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Pickled Beans – How To Make Dilly Beans

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Do you love pickled beans or dilly beans as they are often called? I do and so do my children they will often grab a jar to snack on and prefer them to “normal” cucumber pickles.

This recipe is so good and easy to make to!

I love to plant another crop of bush beans in the middle of summer just so we can have extra beans to make pickles with in the fall.

How To Make Pickled Beans

Old Fashioned Dilly Beans text overlaid on a photo of cut green beans in canning jars on a wooden table.

Wash your beans and then trim the ends off. You can leave the beans whole or cut them into 2 inch long pieces whatever you like works.

Pickling spices in a canning jar | www.homestead-acres.com

Now mix your vinegar and water together in a large pot and bring it to a boil.

While you’re waiting in each pint jar place 1 head of dill or a bunch of dill weed,  2 cloves of garlic and 1 tsp. of pickling spice.

Dilly Beans

Then pack your beans into the jar and pour your brine over the beans leaving 1/2 inch of headroom.

Use a thin plastic knife or spatula to remove any air bubbles by running it around the inside edge of the jar.

Dilly beans are my favourite pickle! | www.homestead-acres.com

Wipe the jar rims clean and place the lids on finger tight. Process the pickled beans for 10 minutes in your water bath canner.

When the time is up, remove the jars and place them on a towel, let them sit undisturbed for 24 hours to allow the seal to set.

Any jars that haven’t sealed after 20 hours need to be reprocessed or placed into the fridge.

Tips For Making Pickled Dilly Beans

How Long Should Dilly Beans Sit?

After making your pickled beans wait 4 to 6 weeks before opening the jars. This gives enough time for the brine flavor to really soak into the beans.

Do I Need To Blanch Beans Before Pickling?

You’ll find some recipes for pickled green beans say to blanch the beans first. Blanching simply means cooking them in boiling water for 2 minutes and then dropping them into ice water to cool them down right away.

Some say that it helps to keep the beans bright color and snappy texture after pickling.

Blanching may help to improve the color of pickled beans a little but I don’t find the extra step worth the trouble.

When you pour the boiling hot pickle brine into the jar it will soften the beans a little without the need of blanching first.

But if the color of your pickled beans is really important to you then yes, go ahead and blanch them first.

Tips For Filling Jars

When you are trying to pack beans into jars they can often fall all over the place. If you want to make sure the jars are as full as possible and look really nice too, just tilt the jar on its side a little as you are filling it.

This lets the beans stay in one place as you fill the jars and they look much nicer.

Dilly Beans

Pickled Dilly Beans

Kim
Easy to make dilly beans, one of my favourite pickles!
4.48 from 21 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Pickles
Servings 7 Pints

Ingredients
  

  • 5 1/2 lb beans green or yellow
  • 7 dill heads or weed
  • 14 garlic cloves
  • 7 tsp. pickling spice
  • 8 cups vinegar
  • 8 cups water

Instructions
 

  • Wash your beans and trims the ends off. Leave whole or cut in half or 2 inch long sections.
  • Combine vinegar and water for your brine and bring it to a boil.
  • In each pint jar place 1 head of dill or a bunch of dill weed, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 tsp. of pickling spice.
  • Fill the jars with beans and pour the brine mix over them leaving 1/2 inch of headroom. Release any air bubbles and wipe the jar rims clean, place the lids on finger tight. Then process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
  • When the beans have finished processing remove the jars from your canner and set on a towel. Leave them for 24 hours to let the seal harden. Refrigerate or reprocess any jars that haven’t sealed.

Nutrition information isn’t always accurate, this information is for informational purposes only please consult a nutritionist for more information and guidance.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Don’t forget to pin this for later!

Easy Pickled Beans For Canning text overlaid on a collage images on the top are beans held in a persons hands, the bottom beans packed into canning jars.
How To Make Dilly Beans

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Recipe Rating




Annie

Saturday 26th of August 2023

How many pints does this make?

Mary

Sunday 5th of March 2023

What is the white stuff in the bottom of the jar in the picture at top? Is it kosher salt? How much?

Linda

Wednesday 4th of August 2021

I’ve flash frozen my yellow beans no blanching can they still be pickled??

Darlene

Saturday 22nd of August 2020

I see in the photos of the jars that you have pickling salt in the bottom, although it is not in the recipe. Is this an oversight?

Cristin

Thursday 6th of August 2020

Do you use pickling salt?