Pickled Green Beans

If you’re wondering what to do with all those green beans in your garden, it’s definitely time to try pickled green beans.

I’m not gonna lie, the first time I saw “dilly beans” as they were called, I thought it was weird, but the first crunch won me over pretty quickly. These are excellent added to an Italian-style salad. 

When you get tired of canning green beans, it’s time to make pickles!

The fun thing about preserving your own food is you can try to many different things, and make a huge variety to have on hand. It’s not boring for sure! This is why we don’t stop at pickling cucumbers, but also pickle beets, okra, and everything else we can as well.

Ingredients for pickled green beans

These green beans are pickled in a very similar pickle mix to traditional dill pickles.

While there are endless variations to pretty much every pickle recipe, the basics are the same:

• Vinegar
• Salt
• Garlic cloves
• Fresh Dill
• And some crushed red pepper for pizazz.

Recipe substitutes and variations

There are variations, but don’t mistake variety of recipes for precision. In pickling, it is important to keep your quantities of vinegar, salt, and water correct to preserve the vegetables.

In sweet pickles, the quantities are different, because we have added sugar, but most sour pickles have a pretty similar ratio. You can usually make swaps in the type of vinegar (white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar), or salt (as long as it’s non-iodized salt), but you don’t want to change the amount and therefore change the acidity of the recipe.

The variations come into play with flavorings like garlic, dill, peppers, other herbs, mustard seeds, red onions, etc.

For these, I used crushed red pepper, because it’s easy to have on hand. I’ve also used sliced jalapeños, and a whole red chili or cayenne is also common to add a little spice. Be careful about using sliced hot peppers though! As the pickles age, they will become hotter and hotter. If you’re a heat lover, that’s great, but it’s something to be aware of.

Another variation I’ve seen in green bean pickles particularly is strips of bell pepper. These add a nice, sweet flavor to your pickles, and can themselves be eaten. I’m not the biggest fan, and I know my kids won’t eat them, so I leave them out.

Canning Pickled Green Beans

I make a big batch to can some. There’s not denying that heat processing steals some of the crispness from the beans, so this is a method for making beans you can have access to all year long.

for smaller batches or to have just a few on hand, I pour the boiling pickling liquid over the my packed jars, make sure all the beans are submerged, put the lids on, and let them cool on the counter. Most of the time, they’re seal as they cool.

Then I store them in the refrigerator. They’ll last for months unopened.

For proper canning, you will need a water bath canner, and of course, you need canning jars, and canning lids. I usually use pint jars. These are tall enough that I don’t need to trim the green beans too much, which saves time.

How to make Pickled Green beans

This pickled green beans recipe is pretty simple. Most of your time is in trimming the green beans. It’s really up to you to determine how you want to trim the beans. Do you want to leave some or all of the blossom end? Do it! Do you want to leave the stem end? That’s okay too. So the amount of time you spend is really up to you.

1. Wash green beans, and trim stem end off if desired.
2. Add water, vinegar, and salt to a large saucepan, and heat over medium heat to a boil.
   
   
3. While the pickling liquid is coming to a boil, pack sterilized jars.
4. Do this starting with a clove of garlic, a sprig of dill (dill seed heads are best, but the leave dill weed works as well), 4-6 peppercorns, and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.
   
   
5. Next, pack prepared beans into jars leaving about 3/4 of an inch of headspace. I like to pack them standing up, as you can see in the photos.
   
   
6. Pour boiling pickle brine over packed jars, leaving about half inch of headspace. Be sure the green beans are completely submerged, but that there’s enough room left for the lid to seal.
7. Wipe jar rims with a soft cloth if needed to remove any debris.
8. Screw down lids and bands firmly.
9. Prepare water bath canner with hot water, and process pint jars for ten minutes.
10. Let cool 30 minutes before removing from canner, and covering with a towel to finish cooling.
11. After 24 hours, wash jars, check seals, and store in a cool place out of direct light.

More recipes for you:

• Watermelon Rind Pickles
• Bread and butter pickles
• Pickled celery
• How to make pickled jalapeños
• Summer squash pickles

 

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