Cultured Guru Logo
Cultured Guru Logo
  • Start Here
  • RecipesWe love to create delicious recipes with gut health in mind. By using our recipes, you can easily create any dish knowing that it’s good for gut health! Our recipe blog also includes Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, and Paleo Recipes.
  • About
  • Learn
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Start Here
  • RecipesWe love to create delicious recipes with gut health in mind. By using our recipes, you can easily create any dish knowing that it’s good for gut health! Our recipe blog also includes Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, and Paleo Recipes.
  • About
  • Learn
  • Shop
  • Contact
Fruits & Roots

My Easy Homemade Dill Pickle Spice Blend Recipe

This homemade dill pickle spice blend is the perfect, balanced mix for wild fermenting cucumbers into delicious and flavorful dill pickles.

Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 10 minutes
Jump to Recipe Rate Recipe
Recipe Index | Ferment | Fruits & Roots

My Easy Homemade Dill Pickle Spice Blend Recipe

This homemade dill pickle spice blend is the perfect, balanced mix for wild fermenting cucumbers into delicious and flavorful dill pickles.

The Perfect Dill Pickle Spice Blend

I created this dill pickle spice blend back in 2015. I worked at a local spice shop and loved taking home individual spices to see what worked well in wild fermentation recipes.

Some spices can be unappetizing when fermented, so getting the blend right took some work. After many trials and errors, I created this blend of spices, perfect for enhancing the flavor of wild-fermented pickles.

Here are all of the dried spices you will need (I like to buy all of my spices in bulk, fair-trade organic):

  • Green peppercorns
  • Roasted garlic granules
  • Brown mustard seed
  • Yellow mustard seed
  • Coriander
  • Dill weed

How to Make Your Own Dill Pickle Spice Blend at Home

Making spice blends at home is SO easy and much more affordable than buying blended spices. I usually make enough of this spice blend to fill up a 16-ounce mason jar.

No need to worry about how long it will keep. It will last a long time if you store it in a mason jar or weck jar with a good sealing lid. So, you can make a huge batch of the spice blend and store it for an extended period. This is especially useful if you plan to make pickles regularly.

When making a spice blend like this at home, it’s best to use weight measurements. So I’ve made this recipe with gram units. You need a simple kitchen scale to weigh out each ingredient before mixing.

dill pickle spice blend in a wooden spoon on a white marble counter. some of the spices are spilling out of the spoon onto the counter.

Learn How to Make Fermented Pickles at Home

CLICK HERE for my easy fermented dill pickle recipe. If you have been a Cultured Guru Fermented Foods customer in the past, use our fermented dill pickle recipe with this spice blend, and you’ll have our signature pickles at home for a tiny fraction of the cost! Yay!

Print
Fruits & Roots

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

My Easy Homemade Dill Pickle Spice Blend Recipe

If you are going to make delicious fermented dill pickles, you need the right spice blend! This homemade dill pickle spice blend is the perfect, balanced mix for wild fermenting cucumbers into dill pickles. You can use this spice blend for canning and pickling recipes too.

  • Prep: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 15 grams peppercorns
  • 15 grams dried garlic granules
  • 15 grams brown mustard seeds
  • 15 grams yellow mustard seeds
  • 8 grams coriander seed
  • 8 grams dried dill weed

Instructions

  1. Measure out all of the ingredients. 
  2. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. 
  3. Mix until even.
  4. Store in an airtight container. 

Notes

  • Use two teaspoons of spice blend per quart of fermented pickles

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a 5-star review below if you loved it! Tag @cultured.guru on Instagram

 

Nutrition information is auto-calculated and estimated as close as possible. We are not responsible for any errors. We have tested the recipe for accuracy, but your results may vary.

author avatar
Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist
Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.
See Full Bio
fermentation food microbiology sourdough sauerkraut fermenting at home fermented foods fermented drinks
social network icon social network icon social network icon social network icon

welcome!

hey i’m kaitlynn, i’m a microbiologist and together with my husband jon we are cultured guru.

more about us

let’s connect!

newest recipe

Root Vegetable Sauerkraut with Radish, Beets, and Celeriac
Sauerkraut & Kimchi

Root Vegetable Sauerkraut with Radish, Beets, and Celeriac

never miss a thing

learn more about microbes from a microbiologist
Loading

on pinterest

Instant Pot Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
Sourdough Smores Cookies
High Protein Cottage Cheese Mac and Cheese
Sourdough & Miso Chicolate Chip Cookies
Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Homemade Cottage Cheese

top rated recipes

How to Make Moroccan Preserved Lemons with Sea Salt
Fruits & Roots

How to Make Moroccan Preserved Lemons with Sea Salt

Slow Cooked Pork Roast with Sauerkraut Potatoes and Carrots
Protein

Slow Cooked Pork Roast with Sauerkraut Potatoes and Carrots

Sparkling Golden Beet Kvass Made the Traditional Way
Beverage Fermentation

Sparkling Golden Beet Kvass Made the Traditional Way

learn more

Understand microbes and master fermentation with our online courses!

learn

rate and review
We would love to hear what you think!
Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star


  1. Dee
    06|06|2022

    Hello,
    Do you use ground coriander or coriander seed?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      06|07|2022

      whole coriander seed

      Reply
  2. Dee
    06|06|2022

    Also, dried dill seed or weed?
    And in the picture did you grind the ingredients or which ingredient is the finer parts in the picture? Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      06|07|2022

      I use dried dill weed, but dill seed can work too. And no, I do not grind the ingredients. The finer bits are dill weed and granulated garlic.

      Reply
  3. Debbie Cobb
    08|11|2022

    I water bath can my dill pickles will this blend work for that type of canning?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      08|15|2022

      I think so, as long as you follow all the other canning steps. I suggest using only a little bit of spice in the canning recipe… Like 1/4 a teaspoon. The heating process can intensify the flavor of the spices so you don’t need much.

      Reply
      1. Keith
        08|26|2023

        I’d like to add fresh garlic in lieu of the granules. Yea or nay and why or why not?

        Reply
        1. Kaitlynn Fenley
          08|28|2023

          You can do that! You can’t put fresh garlic in the spice blend, but you can put fresh garlic in a jar of pickles.

          Reply
  4. Kristy
    08|09|2023

    Is yellow mustard power instead of seed ok?

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      08|10|2023

      Should be, but the powder in pickles will make the brine extra cloudy.

      Reply
  5. Chris
    06|29|2024

    I’d love to know about the unappetising spices, so I can avoid them in my fermentation experiments.

    Reply

you may also like

Beginner Friendly
Sauerkraut & Kimchi View Recipe

Homemade Kimchi Inspired Spicy Sauerkraut Recipe

Peppers & Sauces View Recipe

The Best Fried Pickle Dipping Sauce Made with Pickle Brine

Summer Harvest
Peppers & Sauces View Recipe

Fermented Pickle de Gallo (Mild or Spicy Pickle Salsa)

join us on insta

@cultured.guru

And the knife stays in the box. GOOGLE “sourdoug And the knife stays in the box. 

GOOGLE “sourdough king cake” my recipe is the first one! 👑☂️💚✨

If you’re like me and prefer from scratch, homemade everything, you’ll definitely want to try this king cake for Mardi Gras! I used organic naturally dyed sprinkles and all that jazz too. 

If you just search “sourdough king cake” on google you’ll see my recipe, it’s usually the first one. 

My main tips for making this:
✨use a very active starter or throw in some instant yeast with your starter
✨make sure the dough is actually proofed before shaping it. If it’s cold in your house it will take longer. 
✨please follow directions! You can cold ferment the dough in the fridge after it doubles in size and BEFORE filling and shaping.

🎵Song is Casanova by Rebirth Brass Band
Fermentation is a gift from the microbes of this e Fermentation is a gift from the microbes of this earth.

When we had a food business, I could never shake the feeling that fermentation is not meant to be sold to you from a fluorescently lit grocery shelf in an endless cycle of waste. Fermentation is meant to be cultivated in your home, with your hands, with intention and love in a sustainable, grateful practice of reciprocity and nourishment. 

This is the story of how we got here. 

After so many lessons learned, our small fermentation business is now value aligned, peaceful, fulfilling, and happy.  It often seems like the gut feelings (the microbes within us) guided us in the right direction. To teach. 

You can learn for free on our blog, or you can enroll in our online courses (we extended our new year sale!) Either way, with me as your teacher, you’ll learn to adopt a holistic perspective on the microbial ecosystems that influence our food, lives, and the planet.
My favorite topic I teach in our online course is My favorite topic I teach in our online course is called Fermentation Variables. The whole lesson is centered around the fact that there are six main variables that influence the outcome of fermentation.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Sugar
Salt
Oxygen
Acidity
Temperature
Time

Temperature and time depend on each other most closely. 

that means, for all of our foods and drinks that ferment at room temp, things slow way down in the winter cold. 

The fermentation timeline is simply longer when it’s colder (and faster when it’s hotter). The microbes, kind of like us, make things happen slowly in the cold winter. 

I think this is yet another sign from nature that we’re supposed to rest and be gentle and gracious with deadlines, work, and not rush things this time of year. 

Let it be slow, it’ll still be great, it just takes a little more patience and time. 

If you’re looking to start fermentation as an analog hobby in the new year, our courses are 40% off right now! You can use code NEWYEARS at checkout. (Yes, you learn online, but it’s delicious, long form content + the skills are life long). What you learn empowers you to get off the computer/phone and go ferment some delicious foods and drinks. 

Touching cabbage and dough is just as good as “touching grass” lol 

Let me know if you have questions about our courses or just fermentation in general in the comments!

#fermentation
Yes cooking kills the microbes, but idc. I mean, I Yes cooking kills the microbes, but idc. I mean, I care, but in a “thank you for your service microbes” kinda way. 🫡

Cider braised pork and sauerkraut is a perfect choice for New Year’s or any winter meal! I lovvveee pairing it with butternut squash polenta bc it’s full of vitamin C for cold and flu szn. 

Eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day is a tradition. And I really do think it brings good luck and prosperity.

Get the recipe on our blog, linked in my profile and in story highlights! 

I’m really looking forward to creating more recipes like this in the new year, to show you all the joys of incorporating ferments into meals and recipes 😌✨ stay tuned! 

#newyear #sauerkraut #fermentation
One Christmas I gifted everyone in my family the N One Christmas I gifted everyone in my family the New York style sourdough bagels and they were thrilled. (The bagels we’re actually way under proofed, but I still gifted them and everyone loved them lol)

You can get the full recipe on my blog! And these can be made with discard and instant yeast or with just active starter.

 All the details are in the 5-star rated recipe on my website. 

#bagels #sourdough
This cookie dough is long-fermented overnight in t This cookie dough is long-fermented overnight in the fridge for the softest, most flavorful, melt-in your mouth sourdough gingerbread cookies.

For Christmas 2025, I tried something new with these cookies. I created a gingerbread sourdough starter to use in this recipe! I made it by feeding some of my established starter a mix that includes molasses and gingerbread spices. I just added the instructions for the gingerbread starter in the notes of my cookie recipe.

Get the full recipe and directions on my website! https://cultured.guru 

You can use the recipe index to see all my Christmas season recipes!

#gingerbread #sourdough
Flower Icon
LEARN ABOUT MICROBES FROM A MICROBIOLoGIST
Loading

recipes

  • Sourdough
  • Sauerkraut
  • Yogurt & Kefir
  • Pickles
  • Sweets & Snacks

more

  • Start Here
  • About
  • Learn
  • Shop
  • Contact

social

  • TikTokVisit Cultured Guru TikTok Account
  • InstagramCultured Guru Instagram Account
  • PinterestVisit Cultured Guru’s Pinterest Account
  • FacebookVisit Cultured Guru’s Facebook page
  • Privacy & Terms
Footer Logo
Footer tagline
copyright

©2026

Cultured Guru

.

website by saevil row + MTT. all rights reserved.