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Easiest Pickled Green Beans
Have an abundance of summer vegetables? Try making refrigerator pickled green beans, no need for canning. They'll keep in the fridge for more than a month!
What stands out: Have an abundance of summer vegetables? Try making refrigerator pickled green beans, no need for canning. They’ll keep in the fridge for more than a month!
How long it takes: 15 minutes hands-on
Equipment you’ll need: saucepan, jar
Servings: 8
Crisp, Tangy, and Totally Addictive
We love speedy refrigerator pickles, and these pickled green beans are one of our favorites. They’re brined with garlic, dill, mustard seed, peppercorns, and red pepper flakes, making them both beautiful and flavorful.
What makes them special:
- Improves with time: Flavors deepen in the fridge, reaching peak deliciousness after a week.
- Speedy and straightforward: No fancy canner or boiling water bath required – just a jar, brine, and a refrigerator.
- Bursting with flavor: Garlic, dill, mustard seed, and red pepper flakes make every bite exciting.
- Versatile serving: They’re reliable for snacking, adding to charcuterie boards, or garnishing a from-scratch Bloody Mary.
Top Tips for Making pickled green beans
Store in Fridge: As we mentioned above, these are speedy pickled beans. They are not canned so they must be stored in the refrigerator. They’ll keep for at least one month. The beans get better and better every day they spend in the fridge. You can try them right away, but they’ll be sort of a disappointment. Wait three days, and wow! Wait a week, and you’ll be blown away by how good they are.
Jar Suggestions: You can use almost any glass jar. Look for one that’s about the same height as the green beans, so they can stand up nice and straight. Recycled jars are reliable as long as they have a tight fitting lid. A quart sized canning jar works well, too. Make sure your jar is spotlessly clean!
Keep Them Clean: Even though it’s tempting, don’t use your fingers to fish them out of the jar. Use a clean fork so you don’t introduce bacteria into the jar.
Coral Said:
“These are so straightforward to mix and are so tasty!! Reliable as is.”
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Make Them Your Own
- Too crispy for you? For more tender green beans, blanch them before pickling. Bring a pot of water to boil, add beans for 2-3 minutes, drain, and put into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and preserve the green color. When beans are cool, drain well, and proceed with recipe.
- Tangier Beans: If you like the beans to be more tangy, increase the amount of vinegar and decrease the amount of water. You can go up to half vinegar and half water. Use any regular vinegar: apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, rice vinegar, red or white wine vinegar.
- Experiment with the seasonings. Consider this recipe a starting point. Adjust the seasonings to your personal preference.
- Yield: 8
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Cook: 5 minutes
- Total: 12 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb. fresh green beans, washed, stem ends trimmed or snapped off
- 2 cups water
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 sprigs fresh dill leaves
Method
- In medium sized saucepan, combine water, vinegar, salt, and sugar; over medium high heat, bring to a boil, boiling until sugar and salt is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Place garlic clove, mustard seeds, peppercorns, and red pepper flakes at the bottom of a large jar (most likely a quart size jar depending on the length of green beans). Arrange green beans vertically in jar and tuck dill sprigs into the jar.
- Pour the brine into the jar, covering green beans completely.
- Cover jar and place in the fridge at least overnight but preferably three days or more before eating.
- Store the jar of pickled green beans in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Notes
Nutrition note: Since the beans do not absorb all of the brine, the sodium count will be much lower than reflected below.
Storage: You can store green bean pickles in the fridge for up a month or more. After that, the texture will deteriorate. If liquid appears cloudy, dump them out.
For tender green beans, blanch them before pickling. Bring a pot of water to boil, add beans for 2-3 minutes, drain, and put into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and preserve the green color. When beans are cool, drain well, and proceed with recipe.
If you like the beans to be more tangy, increase the amount of vinegar and decrease the amount of water. You can go up to half vinegar and half water. Use any regular vinegar: apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, rice vinegar, red or white wine vinegar.
Adjust the seasonings to your personal preference.
