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You are here: Home / Canning / Pickled Dilly Beans (Dill Pickled Green Beans)

Pickled Dilly Beans (Dill Pickled Green Beans)

August 16, 2017 by Ashley Adamant 36 Comments

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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 telling 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.

Dill Pickled Green Beans

I’ll admit, I was down right 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 down right 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.

Pickled Dilly Beans Recipe

Adapted from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving
Yield: 3 pints
Method: Water Bath Canning
Process Time: 10 minutes (adjust for altitude)
Headspace: 1/2 inch

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Seal the jars with new canning lids, tighten on bands, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes adjusting for altitude.
  5. 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.
  6. For sealed jars, remove the canning bands and store in the pantry at room temperature.
  7. Enjoy!

Dill Pickled Green Beans #dillybeans #dillpickles #pickles #greenbeans #canning #foodpreservation #preservingfood #homesteading #greenbeanrecipes

Just getting Started Canning?

If you’re just getting started canning, but plan on making canning and preserving food part of your lifestyle long term, try investing in an online canning course.  Pioneering today has a canning with confidence course that takes you through the ins and outs of canning from basic canning safety all the way through to pressure canning meat at home.  The course covers:

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  • Water Bath Canning – Jams, jellies, pickles, tomatoes, and other high acid fruits and vegetables including low sugar, no pectin variations.
  • Pressure Canning – How to safely operate a pressure canner at home to can almost any type of food for long term preservation
  • Troubleshooting and Storage – Figuring out why a recipe just didn’t work, and maximizing storage of your home canned goods.

Take a look at Canning with Confidence if you’re planning on investing heavily in long term home food preservation.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Billy

    September 27, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    I’ve never tried pickling my own dilly beans before, this makes it sound so simple and straight forward! Thank you for sharing your recipe, I can’t wait to try it at home!

    Reply
  2. Carol Jeanne

    December 27, 2017 at 7:32 am

    Home canned dill green beans were something my mother was especially good at canning. We grew up on her home canned pickles, dill green beans, fruits and veggies. This makes me miss my childhood days but remember then fondly.

    Reply
  3. Sarah

    November 26, 2018 at 1:40 am

    Hello- I canned the dilly beans a few weeks back. I followed the recipe exactly; however, they taste very bitter. I can’t quite put my finger on what is missing. Could you please weigh in with your thoughts on what I’ve done wrong? Thank you, Sarah

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      November 26, 2018 at 3:07 am

      My first thought was that maybe the green beans were a bit too old? They get a little bitter if they’re left on the plant too long, and that’ll really come through if they’re canned. The seeds inside should still be very small, tiny little specs. Even if picked on time, they’ll still get a bit bitter if they’re in the fridge too long waiting to be canned (or on the grocery store shelf too long).

      If that doesn’t sound like the issue, I did a bit of research and here’s what the ball canning website has to say about bitter pickled vegetables:

      “This happens when you use old spices, cook too long in vinegar, or you use too much spice. Use fresh spices – use whole spices within 3-4 years of purchase. Use the processing time and method recommended in the tested fresh preserving recipe. You may have used vinegar that was too strong. Always use vinegar with 5% acidity for fresh preserving. Using a salt substitute in place of Salt for Pickling & Preserving could be the problem. Salt substitutes contain potassium chloride, which is naturally bitter.” (source: https://www.freshpreserving.com/pickles-problem-solver.html)

      I hope this helps!

      Reply
      • chuck

        December 18, 2020 at 3:55 pm

        I’d also add in that table salt contains iodine, which is bitter.

        Reply
  4. Nancy

    April 17, 2019 at 11:20 am

    Hi there. I’m looking at this recipe because we’re just starting to see crops of fresh green beans in our area. I was wondering what the shelf life on these were, when you store them

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      April 20, 2019 at 12:18 am

      I’ve had them on the shelf for 12-18 months in my pantry without issues.

      Reply
  5. Donna Janak

    May 20, 2019 at 1:34 pm

    Do you serve these beans cold, like a pickle or do you warm them? We like to add vinegar to our cooked fresh green beans.

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      May 20, 2019 at 9:27 pm

      Cold like a pickle is the way we eat them, honestly I never thought to serve them warm like a side dish. Now I wonder…it might work?

      Reply
  6. Jean McDaniel

    August 23, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    I can’t find fresh dill in our little town. I can get dried at Walmart. I tried growing dill, but the house is too dark and it is too hot in Texas. Help! Can I use dried?

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      August 24, 2019 at 7:13 pm

      Yes! That’s happened to me a time or two as well. I don’t use the green dried dill tops in canning (mainly because it always smells like alfalfa from the stores around here, too old I think). I’ve just substituted a good amount of dill seed instead of the fresh dill and they come out great. Smell the dill seed and make sure it has a good strong smell to it, it loses potency quick and old stuff (even a year old) doesn’t taste like much.

      Reply
  7. Lexi

    October 4, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    Hello! I just finished pulling these out of the water bath, and I can’t WAIT to try them! How long do the green beans need to sit in the juice before they have the flavor of being pickled? I’d like to open one asap. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      October 5, 2019 at 1:54 am

      At least a week, preferably at least 2 weeks.

      Reply
  8. Beth

    May 11, 2020 at 4:35 am

    Do these stay crisp like a pickle or do they tend to mush a bit?

    Reply
    • Debbie

      August 1, 2020 at 7:35 pm

      They stay crisp, they do not get mushy at all.

      Reply
  9. Terri

    August 5, 2020 at 1:26 am

    Do you heat the jars before putting the beans in them?

    Reply
    • Administrator

      September 29, 2020 at 1:45 am

      Yes, you should clean and sterilize your jars and then keep them warm before filling them.

      Reply
  10. Florenda

    August 11, 2020 at 4:16 am

    hello- I just finished making them! How long do they need to sit before using them?? thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Admin

      August 11, 2020 at 11:43 pm

      4-6 weeks is plenty of time!

      Reply
  11. Jaime

    August 15, 2020 at 5:34 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Administrator

      September 29, 2020 at 1:37 am

      I have read that in a lot of different places as well but I can’t find anywhere that says why.

      Reply
  12. Ethan Nodwell

    August 16, 2020 at 2:02 am

    Can I use the same brine as the dill pickles for these dilly beans???

    Reply
    • Admin

      August 18, 2020 at 8:40 pm

      Of course!

      Reply
      • Debra E Fish

        September 28, 2020 at 11:09 pm

        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?

        Reply
        • Administrator

          September 29, 2020 at 1:29 am

          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.

          Reply
  13. Samantha Heitke

    August 20, 2020 at 11:14 pm

    Can I use quart jars for these? (Read your tip on sticking with pints for the pickles.) I have SO many beans.

    Reply
    • Administrator

      September 29, 2020 at 1:32 am

      Everything that I have read says that it is not recommended to use quart jars, only pints.

      Reply
  14. Cleta

    September 5, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Administrator

      September 29, 2020 at 1:31 am

      You could simply copy and paste the recipe into a blank document and print it that way.

      Reply
  15. NaN Watson

    October 6, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    Would this work well for pickled carrots?

    Reply
    • Administrator

      October 8, 2020 at 2:17 am

      Yes, I definitely think this recipe would work well for carrots as well.

      Reply
  16. Howie

    August 20, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Administrator

      August 23, 2021 at 6:16 pm

      Yellow beans should work just fine. Let us know if you decide to try it.

      Reply
  17. Irene

    August 22, 2021 at 5:37 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      August 23, 2021 at 12:53 pm

      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?

      Reply

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I’m an off-grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self-reliant. Read More…

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