Do you love homemade bread and butter pickles but don't have a garden or want to use a pressure cooker to can them? Try my Shortcut Sweet Heat Pickles and Vidalia Onions. They start with a jar of hamburger-style dill pickles: store-bought or from your Grandma's pantry.
What's the shortcut?
Everyone will think you made them from scratch. You can honestly say you made them. They are a half-way homemade recipe. The shortcut for these sweet heat pickles is starting with a jar of plain dill pickles and add onions, sugar, vinegar and spices. What you end up with is nothing like what you started with!
These are "sweet and hot", half-way homemade pickles and onions. Be warned. They are addictive.
The pickled onions are my favorite part
My brother and sister-in-law visited us as they were traveling through Alabama and I served these pickles for dinner. He was hesitant because he didn't like bread and butter pickles, but by the end of dinner, he had gone back for seconds!
I caught him picking out the onions to eat. I'll admit they are my favorite part of these pickles, too.
Can I make them if I have a jar of bread and butter pickles?
Yes! It's actually a shortcut to the shortcut!
Start with a jar of store-bought dill pickles or an even quicker version, buy bread and butter pickles, decrease the sugar, and omit the mustard seeds. Most bread and butter pickles already have mustard seeds in them. I still add the turmeric because I like the extra color and its anti-inflammatory properties.
You may like these other Vidalia onion recipes
Tomato and Vidalia Onion Pie with Bacon
Vidalia Onion and Grape Tomato Salad
You may like these other shortcut recipes
Shortcut White Bean and Chicken Chilli
Shortcut Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Watch me make Sweet Heat Pickles and Vidalia Onions on ABC 33/40's Talk of Alabama
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Sweet Heat Shortcut Pickles and Onions
Ingredients
- 1 24-oz jar sliced, hamburger dill pickles (I prefer Mt. Olive Simply Pickles)
- 1 large Vidalia onion
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 5 garlic cloves peeled and halved lengthwise
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Instructions
- Drain pickles and discard the liquid. Place the pickles in a medium size bowl.
- Peel onion and cut in half vertically. Lay cut side down and cut vertically into 1/4-inch slices to create slivers and add to pickles in the bowl. Add sugars, vinegar, garlic, pepper flakes, mustard seeds, and turmeric to the bowl; stir well.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight so the pickles will have a kick to them from the crushed red pepper. Stir at least once. Keep them in the bowl during this time because they won’t fit back in the jar yet. The sugars will dissolve overnight and the onions will "shrink".
- Spoon pickles back into the same pickle jar with a slotted spoon if they will fit) or in a decorative 4 to 5-cup canning jar with a lid . The onions will have reduced in volume enough after 24 hours to fit in the jar. Pour the liquid over the pickles and onions. Keep them refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.
Notes
Can you can these in a water bath for shelf life or would they require a pressure cooker?
That is such a good question! I've always just made them as refrigerator pickles and kept them in the fridge or given as gifts as fridge pickles. I'm not sure there is enough acidity for just a water bath, especially since bacteria loves sugar. For safety reasons, I can only speak for them being a refrigerator pickle.
I made this today. I love the smell! Perfect heat (I actually used half Thai chilis for extra heat) I think I was expecting something closer to bread and butter pickles? I'll double or triple this tomorrow to cut the sweetness. I think it's gonna be perfect for us.
The Thai chiles were a perfect substitute1 Glad the heat was perfect for your family. You can also reduce the amount of sugar if you like it a little less sweet.
I love these! On a trip to The North Georgia mountains I picked up some spicy pickled Vidalia onions and have been scouring the web for a recipe. This was great! The only thing I changed was I used sambal instead of chile flakes and it was awesome!
So glad you love them and I will have to try the chili paste in place of the pepper flakes! Thanks for sharing!
I love that they are sweet AND hot. Totally a flavor bomb. Yum.
I love that description-flavor bomb!There's just enough heat but not enough for a fire bomb!
Is it okay to leave out the red pepper flakes?? I do not do spicy!! We are Minnesota Swedes - 😆
Thank you
Absolutely, they will still taste yummy! You can also just reduce it down to a pinch if you want just a tiny bit of heat.