Home Canned Dill Relish Recipe

Want to make your own home canned Dill Relish and save yourself some trips to the grocery store this winter? This is our family’s favorite recipe!

Home Canned Dill Relish Recipe

Each year, our family must make more of this delicious Dill Relish Recipe! We use it on burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and anything else that calls for dill relish! I love how easy it is to make your own homemade condiments.

I use the basic recipe for this from the Ball Blue Book of Canning and then I’ve made a few simple modifications (that do not affect the safety of the recipe) in order to adapt it to our tastes and the items that we usually have on hand.

We love this recipe because it’s tangy and full of dill flavor but not overly salty in any way so long as it’s made following the instructions. I can’t wait to share this recipe with you!

If you’d rather watch me make this recipe in person, check out the video below or head over to YouTube here.

If you just want to grab the recipe for the relish, see below! First I will post the extended recipe with my notes and the printable version is at the bottom of this article.

Home Canned Dill Relish

• 8 pounds Cucumbers
• 2 teaspoons Tumeric
• 1/2 cup Salt
• 4 cups Vinegar (5% acidity)
• 1/4 cup Dill Weed, chopped
• 2 large Onions, chopped

How to Make Homemade Dill Pickle Relish

Start by washing your cucumbers and removing the small black pokey parts. Pickling cucumbers are best to use in this recipe but you can also use other types of cucumbers as well. This is a great way to use up oversized (but still taste good) cucumbers. Just be sure and remove the seeds! You won’t want that in your final product. I have tips on Frugal Ways to Wash Produce here.

Chop both ends off of the cucumbers. Dice each cucumber into very small pieces or pulse very gently in your food processor until you have your desired consistency. I dice mine into tiny pieces because I don’t have a food processor and we like the texture of the dices. It is more time-consuming though so if you are looking for a quicker solution, the food processor will be your friend.

Place the chopped cucumbers in a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt and turmeric. Mix the ingredients together with your hands. Add cold water to the bowl until the cucumbers are covered. Do not panic about the amount of salt here! It’s going to get mostly drained and rinsed off and likely does not affect the nutrition much or the sodium levels. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 2 hours.

Chop the onion and dill weed and add to a large stock pot. Drain the excess liquid off of the cucumbers into the sink and rinse with cool water. Add the drained cucumbers to the stockpot as well. Add in the vinegar. We personally use apple cider vinegar because that’s what I always have on hand. I buy it in bulk from Azure Standard. You could also use white vinegar if that’s what you prefer, as long as it’s 5% acidity or higher.

Warm the mixture through on the stovetop until it’s simmering. Let it simmer for 10 minutes before filling your jars. You don’t want this mixture to boil, just a simmer is all we need to warm it through.

Fill clean canning jars with the hot relish mixture using a ladle, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. The original Ball Book recipe calls for pints. For our family, this size is a little large so we use jelly jars. Remove the air bubbles from the jar using a bubble remover or a spoon or butter knife. Wipe rim of the jar and then secure the lids.

Place all of the jars in a hot water bath canner and process for 15 minutes + 1 minute per 1000 feet in elevation. I have to process mine for 20 minutes since I’m at 5000 feet in elevation. Here’s a link to the Amish Canner that I use for almost all my water bath canning!

Leave the jars in the canner for 5 minutes after turning off the boiling water. Remove the jars, place them on a towel, and let them sit undisturbed until all are sealed and cooled.

Once the jars appear to be sealed, test the seal and then remove the rims. Mark with the contents and date and store in a cool place in the pantry until you are ready to enjoy

Need to print this recipe for your Recipe Binder? Grab it below!

Even though this recipe has a few odd steps like letting the relish soak for a few hours, we love making it and I find it so simple to do!

As I mentioned in the video, I like to make this recipe on a day when I’m making other canning recipes. I will get it started in the morning, and then use those 2 hours to make and can something else in between. It makes the waiting not quite so long.

Tip: Want to try something new? How about this Corn Relish Recipe?

A few more things about Home Canned Dill Relish….

How long does homemade relish last?

If you have canned it properly, it can last for years! Once we open a jar we try to use it within a month and store it in the fridge.

Can you pressure can pickle relish?

I suppose you could, but you wouldn’t want to. That will make it mushy!

Is dill relish the same as sweet relish?

If you added sugar to this recipe it could be considered a sweet pickle relish if that’s what you prefer the taste of.

Can I add pepper, mustard seed, red pepper, celery seed, etc to this recipe?

Dried spices usually don’t change the safety of a recipe so most likely you are fine in doing so if you want to change it up a bit for your tastes.

Is dill relish just chopped pickles?

For the most part, yes. Although I think the flavor is a little different (we add garlic to our pickles). The great thing about making relish versus just canning pickles is that you can utilize the odd-shaped cucumbers that wouldn’t make great pickles.

Make sure you check out all of the free Canning and Preserving Recipes we have on Little House Living! And don’t forget to check out The Canner’s Cookbook, it has recipes on how to use all your home canned goods!

I recommend a Presto Pressure Canner and the Ball Blue Book for all your canning projects!

What condiments do you can at home?