This is not a recipe for pickling cucumbers, but rather a method for how to make spicy pickles from store bought dill pickles. Calling all pickle junkies. This is perhaps the easiest and best recipe for spicy pickles you can make at home. Quick, easy and full of flavor, these unique Homemade Sweet and Spicy Pickles will be a staple in your refrigerator.
My Aunt Lena always said “You can pickle a beet, but you can’t beat a pickle“.
I wish she was still alive as I’d make this recipe for spicy pickles for her on a regular basis.
She thought eating a pickle cured any worry, any ache or any pain. And I do believe she’d have loved this recipe.
Homemade Spicy Pickles
What a great way to dress up, spice up and sweeten up a big jar of dill pickles.
And when they’re done you have super delicious, crunchy, spicy pickle chips. With a flavor perfect for snacking, piling onto Kickin’ Chicken Sandwiches, or Buffalo Bill Burgers. Or even chopped up for potato salad or macaroni salads.
And perfect on a hot dog. Set out a big bowl of these pickles for your next back yard BBQ.
Most refrigerator pickles ask you to heat a brine with vinegar, water, sugar and salt. And add a complex mixture of pickling spices.
Do you have sugar? Do you have garlic? Do you have red pepper flakes and Tabasco Sauce? Then let’s learn how to make spicy pickles – the easy way.
And you have some of the best tasting homemade sweet and spicy pickles ever. And they keep their crunch.
A semi-homemade pickle recipe, here’s how easy it is to make Best Spicy Pickles.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Pickles: 2 – 46-ounce jars of whole Dill Pickles. Kosher or Non-Kosher will work.
- Hot Sauce: Use your favorite brand. For us it’s Tabasco Sauce.
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Dehydrated Garlic Flakes, or Dehydrated Onion Flakes: Some brand of Kosher Dills can already have a strong garlic flavor. Whereas, pickles that are not Kosher will not. Use either garlic flakes or onion … or a little bit of both.
- Granulated Sugar
Tip: Save That Pickle Brine. I’ve never made them, but use the pickle brine to make chicken wings. Check out my friend Nick’s recipe for Pickle Brined Chicken Wings.
Step by Step Instructions
Be sure to see the recipe card below for complete ingredients and instructions.
- Buy two large jars of Vlassic Original Whole Dill Pickles.
- Remove them from their brine and slice them about 1/2 inch thick into a large bowl.
- Simply add sugar, a big splash of Tabasco Sauce, dried garlic or dried onion and red pepper flakes.
- Let them sit at room temperature for two hours, stirring now and then.
- During their rest, they will create their own liquid.
- After the two hours, and once the sugar is all dissolved, transfer to jars and let them rest in the refrigerator for three days before eating.
Tip: The sugar liquid created from these pickles is very sticky. Use a clean damp cloth to wipe the rims of the jars before placing on the lids. This will keep the lids from sticking when ready for use.
I’ve seen similar recipes that are names Fire and Ice Pickles, Texas Christmas Pickles and Cajun Christmas Pickles.
They are great for gifts for my pickle loving family and friends, but I love having them in my refrigerator year round.
How to Make Spicy Pickles from Store Bought Dill Pickles
I hope you take the time to learn how to make spicy pickles from dills. It’s truly an easy spicy pickle recipe. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite refrigerator pickle recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
Love pickling? Ever tried pickled beets? Take a look at my step by step recipe for Pickled Beets.
How to Make Spicy Pickles from Store Bought
Ingredients
- 2 46-oz jars whole dill pickles drained
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce Tabasco works well here
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated minced garlic Or onion flakes, see note below.
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Drain and discard the pickling juice from the dill pickles.
- Slice the pickles in thick, nice size chips, (larger than quarter-inch, less than half-inch) and place in a large bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix. Allow to rest for about 2 hours. Stir from the bottom several times. The sugar will dissolve and the pickles will produce its own liquid.
- Once the sugar is dissolved, place the chips in jars distributing the liquid among the jars. Wipe rims with a clean we cloth, seal and refrigerate for 3 or 4 days before enjoying and gift giving.
Notes
- Dehydrated Garlic Flakes, or Dehydrated Onion Flakes: Some brand of Kosher Dills can already have a strong garlic flavor. Whereas, pickles that are not Kosher will not. Use either garlic flakes or onion … or a little bit of both.
How To Make Spicy Pickles From Store Bought Dills … They’re The Best.
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Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
thanks for such a great and easy recipe for spicy pickles.
I accidentally ran across this recipe today while searching for something altogether different! But, I had tried to find a recipe like this several years ago with no luck at all. I bought a jar of pickles that a lady sells in the nearby town, and she would NOT give out the recipe, so I just gave it up…until today!
I decided to try this recipe out…but my husband is diabetic, so he couldn’t possibly eat these pickles with so much sugar. So, a low carb blogger friend told me to use Allulose instead of the sugar. I made a 1/4 recipe of these for a test, and they are delicious! I used all the same ingredients listed with the percentage of each, reduced to 1/4 recipe…..23 oz of pickles, 1 cup + heaped Tablespoon Allulose powder, 1 heaped tsp tabasco or other hot sauce (I used Frank’s original), 1 tsp dehydrated minced garlic (I will use several whole cloves of garlic in my next batch), 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes. I put the pickle chunks into a large bowl, and stirred them to dissolve the allulose and then added all the other ingredients, stirring often for 2 hours. Then, I put the pickles & juice into 1 quart canning jar and am storing it in the fridge for 3-4 more days, but these are delicious already! I will experiment tomorrow with the same amount of recipe, using sugar for a taste test. I am pretty sure they will taste the same as the ones I have already made with Allulose. I also plan to can a jar to see if they hold up to the taste and crunch….I always add calcium chloride to my homemade garlic dill pickles that I make every year, but these pickles already have calcium chloride in the original jar, so we shall see if they are still as crunchy after canning…wouldn’t that be wonderful? I plan to repost after the canning is finished. Pam Sykes 2/21/23