Homemade Pickles Recipe: Natural Pickles Without the Chemicals

When we started paying attention to ingredients, we noticed chemical additives and preservatives can be snuck into all kinds of foods—even snacks you wouldn't expect, like pickles.

Crazy, right? Once we started reading the ingredients on pickle jars at the store, we were super surprised about what we found. Even pickles can have additives and "natural flavors" (which aren't natural at all).

Sometimes, the best way to get it right is to do it yourself! Homemade pickles are actually incredibly easy to make, taste amazing, and don't have any of the processed ingredients that can hold you back from your weight loss goals. This homemade pickles recipe uses just a handful of natural ingredients and is ready in 24 hours.

What's Really in Store-Bought Pickles?

A popular pickle brand we used to always get includes concerning ingredients like:

• Sodium benzoate (a preservative)
  
• Calcium chloride
  
• "Natural flavors" (which aren't natural—they're lab-created)
  
• Polysorbate 80
  
• Food coloring like Yellow 5
  

Why do they need all these ingredients in a jar of pickles? All you're doing when you eat processed foods like this is feeding your body ingredients that aren't natural and it can't recognize. That can lead to weight gain—when a food like pickles shouldn't cause weight problems on its own!

It turns out it can be difficult to find an all-natural pickle option at the grocery store, so we started making them from scratch at home. They're actually super easy to make, and they taste even better than store-bought.

Homemade Pickles Recipe (From The Naturalite Family Cookbook)

Here's the recipe straight from our family cookbook. It makes 6-10 jars depending on the size of your cucumbers.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups spring water
  
• 2 cups white distilled vinegar
  
• 2 tbsp all-natural cracked sea salt
  
• 1 tbsp raw cane sugar
  
• 1 sweet onion, sliced
  
• Peppercorns (10 per jar)
  
• 1 head of garlic, smashed
  
• 1 bunch of fresh dill
  
• 6-10 organic cucumbers (cut off ends and cut into spears)
  
• 6-10 mason jars
  

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan on high heat, add water, vinegar, salt, and sugar. Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, immediately remove from heat. Set aside to allow it to cool down to room temperature.

2. Add a few onion slices, about 5 peppercorns, 2-3 garlic cloves, and a little dill to each mason jar. Place cucumber spears in the jars. Then top with more onion slices, peppercorns, garlic cloves, and dill. Push the onions, garlic, dill, and peppercorns down into the spears if necessary.

3. Once the vinegar water mixture has cooled to room temperature, pour it into the mason jars. Fill to the top.

4. Seal the jars and refrigerate. They will be ready to eat after 24 hours.

5. Serve and savor!

Watch the video at the end of this post to see exactly how we do it!

Why This Homemade Pickle Recipe Is Better for Weight Loss

When you make pickles at home with natural ingredients, you're avoiding all the preservatives, artificial flavors, and food dyes that can interfere with your body's ability to lose weight.

Your body knows how to process real cucumbers, vinegar, salt, garlic, and dill. It doesn't know what to do with sodium benzoate, polysorbate 80, and Yellow 5. Those synthetic ingredients can trigger inflammation, disrupt your gut health, and slow down your metabolism.

Homemade pickles give you all the crunch and tangy flavor you love without any of the chemicals that work against your weight loss goals.

Love Yourself More Than the Convenience of Unhealthy Food Options

Sure, making homemade pickles takes more time than grabbing a jar off the shelf. But in the Naturalite world, we have a motto: I love myself more than the love I have for the convenience of unhealthy food options!

That's why we do things like this. And believe me, it pays off because homemade tastes better and will help you reach your weight loss goals.

If you want to learn more about how this approach helped Jabez lose 100 lbs, be sure to get a copy of Life Matters So Let's Eat Like It. This guide completely simplifies health and weight loss so you can make simple changes and see real results.

And for more recipes to help you on the journey, check out The Naturalite Family Cookbook. You'll get 62 all-natural, flavor-packed recipes that prove eating healthy is anything but boring.

Watch below for a helpful video to show how our homemade pickles come together!