Refrigerator Pickles (Lemon Pickles)
Super easy, vinegar-free lemon pickles! Crunchy, tangy, cool, and crisp – a delicious and healthy way to eat up those summertime cucumbers.
Our cucumber plants have been producing well this year, and we’ve surely been enjoying their wonderful fruit, especially since this means more Cucumber Corn Relish Salad, more Mazidra, and more of these delicious vinegar-free lemon pickles!
How to Make Homemade Pickles
Making refrigerator pickles is uber easy! It only takes minutes of your time.
Just place your ingredients in a jar, add hot water, and pop in the refrigerator! Let them marinate a bit and you’ll have the most delicious pickles you’ve ever had!
Are These Vinegar-Free Lemon Pickles Healthy?
Not only are homemade lemon refrigerator pickles quick and easy to make, but no “store-bought, polysorbate 80, sodium benzoate, natural flavors, yellow 5-spiked” pickle can compare to these fantastically fresh homemade pickles!
Plus, these luscious pickles are vinegar-free. Vinegar is an irritant to the lining of the digestive system and can cause health problems.
How do you make pickles without vinegar? Use lemon juice. You’ll love them!
What is the difference between refrigerator pickles and canned pickles?
While the ingredients are almost the same, refrigerator pickles are not processed in the canner or hot water bath, and they aren’t sealed. They need to be kept in the refrigerator, and they keep for about 7 to 10 days. Refrigerator pickles tend to be a bit crunchier than canned pickles because they aren’t exposed to the high heat of the canning process.
How to Serve these Lemon Pickles
You can eat lemon pickles any way you would eat regular pickles.
We love them on burgers.
They’re amazing mixed into potato salad.
They make a great addition to this Macaroni and Cheese Bar.
They’re delicious on sandwiches.
And they make a great addition to a vegan cheese board.
Or just eat them cool and crisp straight from the jar!
Vinegar-Free Lemon Pickles
These cool and crisp pickles taste amazin’. So if you don’t have a garden or belong to a CSA, stop by your local farmer’s market and pick up a peck o’ potential pickles.
Ready, set, crunchalicious!
Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic, cut in half
- 4 small cucumbers - (pickling cucumbers work best)
- 2 teaspoons dill seed
- 2 – 3 teaspoons salt - depending on taste
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon frozen apple juice concentrate - optional
- 1 1/2 cups water - approximately
Instructions
- Place garlic in a quart jar.
- Wash cucumbers and cut into slices.
- Place cucumber slices in jar along with dill, salt, and lemon juice (and apple juice if desired).
- Bring water almost to a boil. Pour very hot water into jars until cucumbers are covered.
- Screw lid on jar and place in refrigerator. (I always give the jar a gentle shake before placing in frig – just to make sure ingredients are mixed well.)
- Wait at least 24 hours before serving. The pickles will taste even better after two days of marinating.
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Can’t wait to try this! Such a simple recipe.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this. A great simple recipe without vinegar. Thank you for posting!
These turned out awesome! I have tried to make pickles without vinegar MANY times and they never panned out. These were great. I think the secret is cutting them into slices. Gets flavorful more quickly. We added some fresh dill and coriander seeds to the recipe as well because we love the flavor. Thanks again!
I’m so glad you liked them, Nina. Thank you for your comment. 🙂
We polished off our first batch of refrigerator pickles. All set to make the 2nd for the new year. Given they have to be consumed in about 1 1/2 weeks because they are not canned and it was a full jar, this was a noteworthy first. They were so flavorful and pickle-like without relying on vinegar for that flavor. And also less crunchy than the other blah refrigerator pickles we have tried. Truthfully, I think even with the same crunchiness we would have adored but being less crunchy was a bonus! The slicing of the pickles made the difference in flavorful and allowing to soften – brilliant! I really appreciate how you don’t rely on the easy fixes to make things flavorful and impress guests. Takes some effort and ingenuity to do that. We really appreciate it because we can’t eat most of the bottled/packaged/canned items. Thanks again, Jennifer!
It was fun finding this recipe. Thank you! Can you can these safely?
Hi Lisa,
I’ve been searching for years for instructions on canning lemon pickles and still haven’t found any. So I don’t really know.
Jennifer
What if I have a larger number of pickles? How long will they last in the refrigerator?
HI Michael,
These will last about 1 1/2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer, We canned pickles with lemon juice last year. This year we want to try pickle relish. I will use your recipe I think
Will have to let you know how it turns out.
That’s great to hear, Teresa! I would love to know how you did it. And how the relish turns out! Thanks for your comment.
How did the pickle relish go using lemon juice?
Do these pickles taste like lemon and pickles or what is the actual taste? I buy lemon pickles from the local Pennsylvania Dutch Market and they are crisp and taste like lemony pickles. We love them and would like to make them at home. Any idea where to get the recipe?
These are AMAZING!! My daughter has been put on the REID diet, which excludes pretty much all processed foods. She loves pickles and can’t have any of the vinegar or even fermented ones anymore. These are easy and delicious! So glad pickles are back on the menu. Thanks so much!
That’s so great to hear, Amy! Thanks for the sweet comment. 🙂
I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!!! As a 7th Day Adventist health reformer we do not consume foods that are fermented (foods with vinegar). Before finding this recipe I had to give up my love for pickles; not anymore!!! These pickles are amazing and they are healthier in my opinion. Thanks again!
I’m so happy you like them, Marie. We really like them too.
You may be interested to know that I have several salad dressing recipes that don’t contain vinegar in them either.
Jennifer
Another Seventh-day Adventist here, who is mainly whole-food and plant-based, and when I saw in the description ‘no vinegar’ I came looking at this. I like to read comments to find tips and hints…saw your post. Blessings to you. Blessings to our Author, Jennifer!
Thank you, De.
Since my Nautropath’s protocol is against vinegar, I think this is a great way to satisfy a pickle craving without having anything really fermented. I will be trying this recipe! Thanks for this!
Hi Christine,
So happy you found this recipe! I hope you enjoy!
Jennifer
Do you have a recipe for sweet pickles?
No, I don’t. Sorry.
I tweaked it a little. I used a bit more than 1/3 cup of lemon juice, I used several stems of fresh dill, the juice was 2.5 lemons worth and I sliced up the remaining half and put it in too, and I put about 5 or 6 cloves of garlic split in half. I just tasted them at the 24 hour point and I really, really like them. They were softer than I expected. I am wondering if they would hold more crunch if I use water that isn’t quite as hot. I didn’t catch it before it started bubbling (though it wasn’t a full rolling boil), but I did let it cool a little before pouring it in. I did only use 2 tsp of salt (Himalayan pink salt) and I may increase that a little.
These were so easy to throw together and are extremely refreshing. I think next time it’ll need to be a double or triple batch!
So thrilled you liked them, Heather! Thanks so much for the feedback.
Using water that isn’t quite as hot will help the pickles stay crunchier but the pickles will have less flavor since the heat helps “infuse” the flavor into the pickles.
Thanks so much for your comment and the rating. 🙂
Can you make sweet pickles from this recipe? What would you recommend?
Hi Kathryn,
Unfortunately, I’ve never experimented with a sweet pickle recipe so I’m not sure. Sorry I can’t help you. If you give it a try, please let us know.
These look amazing! can’t wait to try 🙂 Does this work with lemon juice from concentrate, ie ReaLemon in the lemon shaped bottle?
Yes, these will work with lemon juice from concentrate.
Let us know how these turn out for you. I hope you absolutely love them! 🙂
Super tasty thanks Jenny
You’re welcome, Michael. I’m glad you liked them. 🙂