24+ Relish Recipes for Canning (Beyond Pickle Relish)

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Relish recipes are a flavorful way to preserve the harvest, combining chopped fruits or vegetables with vinegar, sugar, and spices for a tangy condiment that’s perfect year-round.

Whether you’re making a classic cucumber relish for hot dogs or a bold fruit relish to serve with roast meats, there’s something here for every taste. These recipes are easy to can at home and endlessly useful in the pantry.

What Is Relish? (Relish vs. Salsa vs. Chutney)
Instructions for Canning Relish
Summer Canning Recipes

Relish is one of the most underrated ways to preserve garden vegetables, and it deserves just as much attention as jam or pickles. Whether you’re working with cucumbers, peppers, corn, or green tomatoes, there’s a relish recipe out there to make the most of your summer harvest.

Sweet or tangy, chunky or finely minced—relish adds flavor and texture to sandwiches, burgers, picnic salads, and even holiday platters.

Most relish recipes are easy to make and safe for water bath canning, making them a perfect project for beginner preservers and seasoned canners alike. This collection brings together all my tested relish recipes, organized by type and main ingredient.

Some are classic pantry staples like dill relish or chow chow, while others get creative with corn, zucchini, or lime-pickled onions. If you’re looking to fill your shelves with flavorful condiments that go beyond ketchup and mustard, relish is the way to do it.

All of these are tested canning recipes or adaptations of tested methods from trusted sources like Ball, the USDA, or university extensions, and I include full canning instructions for each one. Once you try making your own relish, I doubt you’ll ever go back to store-bought.

What Is Relish? (Relish vs. Salsa vs. Chutney)

Relish is a finely chopped condiment made with vegetables or fruits preserved in a vinegar-based brine. It’s typically sweet, tangy, or a mix of both, with a chunky texture that makes it perfect for spooning onto burgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches—or stirring into salads and spreads.

Relish, salsa, and chutney all fall under the same basic category of acid-preserved condiments, but there are a few key differences. Salsa usually includes tomatoes and hot peppers, with a fresher flavor and more heat. It’s often lower in sugar and can be cooked or raw. Chutney, on the other hand, is a thick, spoonable preserve that often combines fruit, spices, sugar, and vinegar for a bold, complex flavor. It tends to be more heavily spiced and has a soft, jammy texture.

Relish lands somewhere in the middle—chunky like salsa, tangy like chutney, but often more balanced and adaptable. It’s one of the simplest and most versatile condiments to can at home.

Instructions for Canning Relish

While you’ll want to follow the specific instructions for each individual recipe, most relish recipes follow a fairly standard process. The vegetables or fruits are finely chopped, salted or brined to remove excess moisture, then simmered briefly in a vinegar and sugar solution before canning. Some recipes skip the brining step and go straight to cooking in the pickling liquid.

Almost all tested relish recipes are safe for water bath canning and should be processed for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude (10 minutes below 1,000 feet, 15 minutes between 1,001–6,000 feet, and 20 minutes above 6,000 feet). Jars should be filled to ½ inch headspace, with the solids submerged in brine to ensure a good seal and long shelf life.

Just like with pickles, the acidity in the vinegar ensures safe preservation—so always stick with recipes that use 5% acidity vinegar or bottled lemon/lime juice when required.

Types of Relish

When most people think of relish, they picture the classic green pickle relish on a hot dog—but there’s a whole world of relishes beyond the basics. Cucumber relish is typically made with sweet peppers and onions for a balanced, tangy-sweet flavor without the intense seasoning of dill or pickle relishes. Sweet pickle relish, by contrast, uses pickling spices and more sugar, giving it that familiar taste you’ll find on most condiment shelves.

Beyond cucumbers, there are vegetable relishes like chow chow, corn relish, zucchini relish, and pepper-onion relish—perfect for canning and serving year-round. Then there are fruit-based relishes, often served with meats or poultry. These include cranberry relish, green tomato relish, or spiced onion relishes that show up on holiday tables. Some are sweet-tart, others spicy or savory, but they all make excellent condiments for roasted meats, cheese boards, or even stirred into sauces and marinades.

Cucumber Relish Recipes

These cucumber-based relishes are what most people picture when they think of “pickle relish.” But there’s more than one kind—some are sweet, some are salty, and others skip dill entirely in favor of mustard seed or turmeric. These are all made with chopped cucumbers and a vinegar brine, then flavored with spices like celery seed, mustard, and sometimes a little sugar.

If you’re used to the overly sweet green stuff at the store, homemade relish is a total game-changer. You can control the flavor, texture, and sweetness level. Whether you prefer a mild version or something tangier, these cucumber relishes are versatile enough for burgers, hot dogs, tuna salad, or egg salad.

Pepper and Onion Relish Recipes

If you’re after a savory, tangy relish that works well on burgers, sandwiches, or cheese plates, pepper and onion relishes are a great place to start. These relishes typically balance sweet and acidic notes with the sharpness of onions and the mellow flavor of sweet peppers. The result is a deeply flavorful preserve that pairs beautifully with grilled meats or sharp cheeses.

Some versions stick to red and green bell peppers, while others incorporate a bit of heat or extra seasoning for a bolder kick. Onion-heavy versions can be sweet or savory, depending on how much sugar and spice you use, and they’re a surprisingly good match for sausages, hot dogs, and even fish dishes.

Pepper and Onion Relish Recipe — Pepper and Onion Relish

Chow Chow and Piccalili

Chow chow is a traditional mixed vegetable relish with strong regional roots—sweet and tangy in the South, savory and spicy in New England, and a bit of both in Amish country. It’s a great way to use up small amounts of many vegetables at once, from green tomatoes and cabbage to beans, corn, and peppers.

It sometimes goes by the name Piccalili, and the names are used interchangeably in some areas. Though regional variations are famous in the US, here are even old world recipes like British Piccalili, which is a thick mustard based mixed pickle.

These relishes are particularly handy at the end of the season when you’re cleaning out the garden. Every family seems to have their own version, and once you find one you like, it’s worth putting up a few extra jars for winter meals.

Types of Green Tomato Relish — Three types of Green Tomato Chow Chow. From Left to right: Canadian Chow Chow, Amish Chow Chow and Southern Chow Chow

Corn and Zucchini Relishes

Corn and zucchini relishes are all about using up the summer garden glut in the most delicious way possible. Corn relish combines sweet corn kernels with tangy vinegar and peppers for a relish that screams summer. It’s excellent with grilled meats, tacos, and anything off the barbecue.

Zucchini relish, on the other hand, is the sleeper hit of summer canning. It has a texture and flavor similar to classic cucumber relish but with a slightly richer flavor and the added satisfaction of using up oversized garden zucchini. Both of these are excellent for spooning onto sausages, stirring into egg salad, or serving with sharp cheddar on a cracker.

Corn Relish recipe for canning — Classic Corn Relish

Other Vegetable Relishes

While the relishes listed above are some of the most common, there are still more ways to put up veggies with a bit of vinegar and salt. These “grab bag” recipes didn’t fit well under the other categories, but I didn’t want to miss them!

Fruit Relish Recipes

Fruit relishes bring a sweet-and-savory balance to the table, often pairing beautifully with roasted meats, holiday spreads, and cheese boards. Unlike jams or chutneys, fruit relishes are made with vinegar and salt to preserve them in a savory form, sometimes with a bit of heat or tang for contrast. They’re especially good alongside pork, turkey, or ham, and many make an appearance on Thanksgiving tables in place of cranberry sauce.

Some fruit relishes are chunky and spicy—like pineapple relish with hot peppers—while others, like apple or pear relish, lean toward a softer, more mellow flavor profile. Oscar relish, a lesser-known gem, combines peaches, tomatoes, and peppers into a bright and flavorful preserve that’s just as good on grilled chicken as it is on a sandwich.