Dill Pickle Relish Recipe: Simple and Classic : Heart's Content Farmhouse

Name: The Best Dill Relish Recipe + How to Can It
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 8 pounds cucumbers; 1/2 cup pickling salt; 2 teaspoons turmeric; 4 cups water; 4 cups white vinegar; 1/2 cup yellow onion (diced); 1 medium diced jalapeno (diced); 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 tablespoon dill seed; 1 tablespoon fresh dill

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A dill pickle relish recipe that is not sweet, not oniony, and has a tad of sugar and heat. Makes 8-10 half-pint jars.

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This recipe is for a simple dill pickle relish using fresh produce. It is so much better than store-bought! You’ll find a pretty recipe printable at the bottom of the post.

❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe

It’s so versatile: perfect as a condiment, as an ingredient in cold salads like potato salad, or for mixing up a batch of tartar sauce.
Great use of summer produce. Overgrown cucumbers in your garden? No problem. Or snatch some at a farmer’s market that are a little on the ugly side.
Beginner-friendly. A great choice for new canners.

🧂 Ingredients

This is an overview of the ingredients. You’ll find the full measurements and instructions in the printable recipe at the bottom of the page.

cucumbers, pickles, dill, vinegar, salt, and turmeric on wooden board

You’ll need the following for this simple canning recipe:

cucumbers
pickling salt
turmeric
water
white vinegar
yellow onion
jalapeno
sugar
dill seed
fresh dill

🥣 Equipment

large water bath canner
pint or half-pint jars
new lids
canning funnel
small saucepan

🍴Instructions

Step One: Chop the cucumbers

Peel the cucumbers (fully or halfway) and roughly chop them into quarters or eighths. Place them in a food processor and pulse to chop. You want them chopped but not pureed. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may want to work in batches.

Step Two: Soak in seasonings and drain

Place the cucumbers in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Pour the water on top and stir. Allow the mixture to sit, covered, at room temperature for 1-2 hours.

Place chopped cucumbers in a cheesecloth-lined bowl and rinse. Lift the cheesecloth and gently squeeze to drain. You can also leave this in the fridge overnight and continue in the morning.

Step three: Cook

Place the cucumbers, diced jalapeño, diced onion, vinegar, sugar, dill weed, and dill seed in a saucepan and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the mixture has thickened slightly and has changed from green to yellow-green.

Step FouR: Can

Ladle hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Twist lids fingertip tight and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Cool until sealed and store in a dark place for up to 1 year.

🥫 Storage instructions

Like most home-canned recipes, this will keep well in a cool, dark place for up to a year.

🔍 FAQ

What kind of cucumbers are best for homemade relish?

You can use pickling or regular cucumbers for this dill relish. Since you are chopping them up, the size does not matter. One consideration is that you will need to remove any seeds. Smaller pickling cucumbers will have few, if any seeds, so they will make things easier. If you don’t have any, regular cucumbers will work fine–you’ll just have to de-seed them. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s unwaxed.

Do you need pickling salt for relish?

Pickling salt doesn’t have any anti-caking chemicals that can cause cloudiness. So it’s not essential, but will give you a nicer-looking finished product.

Can I leave out the hot pepper or the onion?

The onions, jalapeño, and dill seed can be reduced if you do not like them.

Can I reduce the vinegar in relish?

No, the salt and vinegar cannot be altered as they are essential to preserving the relish.

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert tips

Think about when you want to prep your canner, jars, and lids in this recipe. There are a few steps that make good stopping points, but once you add the final ingredients, you’ll want all your canning supplies ready to go while the relish is hot.
You can easily cut this recipe in half and make about 5 half-pints, which is plenty for most people.
If you don’t want to can this recipe, you don’t have to! It actually freezes very well. But don’t be intimidated by canning. You have to be safe and careful, but it’s not rocket science.
If you are not familiar with safe canning practices, here is a good resource to get you started canning. (The Ball Blue Book of Preserving is another good starting point!)

📘 Related Recipes

🍅 make it along with me

Follow along step by step. The slides will turn every 7 seconds, or you can click ahead.

Dill Pickle Relish (Easy Canning Recipe!)

❤️ The story behind this recipe

My grandmother was a big baker, quilter, canner, and all the rest. I did not appreciate it at the time because I thought I was going to be a lawyer. (I was, in fact, a secretary and then a housewife.) Anyway. Years after she died, I wished I had learned from her when I could. I do have one old gardening book of hers, out of which came a handwritten recipe for relish.

It read:

Sweet relish, 6 pints
Prepare cucumbers and onions and cover with vinegar. Add sugar to taste.
Pour into hot jars and cool.

So that “recipe” was a no-go.

I searched high and low for a recipe without weird ingredients and that wasn’t too sweet or too oniony. It could not be found, so I made some simple tweaks to the Ball Blue Book recipe to suit my tastes.

📖 Here’s the recipe

5 from 4 votes

The Best Dill Relish Recipe + How to Can It

Print Recipe

A dill pickle relish recipe that is not sweet, not oniony, and has a tad of sugar and heat. Makes 8-10 half-pint jars.

Prep Time:1

Cook Time:10

Total Time:1 10

Click here to grab a free seasonal e-cookbook!

Ingredients

8 pounds cucumbers
1/2 cup pickling salt
2 teaspoons turmeric
4 cups water
4 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup yellow onion diced
1 medium diced jalapeno diced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dill seed
1 tablespoon fresh dill

Instructions

Prep the cucumbers. Peel the cucumbers (fully or halfway) and roughly chop them into quarters or eighths. Place them in a food processor and pulse to chop. You want them chopped but not pureed. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may want to work in batches.
Soak in salt and turmeric. Place the cucumbers in a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt and turmeric. Pour the water on top and stir. Allow the mixture to sit, covered, at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
Rinse and drain. Place chopped cucumbers in a cheesecloth lined bowl and rinse. Lift the cheesecloth and gently squeeze to drain. You can also leave this in the fridge overnight and continue in the morning.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook. Place the cucumbers, diced jalapeño, diced onion, vinegar, sugar, dill weed, and dill seed in a saucepan and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the mixture has thickened slightly and has changed from green to yellow-green.
Process in waterbath canner. Ladle hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Twist lids fingertip tight and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Cool until sealed and store in a dark place for up to 1 year.

Video

https://youtu.be/MUc-XVhhxxg

Dill Pickle Relish Recipe, a Simple Canning Project (https://youtu.be/MUc-XVhhxxg)

Notes

Small pickling cucumbers are best, but any unwaxed cucumber will do as long as the seeds are removed.

It is impossible to give you a number of cucumbers as their size varies wildly. You won’t regret having a kitchen scale for canning!

The sugar, turmeric, dill seed, and/ or jalapeño can be left out or reduced and the recipe will still be safe. But the flavor is best if you keep them all!

Nutrition

Course: preserving

Cuisine: American

Keyword: after school cookie recipes, canning recipe for relish, cucumber canning recipes, dill pickle relish, pickle relish recipe

Servings: servings

Calories: 19kcal

Author: Katie Shaw

Did you make this recipe?If you loved it, please leave a review!

a collage of 10 images showing the steps given in the recipe.

Enjoy this relish recipe!