Deli Style Dill Pickles

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Deli style dill pickles are tangy, sandwich-ready pickle slices with a tangy brine and plenty of pickling spice for that classic sandwich shop flavor. They’re the friendlier cousin of old-school hamburger dills, designed to play well with everything else on a sandwich rather than dominating it.

Notes from My Kitchen
Quick Look at the Recipe
Ingredients for Deli Style Dill Pickle Slices
Tips for Crisp Pickles
Step by Step Instructions
Canning Deli Style Dill Pickles
Altitude Adjustments
Yield Notes
Serving Ideas
Deli Style Dill Pickle FAQs
Pickle Canning Recipes
Deli Style Dill Pickles Recipe
Pickle Canning Recipes

This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.

If you want a dill pickle slice that tastes like it came from the deli counter, this is the one. These deli style dill pickles are still plenty tangy, but the brine includes sugar to round out the acidity, along with bay leaf and pickling spice for that classic sandwich shop flavor.

This recipe is adapted directly from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving deli style dill pickles, and it’s meant to be a friendlier, more mellow dill than old school hamburger dill pickle chips. They the pickling spice gives them a warmer flavor than dill pickle spears or kosher dill pickles, and they taste more balanced than garlic dill pickles.

It’s still a real dill pickle, just with a balanced brine. The sugar doesn’t make these candy-sweet, it just smooths the edges so they taste right on sandwiches, burgers, and chopped into tuna salad.

Notes from My Kitchen

This is the recipe I reach for when I want pickles that taste like the ones from a good deli sandwich. Old-school hamburger dills are sharp and salty in a way that can dominate a sandwich, especially if you’re already adding mustard, cheese, and other toppings with strong flavors. The sugar in this recipe isn’t there to make the pickles sweet, it’s there to round off the edges so the dill, garlic, and pickling spice come through clearly.

My husband grew up on the punchy, no-sugar dills, and even he reaches for these when he’s making lunch. The recipe makes about 5 pints, which goes faster than I expect every year, and they’re worth the 2 to 3 week wait before opening. If you’ve been disappointed by homemade dills tasting too sharp, this is the fix.

Quick Look at the Recipe

Recipe Name: Deli Style Dill Pickles
Recipe Type: Cucumber Pickle Recipe
Canning Method: Water Bath Canning
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Canning Time: 15 minutes
Yield: About 5 pints
Jar Sizes: Pints
Headspace: 1/2 inch
Ingredients Overview: Pickling cucumbers, cider vinegar, water, sugar, pickling salt, pickling spice, bay leaf, garlic, mustard seed, and fresh dill.
Safe Canning Recipe Source: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Difficulty: Easy. It’s a quick raw pack pickle with a brief brine simmer.
Similar Recipes: If you like sandwich style pickle slices, try regular dill pickle slices for a sharper, no-sugar version, or bread and butter pickles for a sweeter cousin. For other dill-forward options, look at classic dill pickles, garlic dill pickles, or kosher dill pickles.

Ingredients for Deli Style Dill Pickle Slices

These pickles start with the same basics as any vinegar dill: good cucumbers, a strong vinegar brine, and dill. The difference is in the seasonings, and in the brine itself, which uses a half water and half vinegar ratio with sugar to soften the bite.

Pickling cucumbers: Use small, firm pickling cucumbers for the best texture. This recipe slices them lengthwise into spears or strips, which is a classic deli-style shape because they layer neatly onto sandwiches. If you use larger slicing cucumbers, they’ll be safe in the brine, but you’ll usually lose crunch and the seed cavity can get soft and watery.
Apple cider vinegar: Use commercial vinegar labeled at least 5 percent acidity. Apple cider vinegar is traditional for deli style pickles and plays really nicely with the warm spices, giving the brine a slightly amber color and a rounder flavor. White vinegar works too if you want a cleaner, brighter taste, but skip homemade vinegars here for canning since they’re not standardized for acidity.
Sugar: This is the defining difference between deli style dills and the no-sugar hamburger version. Three quarters of a cup across the whole batch isn’t enough to make these candy-sweet, it just softens the vinegar bite and gives the pickles that familiar sandwich shop flavor.
Pickling spice: Ball uses a mixed pickling spice blend, and it’s what gives these pickles their rounded deli flavor. If you don’t love biting into whole spices, tie the pickling spice in a small square of cheesecloth to make a spice bag. You can mix your own pickling spice or use a pre-made blend.
Bay leaf and garlic: One bay leaf and one clove of garlic per pint jar gives these a really classic finish. Bay leaf is one of those ingredients that doesn’t scream “bay” in the final pickle, but if you leave it out, you notice something’s missing. Per Ball’s safe changes guidance, garlic can also be added to any tested pickle recipe without affecting safety, so this is well within the rules.
Mustard seed and fresh dill: Mustard seed reinforces the pickling spice without overpowering, and a head of fresh dill per jar keeps these firmly in dill pickle territory. If you don’t have fresh dill heads, you can substitute about 1/2 teaspoon of dill seed per jar, or 2 teaspoons of dried dill weed.
Pickling salt: Pickling salt gives the cleanest flavor and keeps the brine clearer. Table salt can cloud the brine because of anti-caking additives, and swapping salts by volume can change the saltiness since crystal sizes vary by brand.

Tips for Crisp Pickles

If you’re chasing crisp pickles, the biggest wins come from handling the cucumbers well, not from adding more and more ingredients.

Start with truly fresh cucumbers and can them as soon as you can after picking. If you need to hold cucumbers while you prep, keep them cold in the refrigerator or in an ice water bath. Trim about 1/16 inch off both ends of each cucumber before slicing, since the blossom end can contribute to softening. And keep your jars and brine hot so the cucumbers aren’t sitting around warming up before the canner timer even starts.

If crunch is your number one priority, you can also add Pickle Crisp (calcium chloride) even though it’s not required in the Ball recipe. It’s compatible with vinegar pickles, and the typical amount is 1/8 teaspoon per pint jar.

Step by Step Instructions

Wash the pickling cucumbers under cold running water and drain well.

Trim about 1/16 inch off both ends of each cucumber.

Slice the cucumbers lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices.

Preparing Deli Style Dill Pickles Slices

Pack the cucumber slices in tightly, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Add 1 bay leaf, 1 garlic clove (sliced), 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, and 1 head of fresh dill to each pint jar

Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and pickling salt in a large non-reactive pot and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Tie the pickling spice in a cheesecloth bag, add it to the brine, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 15 minutes to infuse.

Remove and discard the spice bag, then ladle the hot brine over the cucumbers to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims, apply lids, and process pints for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

Canning Deli Style Dill Pickles

Once the jars are filled and capped, lower them into the boiling water bath canner. Make sure the water covers the jars by at least 1 inch, cover the canner, and bring the water back to a full rolling boil. Start your processing timer only after the canner returns to a full boil.

Ball processes these as pints for 15 minutes, with altitude adjustments as needed. When time is up, turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and let the jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes before lifting them out. That short rest helps reduce siphoning and gives the seals a better chance to set cleanly.

Move the jars to a towel-lined counter and let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Check the seals, remove the rings for storage, label the jars, and store in a cool pantry. Like most vinegar pickles, they’re much better after they’ve had a little time to cure. Give them at least 2 weeks before opening, and 3 weeks if you want the flavor to fully settle in.

Altitude Adjustments

For water bath canning, processing times for deli style dill pickles increase at higher elevations:

0 to 1,000 feet: 15 minutes
1,001 to 6,000 feet: 20 minutes
Above 6,000 feet: 25 minutes

Yield Notes

You’ll need about 13 cups of sliced cucumbers (roughly 4 pounds of whole pickling cucumbers) to fill 5 pint jars. The exact yield will vary depending on cucumber size and how tightly you pack the slices. Lengthwise slices pack a little less efficiently than rounds, so you may end up with a partial sixth jar (which goes in the fridge to enjoy first).

This recipe is tested for pint jars only. Half pints will work fine if you’d rather make smaller jars (process for the same time as pints), but quart jars are not safe for this recipe.

Serving Ideas

Deli style dill pickle slices are made for sandwiches. Layer them on burgers, ham and cheese, BLTs, club sandwiches, or grilled chicken sandwiches where you’d usually reach for a deli pickle. The lengthwise slice shape covers more of the bread surface than rounds do, which is exactly the point.

Beyond sandwiches, I chop them into tuna salad, dice them into potato salad, fold them into deviled egg filling, or set them out alongside cheese and crackers as a snack. The brine is also worth saving once the jar is empty, since it makes a quick refrigerator pickle for sliced onions or radishes.

Give them at least 2 to 3 weeks in the jar before opening so the flavors have time to develop. Most dill pickles improve significantly with a little shelf time, and these are no exception.

Deli Style Dill Pickle FAQs

How sweet are these deli style dill pickles?

They’re not candy-sweet like bread and butter pickles. The sugar is there to balance the vinegar and give that familiar deli flavor, so they taste mild, rounded, and sandwich-friendly. Most people who try them are surprised the sugar is even there until they read the recipe.

Can I reduce the sugar?

You can reduce the sugar for taste, since Ball’s safe changes guidance allows reducing sugar in tested quick-process pickle recipes. The flavor will shift toward a sharper, more old-fashioned dill if you do. If you prefer no sugar at all, you’ll likely be happier with a hamburger dill style recipe that’s designed for that profile from the start.

Do I have to use a pickling spice bag?

No, the spice bag just keeps the jars clearer and prevents biting into whole spices. If you don’t mind some sediment, you can simmer the spices loose and either strain the brine before filling or let the spices end up in the jars. Either approach is safe.

When do they taste their best?

Most dill pickles are best after at least 2 weeks in the jar. These usually hit their stride around the 2 to 3 week mark, when the spice and dill flavor have fully moved into the cucumbers. They’ll keep developing flavor for a few months after that.