This easy Watermelon Pickles recipe is a yummy way to use leftover watermelon rinds and reduce waste! These Are REALLY YUMMY!! Just Like Sweet Pickles! You can find this recipe in our Dining On A Dime Cookbook on page 173.
This easy Watermelon Pickles Recipe is a tasty way to use all of those leftover watermelon rinds!
Easy Watermelon Pickles Recipe
3 pounds white portion watermelon rind, cubed*
5 cups sugar
2 cups cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. whole cloves
1 Tbsp. whole allspice
3 cinnamon sticks, 3 inches each
1 lemon, sliced
Put watermelon cubes in a large pot with enough salted water to cover. Soak overnight. Drain. Cover with fresh, cold water and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat until tender. Drain. In another large pot, combine sugar, vinegar and water. Tie cloves, allspice, cinnamon and lemon in a cheesecloth bag. Add to sugar mixture and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Boil 5 minutes. Add watermelon cubes and simmer until translucent, about 15 minutes. Remove spice bag and pack pickles in hot, sterilized jars. Refrigerate 2 weeks before using. Makes 4 quarts.
*Remove green outer part and red inside part.
This easy Watermelon Pickles recipe is from our cookbook:
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have been looking for a recipe like this for years.
I have never had them but every once in a while my husband recalls some that a relative made.
One question. Can I do without the lemon slice or can I substitute it for something else not citrus.
I think you can leave out the lemon. I have seen different recipes for these and they are divided on the lemon. Half have it and have don’t so I would say just leave it out. It is probably more for flavor but with all the other spices it shouldn’t make that big of a difference.
I love watermelon pickles! Thanks for the recipe! Just to clarify a couple things… These are refrigerator pickles so no processing? I am assuming that you full the jars with the brine as well as the pickles, right? Do they have to remain in the fridge after the 2 weeks and about how many pints or quarts does the 3 lbs yield? Thanks!
That’s right they are like refrigerator pickles so no processing. Yes fill the jars with brine and pickles. Yes it is best to keep them in the fridge. It makes 4 quarts.
Fill sterilized jars with the pickles and brine leaving a half inch head space. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Set aside and wait for that pop to know they sealed. You can skip the processing and put in the refrigerator but you need to eat them sooner than later. I like to can mine and store in a cool dark place.
Ref: watermelon pickles..How much does this recipe make & what size jars did you use? Do I just leave them all in the refrigerator? I’m excited! I love these pickles & they are very expensive to buy! Thanks…
It makes 4 quarts and just leave them in the fridge.
Can’t wait to try these. My daughter and I were talking about watermelon pickles just yesterday, wondering where we would find a recipe. Never had any but the ingredients sure make them sound good.
What other containers can be used besides glass jars? I’m wondering about using Rubbermaid Square storage containers.
Lynn usually glass jars are best because you are using hot boiling juice or are going to can them but I don’t know why if you let the solution cool before putting it in the containers they wouldn’t be ok to use.
The only other thing would be if you leave them in the containers for quite awhile sometimes things can absorb and get a plastic taste to them but you know for something this spicy I don’t think that would be a problem either.
If the store has watermelon this week I think I will try these. We get those small seedless ones but not enough rind on them to really make the pickles.
just re read this and see no canning needed so that is a definite plus.
I was wondering you’re only using the rind in this recipe correct. Not the watermelon pulp.
Yes just the rind.
these are my favorite pickles! I actually can mine in pint jars and enjoy them all year long. they definitely taste better after a wait time.
Sorry, but I just can’t stand watermelon!Even the smell is awful to me. I am reading a book called “Stone Gables”, about a family raising ten children in rural Georgia in the 40’s and 50’s. She, the author, tells of when a watermelon came up in their garden. They did not plant watermelon and thought maybe the seed was mixed in their packet of squash seeds.When they cut into it it was a white color, not red. The mother thought it was a citron. I have never heard that term for a type of melon. Anyone know what that might be? I forget what the mother did with it, but they did not waste anything, so maybe it became some type of pickles.
It is what original watermelon was and is found in Africa and Egypt. It was grown to repel bugs there. You can eat it like regular watermelon but most people like it best pickled or something like that.
Jill, I googled citron and found this information. Wish I liked melons. They are so abundant in the summertime, and when you order a fruit cup in a restaurant, it always has melon. Tried cantelope just a couple of weeks ago, thinking maybe my tastes have changed, but no, still don’t like it!
not keen on cantaloupe but muss melon I like.
mom used to get us to eat it by giving us a quarter or smaller piece with the rind still on it and topping it with vanilla ice cream.
I buy it a lot when Don is night shift. It makes a nice addition to the fruit bowl I leave him.
Hi,
This sounds interesting. I love not wasting edible things. How do I serve this? Is it dessert?
This is a really old fashion recipe. People use to have watermelon pickles all the time. You can serve it as a side dish or on a relish dish as you would pickles. It would be really good as a side with ham, chicken or most meats. It is a little like sweet pickles so in the same way you might put sweet pickles on a tray with carrots and celery you can add these or even place them on a small dish on their own.
They are great to take on picnics, served with sandwiches, our served at bar b ques.
In the winter they are nice served with stew/soup and bread or with chicken and noodles.
Even though we don’t often think of it the colors are perfect to serve with Christmas dinner.
They are good for given a little tart/sweetness to an otherwise more bland meal.
Hi Jill, thanks.
I’m not used to pickles at all .:-) pickled cucumber slices are nice with salmon though. I’ll try these.
Growing up my grandma always made these. As an adult I have a friend that uses over grown cucumbers, except she soaks them in pickling lime and colors them red or green. She also adds red hots to give them a cinnamon taste.
Haven’t seen a reference to the dark green skin. Does that get pickled too, or is it cut off?
Thanks.
It gets pickled too.
Do these last in the refrigerator indefinitely?
These last the same as regular pickles for quite awhile in the fridge.
In reference to the dark green skin, I have always cut the skin off before I made these. Has anyone actually made and eaten these with the skin left on??
If it is a very thin skin watermelon you can use it all or just peel the green off if you want. It is the same idea as not peeling a cucumber before you pickle it.
Can Redhots be used in this recipe?
I don’t see why not. All you will be adding is a tiny bit more sugar and cinnamon flavor. Try part of them with and part without and see what happens. I think it would be good. It might taste a little like our cinnamon apple recipe where you cook the apples in water and Redhots and that is delicious.
Hello…I am searching for a watermelon cookie recipe. Not the ones that are shaped like a watermelon slice but possibly a vintage recipe that uses watermelons that have been cooked down. I recently had one if these cookies but they are not sharing the recipe. The cookie was a soft cookie, brownish in color. It might have had nutmeg or cinnamon in it not sure. It had a light glaze drizzled over it..most likely a powdered sugar glaze. I have searched the internet and cannot find this recipe ir anything similar. If anyone knows the name of these or has the recipe..I would really like to have it. Thanks.
I haven’t seen a watermelon recipe using real watermelon, but if you add a bit of watermelon koolaid powder (not the kind with sugar added) to a sugar cookies recipe it tastes pretty good. Great with any other koolaid flavor/color instead.
I grew up on watermelon pickles or Christmas pickles as my grandma called them. If the watermelon rind was not think enough, she would use over grown cucumbers…you know the ones that are just huge and don’t have good flavor. She would cut the rind off and take the section with the seeds out and just use the meaty part of the cucumber and process like watermelon pickles. I could not taste the difference. One thing that is different about this recipe is that she would soak them in pickling lime instead of the salt. I think that is what made them extra crispy/crunchy.
I have made and processed watermelon pickles, but I have never made a refrigerated version! I’m excited to try this recipe as it seems to be a few days LESS work! :)
I have always used the green portion of the rind, not just the white. I’m a bit braggy to say that everyone who’ve ever tried my watermelon pickles LOVED them! This time I’m going to try using a yellow-meat melon along with the red-meat melon just to see if there is a taste difference in the pickles.
HAPPY CANNING!
Donica
Can these be water-bath canned for longer non-refrigerated storage?
Yes you can