Bread-and-Butter Pickles

Sweet and tart bread-and-butter pickles emerged during the Great Depression, when meat and cheese sandwich fillings were scarce and cucumbers were plentiful. Made with almost equal parts sugar and vinegar, a touch of turmeric helps balance the sweetness and gives the pickles their trademark hue.  

What is the difference between bread-and-butter pickles and regular pickles?

While some dill pickles use a touch of sugar in the pickle brine, bread-and-butter pickles contain a significant amount of sugar and taste sweet compared to regular pickles. Bread-and-butter pickles also don’t include dill like many classic pickles. 

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen

Salting the cucumbers helps draw excess moisture out of the cucumbers, leading to pickles with better flavor and texture, especially after a shorter amount of time. That said, if you are pressed for time and want to skip the salting period, you will still end up with good pickles, especially after a 24-hour sit. 

Use crinkle cutters to give their cucumbers that classic wavy pickle surface. 

These were specifically developed to be refrigerator pickles rather than traditionally canned pickles. 

If you use store-bought cucumbers that have wax on them, make sure to wash the cucumbers thoroughly and wipe them dry to remove the wax. 

Make ahead

Store pickles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one month.

This recipe was developed by Tricia Manzanero Stuedeman; the text was written by Breana Killeen.