Homemade pickles are so easy to make when you reuse pickle juice for this recipe. In 24 hours quick refrigerator pickles are crisp and ready. There really is no easier recipe or an economical way to make no-cook refrigerator pickles from fresh cucumbers than this half-scratch recipe. You should never throw out pickle juice or brine and this is just one reason why.
I will keep this simple. You only need two ingredients to make icebox pickles by reusing pickle juice. All you need are cucumbers and leftover store-bought pickle juice. Any brand works such as Vlasic of Claussen. You can also use any whether it is spicy, bread and butter, dill, or sweet. Whatever you like, save that pickle juice to reuse and make a small batch of quick refrigerator pickles. Dill is our personal favorite.
How to Reuse Pickle Juice
What to do to reuse pickle juice/pickle brine? There is so much to do with it, including the best way to reuse pickle juice is in this recipe to make more pickles. But there are other uses for pickle juice so make sure you save it. One of my favorite ways besides adding it to bloody marys or as my secret (not so secret) ingredient in my amazing PARTY PERFECT DEVILED EGGS.
Uses for Pickle Juice
You also need to save your pickle juice to use as a brine for chicken, use in marinades, for pickling hard-boiled eggs, or add to your favorite dressing for macaroni or potato salad. It is also great to freeze pickle juice for popsicles or use in a martini cocktail or shot recipe. Anytime you want a briny, salty, or fermented flavor, add pickle juice.
How to Make Homemade Pickles
It is as simple as these 3 steps to make this fresh pickle recipe. This is a simple basic 24-hour pickle recipe, not exactly artisan or fancy but still really delicious.
- Wash and slice your cucumbers
- Put cucumbers in the leftover pickle juice (store-bought pickles) and close
- Refrigerate for 24-48 hours
How Long are Homemade Pickles Good For?
Once a jar of pickles is opened, you have to refrigerate them. They will last from 1 -2 years in the refrigerator after being opened. The shelf life for unopened pickles is the same. Either way, they will last up to 1-2 years even after the expiration date.
Does Pickle Juice Go Bad?
Same as with the jar of opened pickles, the juice as well will last from 1-2 years in the refrigerator. So you can keep pickle juice for a long time to reuse later to make homemade pickles.
What to Serve with Homemade Pickles?
There are many ways to enjoy this recipe. They are great as a snack or side dish with so many foods. Here are some ideas on what to eat with this quick pickle recipe. Enjoy your homemade pickles and pickled vegetables as a side dish with the following:
- Burgers or hot dogs
- On or alongside a sandwich
- Bread and fry as an appetizer
- Dice up and add to salads
- Ham rolls with pickles
Health Benefits of Pickles
As with other fermented foods, they offer health benefits. There are known gut health benefits from enjoying pickles. They help digestion thanks to good bacteria known as probiotics. To learn more about the health benefits of pickles, you can also check out WHAT PICKLES CAN DO FOR YOUR HEALTH. Pickles are gluten-free and low carbs and are some of the main reasons why I love snacking on them. This pickle recipe is also great for anyone on a keto, low calorie, diabetic, Whole30, Paleo, vegetarian, vegan, or grain-free diet.
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Homemade Pickles with Leftover Pickle Juice
Ingredients
- 1 jar leftover pickle juice
- 8 cocktail cucumbers
Instructions
- Wash and slice your cucumbers to the desired shape or size. For this recipe, I cut them lengthwise to make pickle spears. You can also slice them or leave them whole.
- Add the cucumbers to the leftover juice from store-bought pickles and close lid.
- Refrigerate at least 24 hours.
- Pickles can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 years. Enjoy the pickles and you can even make up to 4 batches of homemade pickles using the same jarred leftover pickle juice.
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This is an amazing recipe, I never thought it would be so easy to reuse the pickle juice!
It is a sort of easy magic that my kids could not believe was so easy. Now when we do not have homemade fresh pickles they are shocked – haha!
Interesting recipe! Thanks so much for linking up with me at my #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 17. Shared.
What a great idea!! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party. Hope the rest of your week is great!
Help! Can’t find cocktail cucumbers – any substitutions?
You can use any cucumbers and slice them to make sliced pickles. If you still want spears you can cut a large cucumber in half or a third so that it is shorter and fit into the jar. From that, you can then cut spears. I find that small size at Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Costco mostly so hopefully you can find them there in the future but cutting them different hopefully will help you today. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
This is such a great idea to re-use the leftover pickle juice for making fresh pickles. Thanks for the wonderful share!
You are welcome. This homemade pickle recipe is so easy and sure is a great idea!
This is such a great recipe. I’ve always thrown the pickle juice away. So many ways to reuse it!
SAVE that pickle juice!
Oh man my husband loves pickles. Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful idea. Everyone loves pickles. Yum!
This homemade pickles recipe is such a brilliant idea. I’ve never thought to use the left over pickle juice for anything, let alone making my own pickled cucumbers and adding it to bloody Mary’s!!
SO many great ways to reuse that pickle juice and glad you found this recipe and other ideas. Leftover pickle juice in blood mary’s are the best.
I love pickles! I had no idea pickles can be kept for 1-2 years!
Pickles sure do last a long time so keep that brine / pickling liquid for years and enjoy it many ways!
Even with the positive reviews, these are about as “Homemade” as Marinara Sauce from a jar. I suppose that pickles which you can buy in a jar (and re-use the brine) are ok, IF you never tasted “real” (processed) homemade pickles, or pickles made in a crock (not a crock pot). I’m sure I must have purchased just about every brand out there over time, and there’s no comparison to REAL Homemade Pickles. For us, easy & quick VS seriously delicious is a no brainer.
Thanks for your comment. With any recipe, people have different tastes and likes. For my family, we like a crisp pickle and find this is the method to get pickles just like we like them. We have had and made processed pickles in the past and for us, they are just too soft and maybe overprocessed but just aren’t our personal preference. This recipe is what is seriously delicious for us and hopefully others that like a quick crisp pickle that is brined for a minimal amount of time.
This is a great recipe to use up leftover pickle juice. Never thought of this before.
can u use zucchini instead of cucumbers
I have not tried that before but it could be the same concept and work. Let me know if you try it and if it works. Thanks – I do have another post for pickling vegetables that you may want to try for zucchini – it works with any vegetable. https://theshortordercook.com/how-to-make-quick-pickled-vegetables-kids-in-the-kitchen/#lt-recipe
I had a near empty bulk jar of pickles, then was given several home grown cucumbers and sweet peppers. A thought came to mind I could clean them up and simply put in the leftover pickle juice. They’ve been in there a few days now, so I decided to see if this was viable strategy, and I came across this article. NICE!
It is absolutely a viable and delicious strategy. Let me know how yours turn out. I highly recommend slicing them in some shape or form to expose the interior for the “pickling” in the leftover brine to really work. Enjoy.
I was trying to air dry some habanero peppers. It wasn’t happening. I removed the stems, halfed them and dropped them into some pickle brine. I added some cucumber spears. Three days in the fridge and I had some fire hot pickle spears, excellent!
Oh, that sounds fantastic. Thanks for sharing your pickling hack that I will need to try also.