The BEST Half Sour Pickles recipe there is! These easy homemade pickles taste just like New York Crunchy pickles. No canning is needed to make these delicious pickles, just throw them in the refrigerator for a few days! Make them to find out why they’re so popular!
How to Make Half Sour Pickles
If I could stand on top of a mountain and yell one thing, it would be “I love pickles!” Seriously, I can’t get enough of them — they’re crunchy, briny, and just hit the spot any time of day. Whether I’m grabbing a quick snack or adding them to a burger, they’re always my go-to. If you’re a pickle lover like me, don’t miss out on my tangy, heartwarming Polish Dill Pickle Soup! It’s the perfect comfort food that’s packed with all the pickle goodness.
Right now, my cucumber plants are in full swing, and we’ve been busy picking and pickling those fresh kirby cucumbers. Did you know cucumbers are one of the easiest veggies to grow? I currently have 6 mason jars full of pickles in my fridge! And it’s not just cucumbers — I also love experimenting with other pickled veggies, like Pickled Red Onions, spicy Pickled Okra, and some classic Pickled Green Tomatoes. Each of them brings something unique to the table!
If you’re ever in Brooklyn and find yourself craving a pickle, you know where to come! After years of swooning over the pickles at all the NYC pickle spots, I’ve finally perfected the art of making the perfect half sour pickle. Trust me, it’s totally worth it!
Half Sour Pickles Recipe
A few notes about these half sour beauties:
- Half sour pickles are made using a saltwater brine instead of vinegar, which gives them a milder, less acidic flavor. The saltwater helps draw out the natural flavors from the cucumbers while encouraging fermentation, which is what gives half sours their signature tang. This method allows the pickles to retain a more crisp texture and fresh taste, unlike the more tart, preserved flavor found in traditional vinegar-based pickles.
- I recommend letting these pickles sit in the fridge for at least 4 days before digging in. After that, they’re so irresistible, you might find yourself finishing the jar in just a day or two. However, if you have some self-control, they can last for several weeks in the fridge.
- Kirby cucumbers are the best for pickles, but honestly any cucumber if you can fit it into the jar will work.
Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
-If you don’t have Kirby cucumbers, no worries! For larger cucumbers, it’s a good idea to cut them into spears so they fit better in the jar. Just keep in mind that cutting the cucumbers exposes more surface area, which means the pickles may taste saltier as the flesh absorbs more brine.
-Please don’t skip on the seasonings. These pickles soak alongside delicious garlic, fresh dill, peppercorns, coriander seeds, mustard seeds and bay leaves.
-This recipe uses a half gallon mason jar. The ingredients and amount of water to salt ratio in this recipe is for this sized jar.
-For premium crunch and crispness, I suggest using Ball Pickle Crisp. It works great to keep that fresh crunch and prevents they from becoming soft.
Fresh kirby cucumbers just picked from the garden!
One of the yummy herbs in this recipe is coriander seeds. If you have a cilantro plant and you neglect it, it will turn into coriander seeds. Awesome, right? I always do this every year so I get fresh coriander to last until next harvest season.
You can use a mortar and pestle to crush your dry ingredients or you can be like me and just use a tool (I don’t know the name of this so let’s just go with “tool”) to bash it all together. A rolling pin works great too. So does a hammer.
Put your cucumbers in the jar, then add your garlic.
Then your crushed dry ingredients.
Pick a few pieces of fresh dill. Doesn’t it smell great?
Then add your salt water and fresh dill.
Keep filling your jar with water until your cucumbers are completely covered. In the jar above, a little bit of the salt water still needs to be added.
Now it’s the hard part.. waiting for a few days to eat them!
But when it’s time… it will be worth it!
If you are making batches as you harvest, and you use similar jars sometimes it gets confusing to keep track of the ones that have been sitting the longest. To do this I use chalk or a Sharpie and write on the lid. #1 = eat first, #2 = eat next, #3 = eat next next.. etc.
Enjoy! 🙂
If you try this Half Sour Pickles recipe, please leave a comment or share it on Instagram with tag #brooklynfarmgirl – I’m always looking for photos to feature and share!
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Half Sour Pickles
PrintIngredients
- 5 kirby cucumbers or however many you can fit into your jar
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- few pieces of fresh dill
- 3 bay leaves
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup sea salt
- 6 cups water
- additional whole coriander seeds and peppercorns to add on top
Instructions
- Wash your cucumbers.
- Dissolve your sea salt in the water.
- Grind up all the dry ingredients (coriander, mustard seeds, peppercorns, 2 bay leaves). If you don’t have a mortar/pestle, throw it in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.
- Put the cucumbers in your jar.
- Put the minced garlic in the jar, then ground up spices, then pour the salt water mixture on top. If you have any water left, disregard it.
- Add a few pieces of fresh dill on top.
- Add in your additional coriander seeds, peppercorns and bay leaf. If you're using pickle crisp for extra crunch (see recipe notes), I put them in right now.
- Make sure your cucumbers are completely covered in water and close the jar. Give the jar a shake to mix.
- Put in the refrigerator. Let them sit for at least 4 days before eating.
- Enjoy!
Video:
Notes
For a crunchy pickle add 1/4 teaspoon Ball Pickle Crisp Granules at the end.
Bob Lintner says
I made these last year and they were great. I made them several times and could not get enough! Best half sour pickles ever! The wait until they were ready was the hardest part. Save this recipe as you’ll love it!
Stacie says
This is the best recipe! I have made these pickles several times over the last couple of years! My grown kids absolutely love half-sour pickles. They are so expensive at a good deli. I decided to try your recipe, and now friends and family request them often. Thank you! I do have a question, if I am using a large jar that can hold 8-10 cucumbers, would I add more of the spices?
Ricky Slouck says
You can won’t hurt
Neil Hodes says
I have made your recipe many times.
Do you sell and ship your pickles?
Barbara Raymond says
This recipe sounds great. I was wondering- the recipe calls for sea salt. Do I use coarse or fine grind? Thanks!
Pamela Reed says
I use fine sea salt so it dissolves easily in the brine. Hope you love the pickles, they’re a favorite around here!
Elizabeth Osterlund says
This recipe is amazing. As a New Yorker now living in Europe this is the first thing I pull up when the cukes appear in the spring and make on repeat for as long as I can get the proper cucumbers. My favorite taste of home. Thanks!
Joe Kunz says
I jjustmade batch of pickles on 4/15/25 & starting eating them yesterday.
They taste very good -nice & crisp. Excellent recipe. Question -Can I use the contents of the jar for another batch if I do it immediately?
Pamela Reed says
Hey Joe. Glad you like them! You can definitely reuse it, but I’ve found that the second batch isn’t quite as flavorful. They still taste good—just not as bold as the first time. I wouldn’t recommend using them more than twice. Hope that helps!
Janice Ellner says
When do you add thepickle crisper and is dill required?
Pamela Reed says
Add the pickle crisp at the same time you add the coriander seeds, peppercorns, and bay leaf, right before sealing the jar. You can leave out the dill if you prefer, but I think it really adds that classic pickle flavor. Even without it, your pickles will still turn out crunchy and delicious. Hope this helps!
Conchita says
This is such a great recipe! Super easy! This was my first attempt at pickles and they came out so delicious!!
David Weiss says
This was my first venture into “pickling”. I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty they were. I even ordered seeds from Burpee to raise my own cucumbers. Is there a way to make them have a bit deeper flavoring?
Cindy says
Hi. Can you tell me about the salt you use? Is it a fine salt or coarse like a kosher salt.
Thank you.
Kat says
Hi! I followed this recipe exact but pickles turned out awful 🙁 so salty they cannot be eaten. I followed the measurements exact, but I used a smaller jar and then dumped the excess salt/water that wouldn’t fit. I figured it would be fine since the instructions said to disregard any extra.
Any suggestions on what could have gone wrong? Even thought I followed the measurements but did not use all the water could this have ruined the recipe?
Pamela Reed says
Hey Kat, I’m sorry to hear this recipe didn’t work out for you. It’s loved by many people (me included) so I do hope you try it again. Some tips I can give is to make sure you are fully mixing the salt in the water until it’s dissolved. The other option is that maybe you want to try less salt. Good luck! They really are awesome pickles.
Bruce Pitts says
I have not made this pickle recipe yet,but was wondering what change(s)would need to be made for using a quart size jar versus a half gallon size? Thank you!
Jason Broyles says
You must be a psychic because I am reading this recipe while standing in front of my refrigerator at almost 4 o’clock in the morning eating a half sour pickle. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Deb Weisblatt says
Amazing recipe!!! How many times can I reuse the brine? (Making one batch at a time.) Thanks!!!
Pamela Reed says
Thank you! You can reuse, but I find that the 2nd batch is never as strong with flavor. They still taste good, but not as good as the first time around. I would not use more than twice though! Hope this helps!
Lisa M says
I’m a NYer in LA and I’ve been craving half sours. This recipe was awesome! I couldn’t find Kirby cucumbers, so I used mini cukes from Trader Joe’s, but it still worked great. One solid tip: soak the cukes in an ice bath for about 5 hours before packing them up with the brine. They stay very crunchy without the need for the chemical pickle crisp!
Charlie Dunham says
This is my go to pickle recipe! I’ve mad it 10+ times and they turn out awesome everytime. Thank you for the half sour pickle recipe!
Jonathan says
I can’t thank you enough for this recipe! I live in Pittsburgh and I can’t find *real* half-sours here. We even have a huge annual festival called “Picklesburgh” (because we’re the home of Heinz, famous for pickles) and I’ve never found them there.
I made your recipe a few times and loved it. But today was the big test. I brought several jars to a big family dinner and the response was overwhelming. “Finally! Real half-sour, crunchy pickles, just like from a New York deli!”
Everyone wanted the recipe, and I gladly shared your website with them, of course.
Thank you again!
Jonathan
Christine says
This looks amazing and simple. It seems that Salt is necessary (in almost everything!) But what if you are on a limited sodium diet? Do you have any suggestions or adjustments that can be made and still have a great pickle?? Also, can you give me an idea of the salt content per serving?
Thanks So Much for any help!
Jean Marc Berube says
Re: Canning. No tips so will try on my own and keep you posted. Strange people, we French. We have something called composed first names such as Marc Andre, Marie Claude, Pierre Paul and myself, Jean Marc. So I am neither Jean (John) nor Marc but Jean Marc. Nuff’ French lessons for today.
Jean Marc Berube says
Greetings from Montreal, bastion of the famous smoked meat and the world’s best bagel. Love your half-sours. Can we run these through a water bath and place them on a shelf for a year or so?
Pamela Reed says
Hey Jean, greetings from NYC, home of the world’s best bagel. Hahaha 😉 I’ve never canned these but some people have in the comments so maybe go through the pages to check out their tips? Hope that helps!
Chuck says
Spending Winters in South Florida gives me access to half sours. Nothing like then in the Midwest. Made these twice now and I’m very impressed with the recipe. First time with Persian cukes and this time with Kirby’s. Both worked well and using the pickling crisper is great. Now if I could only find decent CB or Pastrami in the Chicago area. I have it shipped from NYC. We used to have great delis when I was much younger but they’re unfortunately gone. Many thanks!
Matthew Caglianone says
Did you fill the jar with regular water if the cucumbers weren’t fully submerged?
Pamela Reed says
Sorry, just seeing this question! Yes, make sure to fill with water so the cucumbers are covered.
Chuck says
/Users/charlesskibo/Desktop/IMG_3380.jpeg. CB ordered from NYC. I like an onion roll and horseradish sauce with your pickles! CBis good but the pickles are perfection!