the salt water brine has cooled, add it to the jar leaving at least 2 inches of headspace at the top.

Add a Weight

Add a weight to keep the sliced cucumbers under the brine.

I keep a couple good sized rocks on hand for my fermenting weights. I just slip the rock in a ziplock bag, so it doesn’t make contact with my ferment.

Since the original posting of this recipe, I’ve switched to using glass fermentation weights.

Screw on the Lid

1. After the cucumbers are weighted down in the salty brine, cover the jar with a fermentation lid and place jar ring on loosely.
   • Fermenting does create some natural gases that need to be released, so if you are not using a fermentation lid don’t screw the lid on too tightly, but do keep it covered so flies and varmints don’t decide to feast on your pickles.
   • You can also use these Pickle It fermenting lids, but you definitely don’t have to. The purpose of the lids is to allow gases to escape, while letting nothing else in. I use them all the time, but they were already in use in other ferments when I was making this tutorial. You can pretty much accomplish the same thing with a loose lid.
2. Allow to ferment until desired taste is reached.

How long does it take to ferment pickles?

It usually takes 5-7 days for the fermentation process. After five (or so) days, they will usually taste perfectly pickle-ish.

Can fermented pickles make you sick?

There is a low risk of pickles making you sick. Always make sure your tools and jars a very clean. Always check for signs of mold and toss if there is mold.

How do you keep homemade pickles crunchy?

If you want your pickles to stay really crunchy you can add a grape leaf to them. This is totally optional, but the tannins in the grape leaf help keep that crunch.

A Few Notes And Tips:

• It is normal for the brine to get cloudy. This is a natural byproduct of vegetable fermentation and does not mean mold. For more fermented vegetables troubleshooting questions, check out THIS article.
• Take one out and try it. If it is sour enough for you, put the lid on tightly, and throw the jar in the fridge. If you would like them to get a little more sour, leave them out at room temperature to ferment a little longer.
• After you make your first batch you can use some of the brine to make your next batch. It already contains a plethora of good bacteria, so you’ll be giving your next batch a head start.
• I like to use pink Himalayan salt. You could use sea salt or Celtic salt, but don’t use iodized table salt.

I included this photo to show you the color difference after fermentation. The garden fresh cucumber is on the right and the pickle, after a five day fermentation, on the left.

We Love these Homemade Pickles!

We love these sour pickles, and you can bet I will be making many many more this summer, as we are up to our ears in garden cucumbers.

For my next batch, I am going to just throw the freshly sliced cucumbers in the brine from a previous batch. Since it is already teeming with the beneficial bacteria, it will serve as a jump start for the process in the next batch.

Fermented vegetables, like these fermented pickles, can last six months or more in the refrigerator, that is IF you can go that long without eating them all up. 😉

Enjoy!

Print the Recipe

Homemade Fermented Pickles

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Additional Time: 5 days

Total Time: 5 days 15 minutes

Is your garden overflowing with cucumbers? If you have time to slice them up and add them to salt water, you have time for fresh homemade fermented pickles. This is seriously the simplest recipe ever!

Print

Ingredients

• 4 medium cucumbers
• 1/2 gallon filtered water
• 4 tablespoons sea salt

Instructions

1. Add four tablespoons of salt to a half gallon size mason jar.
   I like to use Pink Himalayan Salt. You could use sea salt or Celtic salt, but don’t use iodized table salt.
2. Next, bring a couple cups of filtered water to a simmer. This is going to be used to dissolve the salt. Add the hot water to the salt and stir to combine. Fill the jar the rest of the way with filtered water and set aside to cool.
3. Add sliced cucumbers to another half gallon mason jar. I like using small firm pickling cucumbers. I like to slice them in approximately half inch rounds. If they are too thin, they can get soggy, and who likes soggy pickles??
4. Add in optional add ins, such as fresh dill, garlic, parsley or peppercorns. If you want to make dill pickles, add about two heads of fresh dill per half gallon.
5. After the salt water brine has cooled, add it to the jar leaving at least 2 inches of headspace at the top.
6. Add a weight to keep the sliced cucumbers under the brine.
7. After the cucumbers are weighted down in the salty brine, put the jar lid on loosely. Fermenting does create some natural gases that need to be released, so don’t screw the lid on too tightly, but do keep it covered so flies and varmints don’t decide to feast on your pickles.
8. After five (or so) days, they will taste perfectly pickle-ish.

Notes

I like to use pink Himalayan salt. You could use sea salt or Celtic salt, but don’t use iodized table salt.

Side note: I included this last shot as a little update on the 18 week baby bump. 😉

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