Author: Wondering how to make crispy, rich, and delicious sweet pickles for canning? If you’ve never tried canning pickles before, you may be surprised how delicious sweet pickle spears can be in this sweet and spicy recipe!
This recipe was an instant winner for us and I bet that once you taste it, you’ll be adding this sweet pickle recipe to your personal collection too!
We love sweet pickles around here. They were a classic snack around my house growing up and we also enjoyed them in mom’s hearty homemade chicken salad!
About 10 years ago we stopped buying our sweet pickles from the store and started canning sweet pickles at home with this sweet pickle recipe that creates perfectly crisp sweet pickles!
Fortunately, our Back to Eden garden has given us about 400 pounds (no, seriously) of cucumbers in the last 4 weeks and is still going strong!
This is just one day worth of cucumbers… we get this many every day!
While most are going to the chickens at this point, I’m still canning pickles at an alarming rate!
We have dill spears, of course, hamburger dill slices, and sweet gherkins. All sitting pretty on the shelves and waiting to be devoured later in the year…
But with the number of sweet gherkins we go through in a year, I really wanted to up the number of sweet pickles we had in the pantry without having to wait for more tiny cucumbers to be produced.
In fact, it’s been kind of tricky to catch the cucumbers at the right stage, since they seem to grow from minuscule to ginormous in less than 24 hours!
So I set out to create a great sweet pickle spears recipe that could be used on bigger cucumbers to achieve that same sweet gherkin flavor and texture. Much to my surprise, I hit the jackpot on the first try!
Note: This recipe uses approved vinegar levels for canning pickles and only changes seasonings.
Sweet Pickle Recipe
Whether you have large or small cucumbers, this sweet pickle recipe is just the thing to use them up without having to undergo the 4 day process of making sweet gherkins!
In fact, from start to finish this recipe takes about 3 hours of total time, and less than 20 minutes of hands on time!
Another thing I really like about this recipe is that you get nice crisp sweet pickles regardless of how you slice them! I like spears, but my mom likes slices… and this sweet pickle recipe is perfect for either style!
In depth water bath canning instructions can be found in my Quick Start Guide to Water Bath Canning, and nothing changes for this delicious sweet pickles recipe except the ingredients ;-)
How to Make Crisp Sweet Pickles
If you’ve ever tried canning pickles before, you may have have a soggy finished product. That’s because the recipe likely didn’t call for any tannin ingredient!
Tannin helps the pickles stay nice and crisp even through the extended heating process.
In the past, people used grape leaves, but I prefer black tea. I love the flavor that it yields and it works perfectly for keeping the pickles crisp!
So, while I might see odd that my recipe calls for black tea, this keeps the pickles crisp through the canning process!
Just be sure to rip the bag open and pour the loose leaves into the jar – you don’t want any packaging, staples, or tags in with your sweet pickles!
Canning Sweet Pickle Spears
Ingredients
- 4 Quart Jars, with Rings and Lid Sets
- 4 pounds cucumbers cut in 6 inch spears, or sliced
- 4 cups sugar
- 3 3/4 cup white vinegar
- 3 Tbsp canning salt
- 4 cinnamon stick 3-4" long
- 4 tsp whole cloves
- 2 tsp fresh ginger sliced or diced
- 4 organic black tea bags (**See notes) I like to use English Breakfast
Instructions
- Cover spears with boiling water and let stand 2 hours. Drain. (***See notes)
- Combine sugar, salt, and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- In hot wide mouth quart jars, place 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp whole cloves, 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, and the contents of 1 tea bag (don't include any of the packaging!).
- Pack spears into hot jars and ladle sugar/vinegar over them, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Remove bubbles and wipe the rim of the jar to ensure a good seal.
- Adjust lid and ring to finger-tightness, process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
- Remove carefully from boiling water bath and place on a towel on the counter (this reduces the change of glass breakage).
- Allow to sit overnight before moving. Check seals in the morning and refrigerate anything that didn't fully seal.
Notes
PIN THIS FOR LATER
Why are you boiling the Spears I’ve canned plenty of pickles and never boiled mine I’m pretty sure that’s where the shrinking Spears come from. So what is the true purpose of letting the Spears sit in boiling water? I would think it would make them soggy.
Hey Cindy, great question! I always thought the same thing, that it would make them soggy… but it just helped the flavors better penetrate the pickles. However, you can definitely skip that step if desired! Our pickles are very crisp and do not shrink.
I do see some (not all) having a shrinking pickle issue, so I’m going to make these again soon to see if I can replicate the issue and find a solution!
I’ll keep you updated!
Made these pickles EXACTLY as stated in recipe. After letting them sit for 2 weeks, just opened a jar today (after refrigerating a few days). They were limp, literally like a wet sock. Flavor was good, but the pickles were pretty much mush. This is the first recipe for canning pickles that I’ve known to instruct boiling water bath. Very disappointed and afraid to risk “skipping the boiled water step” to try again. Am still searching for a CRISP pickle canning recipe. Would love to find sweet and hot pickle recipe…
Hi there, I’m so sorry to hear this! In reviewing all the other comments on this post (we have almost full 5-star reviews) many others have had crunchy pickle success, besides just myself.
The boiling water sit (not maintained at boiling, just bring the water to boil then pour into a bowl of cut cucumbers) is to simulate the brine process that normally take 3-6 days.
I did update the recipe just now with some additional instructions to help clarify those points, but it may have been the type of cucumbers (some are naturally softer than others), or the type of tea you used. I wish I was there so I could troubleshoot with you. I’m happy to try to do so via email if you’d like <3
Again, I'm so sorry that happened to you!
Can I slice the cucumbers lengthwise? Are you using quart sealers or pints?
Yes, we do this all the time! We use quarts, but pints can also be done without any recipe or processing time modification :-)
Hi there! Is decaffeinated tea okay to use?
Hi Amy! As long as it’s black tea, then it should be fine. You want the tannins in tact to work their crispy magic. :-)
Enjoy!
Has anyone tried this recipe with whole pickling cucumbers? (i.e. not slicing them into spears or slices)
Hi Kim! I have made these with whole cucumbers (about 5-7″ long, about as thick as a quarter-ish) and they worked really well!
Hi Victoria! This is going to be my 1st attempt at canning anything. The sweet gherkins pickle taste in a larger pickle recipe is exactly what I was looking for & nailed it in my very first search. Thank you!?
My question is, I have a lot of white Armenian cucumbers also & was wondering if this recipe could be used on them also or do you have another suggestion for them? Thank you & wish me luck! Fingers crossed!
Sandi DeLusant
Hi Sandi, how exciting! I’m glad you found me!
For the white Armenian cucumbers, I would either do them as chunks or as slices, but they should work just fine!
I’m not super familiar with their texture, so if they are already a bit softer, they will not crisp up during the canning process. Just wanted to point that out since this is your first go!
Let me know how they turn out! :)