BEST Dill Pickle Relish
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An easy, wonderfully versatile and utterly deeeeelicious homemade dill pickle relish recipe! Canning instructions are included so you can enjoy this relish all year long!
It’s relish like this that makes eating a sandwich or hot dog just that much better. It also adds a wonderful dimension to your pasta and potato salads. Last Summer I posted my recipe for Sweet Pickle Relish and here is the more savory version with a more pronounced dill flavor. It’s so easy to make and comes with instructions for canning so you can enjoy it all the year long.
Pickle Relish Recipe
Let’s get started!
We’re going to use regular cucumbers. They’re much cheaper than English cucumbers (the ones that come shrink-wrapped) or pickling cucumbers and taste exactly the same. I prefer to peel them since the peel is fairly tough. We’re also going to remove the seeds.
So peel the cucumbers and thinly slice them lengthwise. Slice them into strips, discarding the inner strip of seeds. Then very finely dice the cucumbers.
Very finely dice the onions, garlic and red bell pepper. You can use a food processor, just don’t let the onions and bell pepper get mushy. I prefer to just do it by hand.
Note: There are no green bell peppers shown in the pictures and they weren’t added to this particular batch, but they belong in it. Okay, now that that’s clear, let’s move on.
Place the diced vegetables in a large bowl along with the salt. Cover with water and let it sit for at least 6 hours or overnight.
(Ignore the fact that some of the cucumber peels are on. The second batch I made I peeled the cucumbers and the result was better.)
Put the sugar, vinegar and spices in a large stock pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Drain the cucumber mixture in a colander, thoroughly rinse, and drain again.
Add the mixture to the stock pot. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.
Ladle the hot relish into the hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and seal tightly with the lids. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Ah, the masterpiece is done!
Best eaten at least a week later after the flavors have had time to meld and the vinegar mellows out a bit. In addition, the relish needs to sit to give it time to absorb some of the liquid and to thicken.
It’s so satisfying to see the end result of your labors – and you can enjoy this relish all the year long!
For more pickled vegetable recipes be sure to try my:
- Giardiniera
- Corn Relish
- Sweet Pickle Relish
- Pickled Pepperoncini Peppers
- Sweet Pepper and Onion Relish
- English Pickled Onions
- Pickled Banana Peppers
- Pickled Okra
- Pickled Green Beans
- Pickled Asparagus
- Pickled Turnips
- Pickled Peppers
- Pickled Beets
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BEST Dill Pickle Relish
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2½ lbs cucumbers (weighed prior to peeling and seeding),peeled, center row of seeds removed, and finely diced
- 1 large yellow onion ,finely diced
- 1 small red bell pepper ,finely diced
- 1 small green bell pepper ,finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic ,finely minced
- ¼ cup kosher or pickling salt (neither of these have additives which is important to avoid when canning)
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar (optional or use less according to taste)
- 2 teaspoons dill seeds
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons celery seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Place the diced cucumbers, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Combine with the salt and pour water over the mixture until covered. Let sit for at least 6 hours or overnight.Drain the cucumber mixture in a colander, rinse thoroughly with water, and drain again.
- In a large stock pot, add the sugar, vinegar, and spices and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the drained cucumber mixture and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.
- Ladle the hot relish into hot sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and seal tightly with the lids.Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
- Sealed jars will store in a cool, dark place for a year. If the seal is broken, the relish will keep in the fridge for at least a month. Makes 4 pints (you can use pint-sized or half pint jars). Best eaten at least a week later after the flavors have had time to meld and the vinegar mellows out a bit. In addition, the relish needs to sit to give it time to absorb some of the liquid and to thicken.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet February 15, 2014
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Would this be good for making Tarter sauce (I use a lot for fish) and have not found the perfect pickle yet
Hi Larry, it sure would! And in case you’re looking for a tartar sauce recipe I have a great one here: https://www.daringgourmet.com/best-homemade-tartar-sauce/
Bring water bath to 180 a stay at temp I assume
128 servings equals how many pints or half pints??
Hi Phil, it’s at the end of the recipe in Step 6: Makes 4 pints.
Hi. I’m excited to try this recipe. I planted my first garden this year. I’m 52. I’m so proud. My cucumbers have done exceptionally well (might be the chicken manure I mixed in the ground when I was prepping the site). Regardless, I’m getting more cucumbers than we can eat and I’ve already made 20+ jars of dill pickles and I found your recipe for the relish. I will let you know how it turns out. It’s going to be at least two more days before I will have the time to do it. Thanks for the recipe.
That’s wonderful, Arlene, congratulations on the success of your first garden! My garden has also been producing far more cucumbers than I can manage. I’ve been giving a lot of them away, have made pickles and relish, and I always regularly make my favorite cucumber salad which you might like too: https://www.daringgourmet.com/creamy-german-cucumber-salad/
Do you refrigerate the drIning vegs
Hi Neil, they’re fine sitting at room temperature, which is what I do. But if it’s very hot where you are you can put it in the fridge.
Silly question/comment: I don’t normally use relish & live alone. But I have a recipe to follow that calls for 1 TB of relish, would it be to much to ask for you to break that recipe down to only 1/2 cup??
Maybe divide everything by 8(?) but that seems like it’ll make this recipe a lot harder. If only using that much and only using it occasionally, I’d buy my relish. But if using more than occasionally try breaking it down to half.
Really excited about this recipe but am having one heck of a time finding dill seed. Can dill weed be substituted and if so what would the ratio be?
Hi Verlyn, the dill seed is what gives the relish its dill flavor and unfortunately there really is no other substitute. If you can’t find it in any local stores you can order it online, including on Amazon.
Can you use our minion cucumbers as well as regular cucumbers mixed together because I have a lotta Armenian cucumbers and a lot of regular cucumbers
Absolutely, Jamie. Happy pickling!
Is it possible to can relish after opening? I use small quantities.
Hi Dana, do you mean once you’ve canned it can you re-can it after you’ve opened it? I wouldn’t recommend that because re-canning means boiling it again which will make the texture mushy. Instead I recommend canning the relish in the smallest jars (half pint).
Isn’t that a lot of sugar for dill relish?
I’m just checking to see if I read that right.
Deb
Hi Deb, yes it’s 1/2 cup. I personally really like it that way and you can scroll through the comments to read the feedback from others, but as I note in the recipe it’s optional or you can use less according to your taste.
I have made this relish a few times and I omit the sugar, it turns out ABSOLUTELY wonderful!!
Want to make your recipe however the recipe says salt…. Can you confirm if that is pickling salt. Other recipes I’ve looked at specify course or picking salt. Thank you.
Hi Tammy, you can use either pickling salt or kosher salt. Neither of them contain any additives or iodine and that is preferred for pickling and canning.
I only got 3 500ml jars.. measured and weighted everything.. hopefully it tastes okay
I’m in the middle of making this now. When you say to let it sit for at least six hours, is that refrigerated or outside the fridge? Perhaps a stupid question.
Hi Pamela, you can do either as long as outside the fridge is no warmer than room temp.
used sea salt and the taste is quite salty, i rinsed 2x, I added canned pineapple chuncks to balance the taste a bit. Do you know if brown mustard seeds taste that much different then yellow? I couldnt find yellow! fingers crossed!
This sounds like zucchini relish minus dill