Get spicy with these quick and easy Sweet Heat Bread and Butter Pickles! This simple, semi-homemade bread and butter pickle recipe lets you enjoy special small batches of crisp refrigerator pickles that will bring a little zesty wow to your burgers, sandwiches and appetizer trays. No canning required!

Sweet & spicy bread and butter pickles are a quick refrigerator pickle with a semi-homemade recipe that requires no canning.

It’s hard to resist a little sweet heat- a little sweet, a little spicy, but 100% completely addicting! And that combo is perfect for cool, crunchy pickles, especially when the recipe is as easy as this one.

RELATED RECIPE: Lemonade Refrigerator Pickles

Skip the canning and start out with your favorite brand of store bought bread and butter pickles. Add in a little onion, red jalapeno, red pepper flakes, creole seasoning, garlic and peppercorn. Let it all marinate overnight. And your old fashioned bread and butter pickles will never be the same!

That’s it! Not only are they gorgeous with all that color, but they taking snacking to a whole new sweet and spicy level! You are going to love serving AND eating these easy pickles.

spicy bread and butter pickles are a crisp and easy refrigerator pickles that requires no canning.

Why are They Called Bread and Butter Pickles

It’s most commonly believed that a couple of cucumber farmers named Omar and Cora Fanning started trading theses zesty pickles in the 1920 for basic staples like “bread and butter” to get by. Is that the pickle gospel? No one’s really sure, but let’s go with it!

sweet & tangy with a spicy kick, this quick and easy refrigerator bread and butter pickle recipe is perfect for topping burgers and sandwiches

What makes Bread and Butter Pickles Different

Bread and butter pickles aren’t sour pickles, though they are seasoned with vinegar, salt, mustard seed, onions and turmeric like dill pickles are. But that is where the similarities end. Dill pickles are finished with dill weed and peppercorns while bread and butters get a sprinkle of sugar.

So while they definitely fall into the sweet category, they aren’t completely sweet pickles either! Instead, they are a crisp, tangy, bright green pickle with a wonderful seasoned vinegary flavor of their very own, and you will only find them sliced into chips- perfect for sandwiches, BBQ and burgers.

Ingredients to make quick, small batch spicy bread and butter pickles in the refrigerator

Ingredients To Make Small Batch Spicy Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles

16 ounce jar of store bought bread & butter pickles
large yellow onion
red jalapeno pepper
red pepper flakes
black peppercorns
all purpose Creole seasoning
minced garlic

How to make semi homemade spicy bread and butter pickles in the refrigerator

How to Make Easy Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles

Pour store bought bread & butter pickles and pickle juice into a large mixing bowl or extra large measuring cup.

Add sliced pepper and onion and rest of the recipe’s sweet heat seasonings. Mix it all together.

Pour mixed bread & butter pickles, onions, peppers, pickle juice and seasonings into a 32 ounce canning jar. (A wide mouth jar works best.) If more pickle juice is needed to cover all of the ingredients, add equal parts water and apple cider vinegar until everything is submerged.

Put lid on tightly. Shake well. Place in refrigerator to marinate for 24 hours, then serve!

What to Eat with Sweet Heat Bread & Butter Pickles

Spicy Sweet Heat Bread & Butter Pickles go with just about anything! You’re going to love them with Juicy Lucy Broiler Burgers, as a topping on all sorts of sandwiches, with BBQ, fried chicken, at a fish fry, as a great addition to your holiday deviled egg & pickle trays, even on charcuterie boards.

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