Honey Habanero Pickles are the best of both worlds, spicy and sweet. Eat them as a snack or pair them your favorite burger or hot dog!
Recipe Must-Haves
With just a handful of simple ingredients, you can have these honey habanero pickles ready in no time! A full list of ingredients with measurements for this recipe is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Pickling cucumbers – Skip the same type of cucumber I would use for a salad, like hothouse or English cukes. Instead opt for a medium skinned cucumber that is a little smaller. The skins hold up better to pickling ingredients and they just fit better into a mason jar.
- Distilled white vinegar
- Honey
- Whole mustard seed
- Kosher salt
- Habanero peppers
- Garlic cloves peeled
- Whole white peppercorn
5S Philosophy 👩🏻
- Salt – Kosher salt is what we use for this pickle brine. If using a different salt, keep in mind each kind measures differently.
- Seasonings – Although these aren’t dill pickles, you could add fresh dill. Other options include red pepper flakes or bay leaves.
- Swaps – Cut pickles into spears instead of chips. Smaller pieces will pickle faster, so spears might need an additional day or two to fully ferment. If you want, you can also add beets, asparagus cabbage to your pickle jar for a medley of sweet and spicy goodness!
- Sauces – Instead of the honey, try using maple syrup to sweeten these pickles. Just keep in mind it will add a slight maple flavor.
- Senses – Honey habanero pickles are crisp and snappy, with a sweet, spicy aroma that tingles your nose. Each bite bursts with bold flavor—sweet honey up front, followed by a fiery habanero kick that lingers on the tongue.
Perfect Pairings
Although these pickles are perfect for snacking on their own (and were gone the same day they were ready!) they also pair well with lots of dishes! They are great when used as a topping for burgers.
You can also use them as a sweet and spicy topping for pulled pork sandwiches, on nachos, as an addition to a charcuterie board or on top of a salad. If you have other favorite ways of using pickles, let us know in the comments!
Honey Habanero Pickles
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4-5 pickling cucumbers approximately .75 pounds
- 3 cups water
- 3/4 cups distilled white vinegar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon whole mustard seed
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 habanero peppers stem removed, cut into fourths (remove seeds for less heat)
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- 2 teaspoons whole white peppercorn
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pot, combine water through Kosher salt. Bring to a low simmer, stirring until all ingredients (except mustard seed) are dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- In the bottom of two 16 ounce mason jars, place habanero, garlic and peppercorns, dividing evenly.
- Cut cucumbers according to preference, either sliced with a mandolin slicer or into spears. Divide evenly in mason jars.
- When cooled, divide liquid into jars. You might have more than you need, that is fine, just discard it.
- Screw on tops and place in refrigerator.
- The amount of time it will take for them to “pickle” depends a lot on the size of your pickle. Mine were rather thin and cut into 1/2 inch disks, which took 10 days. Thick pickles could take closer to one month.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how you liked it!
Video
Nutrition
Storage and Freezing
Homemade pickles don’t contain the same preservatives as mass produced pickles, but the fermentation process does naturally preserve them. If kept in the refrigerator, they should be good for up to 2 weeks after being initially opened.
The short answer is yes, you can. However the texture will be different and less crisp upon thawing, so I don’t recommend it.
Frequently Asked Questions
This questions always makes me cringe. Mainly because everyone’s definition of “healthy” is different and I am NOT a nutrition professional nor a physician. You can scroll on up to look at the nutritional information and make a judgement call all on your own.
Unfortunately, no. There aren’t any tips or tricks for speeding up the fermentation process.
For the pickling process to get started, vegetable sugars need to metabolize to prevent the growth of bad bacteria. Cucumbers naturally have good bacteria already in them (don’t worry, it is harmless). The process produces antibacterial substances, carbon dioxide and alcohol, without changing the vitamin content of the vegetable. This is known as lactic acid.
More Easy Snack Recipes
Easy snacks are the best for when you’re in a hurry! These are some of my favorite quick snacks.
Can these be canned or refrigerated only?
Hi Shannon, they can be canned, but I am not a canning expert so I did not include instructions on how to do this.
These were fantastic! The hardest part was waiting for them to be ready. Served on burgers with rave reviews.
Amazingly easy to make and oh, so good. The hardest part is waiting for them to be ready.
Can I do a water bath and store these for a long time
Yep! Just like you would any other pickle.
I am going to make tomorrow. But how long if not opened can they stay in refrig.
As long as they are submerged, then up to a month.
The Honey Habanero pickles are the best!! Everyone that tried one, had to have more!! I am making my second recipe now!!
Thanks! We love to hear great feedback. Enjoy!
Gonna try making these tonight. They sound interesting.
Just an FYI about the “remove the seeds for less heat” comment. Seeds in all pepper types do not contain capsacin, which is what makes the heat. It’s a wide spread belief that they are hottest part of a pepper because they tend to get stuck in your teeth, so you dig them out with your tongue. The capsacin is stored in the white “membrane” that runs down the four sides of any pepper. The seeds sometime press against these membranes getting capsacin on them, but it’s really the rubbing of your tongue on the capsacin affected seed that starts the burn. This is what leads to that belief. If you want less heat, cut any pepper in half lengthwise and then slice off the white vein running the length and dispose.
Good to know! Thanks, Wes. Let us know how you like the recipe!
So, i finished making them about 15 hours ago, so they haven’t marinated long enough, but you can tell they are going to be delicious. My grocery store was out of standard habaneros so I had to use Carolina Reaper peppers. These pickles are super hot which is great. I made some Jalapeño Cilantro Basil pickles at the same time and I had to chase a honey pickle with jalapeño one to alleviate some of the heat, lol. I’ll definitely make these again, but to suit my personal taste better I think I will up the vinegar and honey a bit. I might even replace some of the water with lime juice.
Thanks, Jessica!
Thank you for the feedback!
I made these for some friends for their birthday and they LOVED them! You can’t really taste the honey but they were hot and delicious! I just picked up some more ingredients to make another batch! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!!
Yay! And thank you for stopping by to let us know!
So, so good, though I did modify it slightly for my needs. I was going to water bath can them, so I upped the vinegar to a cup and a half just to be safe. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. We *love* them! I made them late last fall with the last of my cucumbers and habaneros, and we’ve been enjoying them since! I’ll be making again this summer for sure! 🙂
Can these be processed in a water bath for shelf storage?
Hi Carolyn, I really wish I could answer this question, but I am not an expert canner, in fact, I’ve never canned anything! I wouldn’t want to send you in the wrong direction, so I generally send folks over to the BALL site for instructions. However, I do beleive that this is something would can very well. https://www.freshpreserving.com/canning-101-getting-started.html