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Green tomato pickling recipes turn the last hard green tomatoes of the season into pickles and relish that keep all winter. Green tomatoes are tart and firm, so they hold their shape in a vinegar brine. They’re just as good on a cheese board as they are piled on a hot dog.
Table of Contents
- Choosing Green Tomatoes for Pickles and Relish
- Dill and Savory Green Tomato Pickles
- Sweet and Spicy Green Tomato Pickles
- Green Tomato Relish Recipes
- Sweet Green Tomato Relish
- Dill Green Tomato Relish
- Garden Relishes with Green Tomatoes
- Green Tomato Chow Chow
- Green Tomato Piccalilli
- Green Tomato Chutney and Chili Sauce
- More Ways to Preserve Green Tomatoes
- Green Tomato Pickling FAQs
- More Green Tomato and Relish Recipe Lists
Our garden season here in Vermont is short, and the frost always shows up before the tomatoes finish ripening. The day before it’s forecast, I’m out picking every last green tomato off the vines. Anything the frost touches is done for.
Green tomatoes are more acidic than ripe ones, and they stay firm in the jar, so they’re a natural fit for pickles and relish. Green tomato recipes turn up all through the canning books of the early 1900s, back when home canning was just catching on.
I’ve been working through as many of those old recipes as I can and updating them for modern canning. Some are pickles, sliced or whole, in a dill, sweet, or spicy brine. Others are chopped into relish, chow chow, piccalilli, and chutney.
If you’re after jam, salsa, or pie filling instead, I have a much longer list of green tomato canning recipes. There are also pickle recipes for nearly everything else the garden grows.
Choosing Green Tomatoes for Pickles and Relish
Pick tomatoes that are fully green and hard, with no blush of pink or yellow. A tomato that has started to turn will soften in the brine, so set those aside to ripen on the counter.
Some varieties, like Green Zebra, stay green when they’re ripe. Those are ripe tomatoes, so leave them out. And pick before the frost hits, since USDA guidance says not to can tomatoes from dead or frost-killed vines.
I never peel green tomatoes. They’re nearly impossible to peel, and the skins soften right along with everything else in the jar. Just core them, trim off any bruises, and they’re ready to slice or chop.
If you end up with more than you can pickle, you can also can green tomato slices to fry later in the year.
Dill and Savory Green Tomato Pickles
Old cookbooks treated green tomatoes a lot like cucumbers. One early 1900s cookbook in my collection says to make dill pickles the usual way, just with small green tomatoes in place of the cucumbers.
They come out tangy and sharp, somewhere between a dill pickle and a green olive. You can slice big tomatoes or cut them into wedges, and small ones can go in the jar whole.
My old-fashioned recipe uses one pot of brine and four different spice mixes, so you can fill several kinds of jars at once. For the kosher-style pickles, you pack the tomatoes whole into quarts with garlic, celery, and green pepper.
- Old-Fashioned Pickled Green Tomatoes
- Dill Pickled Green Tomatoes
- Kosher-Style Dill Green Tomato Pickles
- Lemon Peppercorn Green Tomato Pickles
- Polish-Style Pickled Green Tomatoes
If you’re pickling whole cherry-size tomatoes, prick each one with a toothpick first so it doesn’t burst in the canner.
Sweet and Spicy Green Tomato Pickles
Sweet green tomato pickles go back generations. The slices cook with onions in a syrup of brown sugar, vinegar, and whole spices.
I’ve served sweet, spicy, and dill pickled green tomatoes together on my holiday cheese board.
Spiced green tomatoes are a very old style. Small whole tomatoes cook in a heavy syrup of sugar, cider vinegar, and whole spices.
The spicy pickles get rings of hot banana peppers and Anaheim peppers in every jar. They’re beautiful in the jar, and darn delicious too.
Green Tomato Relish Recipes
Old preserving books are full of green tomato relishes. Many mix finely chopped green tomatoes with peppers, onions, vinegar, and sugar, and the tomatoes stay firm right through the simmer.
Last fall I made three green tomato relishes side by side: a classic sweet relish, a hot dog relish, and a dilled one. When I had all three open at once, I lined them up on hot dogs to compare.
Sweet Green Tomato Relish
Most of the old green tomato relishes are sweet. Hot dogs are the obvious place for them, and they’re just as good on burgers and brats.
The classic version tastes a lot like sweet pickle relish, with more flavor from the green tomatoes. I season it with whole mustard seed and celery seed, and it’s thick enough that I serve it with a fork.
The sweet green tomato and onion relish uses plenty of onion, red onion included, with celery seed and mustard seed in the brine.
The hot dog relish has brown sugar, dry mustard, and a little cinnamon and clove. Honestly, I didn’t want to like it at first. After a few weeks on the shelf, it mellowed into the goldilocks of the three.
Dill Green Tomato Relish
Dilled green tomato relish is a classic dill pickle relish with green tomatoes in place of the cucumbers. It’s sour and salty, with dill seed, a turmeric soak for color, and barely any sugar.
It started with a reader request, and I’m so glad they asked. In the hot dog lineup, it was the sharp, salty one of the bunch.
Garden Relishes with Green Tomatoes
Rummage relish is what you make at the end of the season, when everything left in the garden goes into one pot. Green tomatoes simmer with ripe tomatoes, cabbage, onions, celery, peppers, and cucumbers.
The curry relish is the same base plus raisins and curry powder. Fall garden relish uses just a little green tomato among a long list of other vegetables.
There are plenty more relish recipes for canning, with cucumbers, peppers, onions, corn, and zucchini.
Green Tomato Chow Chow
Chow chow is a chopped green tomato relish, and every region seems to have its own version. You soak the vegetables in salt overnight to pull out extra water, so the relish stays crisp instead of soggy.
Southern chow chow is the first thing I make when frost is coming. It’s green tomatoes and cabbage in a sweet, tangy brine with dry mustard, celery seed, and turmeric.
All three of these regional versions start with green tomatoes, and they’re different enough that it helps to know which one you’re making.
Canadian chow chow keeps it simple, with mostly green tomatoes and onions and a bag of pickling spice. It’s a good one for a really big harvest.
Amish chow chow has more vegetables in it, with cauliflower, carrots, green beans, and cucumber alongside the green tomatoes. We made a batch to use up the last of the garden one fall, and it disappeared fast next to anything rich and hearty.
There are even more regional styles in my chow chow and piccalilli roundup.
Green Tomato Piccalilli
Piccalilli is a close cousin to chow chow, and you’ll find it spelled several different ways in old cookbooks. New England piccalilli keeps the green tomatoes and cabbage but cuts them in bigger chunks.
Brown sugar and whole pickling spice go into the brine, and the brown sugar gives it a darker color.
Two more versions keep the chopped green tomatoes and cabbage. One gets horseradish, garlic, and ginger, and the other turns bright yellow from turmeric.
- New England Green Tomato Piccalilli
- Horseradish Piccalilli
- Turmeric Piccalilli Relish
- English Piccalilli (Mustard Pickles)
British piccalilli is where the whole family started. It’s a thick, bright yellow mustard pickle rather than a chopped relish, and green tomatoes are one of the vegetables you can use in it.
Green Tomato Chutney and Chili Sauce
Chutney cooks longer than a relish, until it’s thick and jammy. I make my green tomato chutney with red onion, raisins, ginger, and a cinnamon stick, plus a little heat from red pepper flakes.
The other two chutneys add fruit, one with apples and one with red plums, rice vinegar, and Thai chiles. Green chili sauce simmers for hours with onions, celery, peppers, brown sugar, and pickling spice.
More Ways to Preserve Green Tomatoes
Pickles and relish only use up part of a big harvest. If you’d like something sweet, there’s old-fashioned green tomato jam, green tomato marmalade with orange and lemon, and green tomato pie filling with apples and raisins.
For savory jars, try green tomato salsa verde, green tomato enchilada sauce, or green tomato ketchup. And once the canning’s done, there’s a long list of green tomato recipes for dinner and baking.
Green Tomato Pickling FAQs
The questions I get most on my green tomato pickles are about peeling and keeping them crisp.
Here are quick answers to those and a few more. If yours isn’t here, leave it in the comments and I’ll answer it there.
No. I never peel them for pickles or relish. Green tomatoes are nearly impossible to peel, and the skins soften in the brine right along with everything else. Just core them and trim off any bruises.
Yes. Green tomatoes are more acidic than ripe tomatoes, and in pickles and relish the vinegar brine is what keeps the jars shelf stable. Use vinegar labeled 5 percent acidity, and don’t cut the vinegar or add extra water to the brine. If you’re new to canning, start with waterbath canning for beginners.
No. Use the tomatoes the recipe calls for. Ripe tomatoes are softer and less acidic than green ones, so swapping them in changes both the texture and the acidity of the jar. Some varieties, like Green Zebra, stay green when they’re ripe, and those count as ripe tomatoes.
Start with firm, fully green tomatoes, and pickle them soon after you pick them, since a week on the counter costs you crunch. A little calcium chloride in each jar helps them stay crisp too.
They’re all vegetables in a sweet-and-sour vinegar brine, and the names overlap a lot. Southern chow chow is finely chopped with cabbage and mustard, and New England piccalilli is the same idea in bigger chunks. A plain green tomato relish skips the cabbage. British piccalilli is different again, a thick mustard pickle that’s bright yellow from turmeric.
More Green Tomato and Relish Recipe Lists
These lists pick up where the pickles and relishes leave off.
Did you find this list of green tomato pickling recipes helpful? Tell me in the 📝 comments below what you make with your green tomato harvest, and if there’s a recipe you’re looking for that you don’t see, leave me a note and I’ll see what I can find for you. I’m here to help!
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