Dill Relish Recipe – My Little Green Garden (2024)

My favorite relish is dill relish. It’s one of my go-to condiments and toppings. I put it on burgers, salads, sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad. The only thing is, when you go to the grocery store, what do they primarily have? Sweet relish. Many times I can’t even find dill relish. Eventually I stopped looking, and decided to make my own dill relish recipe. Finally putting my garden full of cucumbers to good use.

I can do sweet relish in my tuna salad. You know, the canned tuna packs that come with a wooden stick and individual sized mayo and sweet relish packets that never seem expire? I remember eating those on occasion as a kid. And when the power goes out for hurricane season. And that’s about where my sweet relish desires end.

So, when I have dill relish, it’s home made. And home grown. But you don’t have to grow your own cucumbers and dill to enjoy this dill relish recipe. You can purchase the ingredients and whip it up yourself. Just don’t actually whip it, chop it. 🙂

Dill Relish is great for any sort of party where grilling, BBQ, or sunshine is involved. Homemade is always better.

Dill Relish Recipe Ingredients:

• 3 cups diced cucumbers
• 1 cup diced sweet onion
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic chopped finely
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dill seed
• 1/2 tsp mustard seed
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Dill Relish Recipe Instructions:

First you have an option as to whether or not you want to peel your cucumbers. I do for my relish because I prefer the smooth consistency and cucumber skins can sometimes be thick.

Next, you’ll want to remove the seeds from your cucumbers. You can do this my slicing them in half long ways, and using a spoon to remove the center.

Next up can be tedious if you don’t have a food processor. You’ll want to dice your cucumbers and onion. You’ll want to chop both ends off and discard, and then dice the rest into small cubes. Because of the time this can take, I recommend using afood processor.

I love the Ninja Chopper. You just lightly tap the top to dice your vegetables. If you hold it down longer your can puree as well. I’ve used this for chunky salsa, hummus, pureed cauliflower (for cauliflower pizza and mashed cauliflower). It’s a great little tool. Just chop your cucumber and onion into halves or fourths and then toss them in. I would recommend keeping them separate at the beginning to get the ratios right.

Also make sure to dice your garlic finely. I still just use a knife for this.

Next you’ll want to get a pot and add all your ingredients – diced cucumbers and onion, white and apple cider vinegar, garlic, salt, dill seed, mustard seed, and sugar. On low to medium heat, let it simmer for about 15 minutes, or until it gets to the softness you prefer.

After you’re done you can add your dill relish to your jars. I use these Regular Mouth Pint Ball Jars. They’re pretty standard and you can get them at Walmart or Target. I also use a funnel because I can be clumsy and it helps get the dill relish where I want it to go 🙂

At this point you have two options. You can let your jars cool for a couple hours and then refrigerate. Or you can process your jars so that they’ll have a longer shelf life. I would recommend that for larger batches. For 2 pints, I don’t think it’s necessary if you’re going to eat them within the next couple weeks. In which case, just let them cool on your counter for a couple hours and then refrigerate.

Water Bath Processing

I got into canning after I started my garden. You’d be amazed at how the cucumbers can add up when you only have a couple vines growing. There’s something about canning that makes me feel like I’m out in the country, living during a simpler time (with the added benefit of air condition, indoor plumbing, and the internet).

You’ll hear it referred to as canning, preserving, and processing. But essentially, it is a safe way to preserve your food for storage at room temperature for an extended period of time. There are a couple different ways to do that – boiling water and pressure canners. The boiling water method, called water bath processing, is for ahigh-acidic food – pickles, fruit, jams, jellies, and tomatoes. It will vacuum seal your jars to prevent spoiling. Pressure canners are for low-acid food vegetables and meat. Think chicken noodle soup.

If you have a garden, and you’re growing food, at some point you’re going to run into the issue that everybody wants to have – too much food! Suddenly you’re trying all these new recipes for different ways to eat cabbage, and stopping your neighbors when you see them to give them a basket full of collard greens! Really, it’s not a bad problem to have. An additional way to deal with this issue is to preserve your food so that you don’t have to eat it right away. You can hold onto a processed jar up to a year before eating.

If you’re interested in canning, there’s a great all-in-one set that I have from Granite Ware. I would recommend it for anyone who’s getting into canning. The tools that come with it are helpful for removing your jars and keeping everything sterile without burning yourself in the process (which I need!).

The funnel I mentioned earlier came with this set. What sets these pots apart from pots you may already have is that they’re tall enough to set your jars in upright while being fully emerged in water. That’s necessary for water bath “processing” your jars. I couldn’t process anything before getting these because none of my pots were tall enough.

For this recipe, I brought my water to a boil and then I very gently and slowly lowered my rack of jars into my pot. I put the lid on and let the jars boil for 10 minutes. Depending on where you’re located, the time you keep your jars boiling will vary. The time depends on what you’re processing and your altitude. I’m in Florida so I’m at sea-level. I then let the jars cool for a bit and removed them from the pot with tongs and waited to hear the pop from the jars sealing. If you’re new to canning I would definitely recommend getting a book that goes over the basics along with some recipes to try out. Ball has a great book that I use called The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving.

Have a favorite home made condiment or topping you use? Share it in comments below!

Enjoy the Dill Relish Recipe!