Pickled Green Beans Recipe (Dilly Beans)
Published August 10, 2022. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This simple-to-prepare pickled green beans recipe is a great way to add a punch of flavor to your next salad or side dish.
Pickled green beans are fresh green beans submerged in a flavored vinegar brine to enhance their flavor and extend their shelf-life. In the case of my specific recipe, they are often called “dilly beans” simply because they have dill in them and use a brine similar to dill pickles. These are wonderful and eaten by themselves, or you can cut them up and add them to a salad, antipasto platter, charcuterie board, or even a giardiniera.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Green Beans – Use fresh, trimmed green beans for this.
- Water – You will need cold water to help cut down the vinegar flavor.
- Vinegar – I used white distilled vinegar in my recipe.
- Salt – I always use sea salt in my recipes, and this is used to help season the green beans and for preservation.
- Garlic – A few cloves will give a huge flavor boost to the pickled carrots.
- Pepper Flakes – This will add a little spice to the brine.
- Dill – Use fresh dill in this recipe.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Trim the stem end of the green beans or remove the string using bush beans.
Place the garlic cloves and as many green beans as possible into a clean, sterilized jar. Fit a few sprigs of fresh dill into the jar, and the beans.
Next, make the brine and bring it to a boil over high heat. Ensure the salt is completely dissolved before removing them from the burner.
Pour the brine over the green beans in the jar and submerge them.
Cool to room temperature before adding on the seal and lid and placing them in the refrigerator. See make and storage, along with chef notes.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make these up to 1 week ahead of time.
How to Store: Place the pickled green beans sealed in the jar with the lid in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 weeks. These will not freeze.
Chef Notes + Tips
- Use a butter knife to help move the ingredients around once the brine is in the jar, along with the green beans.
- For best flavor results, wait at least 24 hours before eating the pickled green beans. The longer you wait, the more intense in flavor they will get.
- Make sure your jars are completely clean and sterilized before using them.
- Depending on the size of your green beans, you may need more or less to fill the jars.
- Pickled green beans can sometimes take 2 to 3 extra days to break down while fermenting in the refrigerator so that they are more tender.
More Vegetable Recipes
Video
Pickled Green Beans Recipe (Dilly Beans)
Ingredients
- 4 Garlic cloves
- 4 cups trimmed fresh green beans
- 4 sprigs of fresh dill
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ cups distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
Instructions
- Trim the stem end of the green beans or remove the string if using bush beans.
- Place the garlic cloves and as many green beans as you can into 2 clean sterilized jars.
- Fit in 2 sprigs of fresh dill to each jar along with the beans.
- Next, bring the water, vinegar, salt, and red pepperflakes to a boil over high heat in a large pot. Make sure the salt is completely dissolved before removing it from the burner.
- Pour the brine over the green beans in the jar making sure to submerge them.
- Cool to room temperature before adding on the seal and lid and placing in the refrigerator. See make and storage, along with chef notes.
Can I use pickling salt instead of salt?
Not sure.
Can I water bath to can these
I’m sure you can.
Made these beans twice.
Happy to add them to my list of pickled vegetables.
Thanks Billy.
My pleasure.
Could I use this for pickled okra?
why not?
I’ve planted quite a few green beans this year and can’t hardly wait to do this. My question is, can I process these so that they don’t have to be refrigerated?
Thanks!
why not?
Hi Chef Billy. Can you can these green beans in a canner for the winter?
Yup!
Yeah! I came here for that comment! Canned dilly beans for the winter sounds great! My girlfriend uses these as a garnish for her Caesar’s, the drink, instead of a celery stick.