Homemade Pickling Spices

close up of canning spices in a mason jar, red berries in the background

A simple recipe for pickling spices for use in making pickles, chutney, or even mulled cider. Once you make your own pickling spice blend, you'll never go back to store-bought!

Course baking ingredient, ingredient, pantry item

Cuisine American, pantry staples

Keyword homemade pickling spices, how to make pickling spices, pickling spice recipe, pickling spices

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5

Servings tablespoons

Calories 58kcal

Cost $5

Ingredients

2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon dill seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon allspice berries
2 teaspoons whole cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
5 bay leaves crushed
2 cinnamon sticks broken into 4-6 pieces each

Instructions

In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and black peppercorns for a few minutes until fragrant. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
Remove the skillet from heat and let the toasted spices cool.
In a small bowl, combine the toasted spices with the dill seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, allspice berries, cloves, ground ginger, and cinnamon sticks.
Crush into smaller pieces with a mortar and pestle or purse briefly and pulse in a spice grinder, if desired.
Store the homemade pickling spice blend in an airtight container in a cool, dark place until ready to use.

Notes

You can skip the toasting stage and just mix everything together in a bowl, then store it in an airtight container. However, toasting does yield a more fragrant result.

Nutrition