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Pickled dilly beans are a real treat, and many would argue that they’re much better than regular pickled cucumbers. Make dill pickled green beans at home and find out for yourself!
My first dilly beans were given to me by a true native Vermonter. I mean ancestors back to the Abenaki old school Vermonter. Beard so big you couldn’t see his chest, mountain man Vermonter.
And here he was saying to me, “You gotta be kidding me girl. You ain’t never had dilly beans before? What’s wrong with your girl? You don’t know NOTHIN’ about good food.”
He went inside to get some of his mama’s old-fashioned dilly beans, because if there’s one good thing about green beens it’s they’re prolific, so there’s always spare to be handed out to a flatlander that needs an education on good food.
I’ll admit, I was downright knock your socks off impressed.
I make a pretty spectacular pickle, but I could eat dilly beans all day long and never miss a pickle. The texture is crisp and firm, and there’s something about a green bean that absorbs and complements dill better than any pickle I’ve ever had.
A bit of garlic and a hint of spice from red pepper flakes, and you’ve got yourself a well-rounded taste that’s hard to put down.
When I asked for the recipe, I was told that “mama don’t need no recipe for them dilly beans.” But I got rough proportions and an idea, and went looking on my own.
After trying a number, I settled on this downright perfect recipe from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. It’s a good approximation of my first dilly bean. Try it and let me know what you think.
Adapted from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving
Pickled Dilly Beans (Dill Pickled Green Beans)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. green beans, ends trimmed
- 2.5 cups vinegar, 5% acidity
- 1 cup water
- 3 Tbls. canning salt
- 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 fresh dill sprigs
- 3-6 garlic cloves, peeled
Instructions
- Wash beans and trim the stem ends. Trim both ends if you like uniformity, but the tail end is the tender end so you can leave it intact. I start by measuring one bean to 1 inch below jar height, and then cut them all to the same length so they pack well into the jar.
- Pack the green beans into wide mouth pint jars and top each jar with 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, 2 dill sprigs and 1-2 garlic cloves. Be sure to leave just over 1/2 inch headspace.
- Combine vinegar, water and canning salt and bring to a boil on the stove to make a hot brine. Pour the hot brine over the beans in jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Seal the jars with new canning lids, tighten on bands, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes adjusting for altitude.
- Remove the jars from the canner and allow to stand at room temperature for a few hours until they've "popped" and completely sealed. Store any unsealed jars in the fridge and use immediately.
- For sealed jars, remove the canning bands and store in the pantry at room temperature.
Pickling Recipes
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I love garlic but my body doesn’t. If i don’t use garlic would this change anything about the safety? Do you have any safe suggestions for substitutions that would give a that garlic flavour?
You don’t have to use garlic, feel free to skip it. For a kind of similar flavor, you could try onions or shallots, which are both fine in this recipe. A bit of horseradish or black peppercorns are also good substitutions. Hope this helps!
Hi! I am thinking of buying a pressure canner and wonder whether I can use it for pickled recipes like this one? One of the websites says that pressure canner can not be used for high acidic foods like pickles
Yes, you can definitely use it for pickles. On many recipes there are actually pressure canning and water bath canning recipes right next to each other, mostly high acid fruit canning recipes. That said, what I’d do is use the pressure canner as a water bath canner. Just put the bottom trivet in it and then fill it up with water, and use it just like a water bath canner (don’t put the pressure canning lid on). Pressure canners are versatile that way, they can be used as water bath canners without the lid or as pressure canners with the lid.
You can pressure can low acid recipes if you want, that’s fine, it’s just overkill. It doesn’t harm things like fruit for the most part (ie. canning peaches or apple slices), just makes them a bit softer. For pickles, it’d really cook them to a squishy texture, and I wouldn’t recommend actually pressure canning them with the lid on. Water bath canning them in a pressure canner is really exactly the same was water bath canning in any pot though, and works just fine.
Does that make sense?
Thanks for answer the question about pressure canning. I was hoping to find a more fuel efficient way to pickle cauliflower and green beans, but I don’t want mushy veggies. Water bath is so energy intensive compared to pressure canning. I may give it a try anyhow and see how it turns out.
I made these last year and they were very good. I was jjust wondering if you could use yellow beans, something I have lots of these. Thanks.
Yellow beans should work just fine. Let us know if you decide to try it.
Would this work well for pickled carrots?
Yes, I definitely think this recipe would work well for carrots as well.
I would like to try the dilled green beans recipe but can not find a button to print it. I don’t like to use my phone while cooking (gross!). Is there a place I can find a printable copy of your recioe?
You could simply copy and paste the recipe into a blank document and print it that way.
Can I use quart jars for these? (Read your tip on sticking with pints for the pickles.) I have SO many beans.
Everything that I have read says that it is not recommended to use quart jars, only pints.
Can I use the same brine as the dill pickles for these dilly beans???
Of course!
I used this brine to can cauliflower and carrots. I only had quart jars left. I water bathed them for 30 minutes. Do you think they will be shelf stable or should I just refrigerate them?
You might want to just refrigerate them. All of the information that I am seeing says to use pint jars and that quart jars are not recommended.
I’ve looked at a lot of recipes and most all of them are using pint jars. Is there a reason? It seams like a quart jar would be easier, you wouldn’t have to trim the bean. I feel like I’m wasting a lot by cutting so much of the bean off.
I have read that in a lot of different places as well but I can’t find anywhere that says why.