This pickled green tomatoes recipe is a great way to use up the green tomatoes that are hanging around at the end of tomato season. You know, the ones that are not getting ripe because the weather is cooling down.
Pick any tomatoes with color showing to try and ripen indoors. Then go ahead and pull some green tomatoes to make your green tomato pickle recipe. Be sure the tomatoes you use for pickling are fully green. You don’t want any color showing.
For this recipe, you will need unripe, truly green tomatoes. Make sure you’re not using a variety of tomato that appears green when ripe, as some heirloom varieties do.
I made pickled green tomatoes out of tomatoes from my pear tomato plant. I like the way they look in the jar.
Garlic and dill make this a great green tomato pickle recipe. My oldest son likes to eat the pickled garlic.
This recipe can be processed safely in a Water Bath Canner.
Yield is about 6 pints.
How to Make Pickled Green Tomatoes
Gather Your Canning supplies for Pickled Green Tomatoes:
- water bath canner
- canning jars (pint size)
- canning lids and rings
- jar lifter and canning funnel
- large pot
- bowls
- large spoons
- sharp knife
- crinkle cutter is optional
- towels and dish cloths
- ladle
Ingredients:
- 5 pounds green tomatoes
- 3 1/2 cups vinegar
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup canning salt
- 6 garlic cloves (one per jar)
- Dill seeds (2 tsp. per jar) or fresh dill heads (1 head per jar)
Please note: My source for this recipe is the Ball Blue Book.
Start by preparing jars and getting water in your canner heating. (See Water Bath Canning for full directions.)
Wash tomatoes. Cut into the desired size. In the case of my small pear tomatoes, I simply cut them in half. Full-size tomatoes can be cut in half or quarters, or smaller if you have very large tomatoes.
Combine vinegar, water, and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil and keep hot while you pack the jars. This recipe calls for pint-size jars. Don’t use quart size. If you want to go smaller you can. Use 8 oz jars but you’ll still need to process for the same time as pint-size.
Place garlic clove and dill in each jar.
Pack tomato pieces into jars and cover with the vinegar solution, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.
Process them according to water bath canning instructions.
You can eat these pickled green tomatoes right away if you like. But the flavor won’t be there right away. If you let your jars sit for 4-5 weeks before opening, this allows the flavors to fully develop.
Wipe rims clean and process according to water bath canning directions.
Process them according to the instructions below. Be sure and adjust this time according to the altitude chart below.
Altitude Adjustments
Altitude Adjustments for Boiling Water Bath Canner
Altitude in Feet – processing time
0-1000 ft – 15 minutes
1001-3000 ft – 20 minutes
3001-6000 ft – 25 minutes
6001-8000 ft – 30 minutes
8001-10000 ft – 35 minutes
For more information on why this is important, see this altitude adjustments page.
Pinnable Recipe Card
Pickled Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 5 pounds green tomatoes
- 3 ½ cups vinegar
- 3 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup canning salt
- 6 garlic cloves
- Dill seeds or dill heads (2 tsp. seeds per jar or 1 head per jar)
Equipment
- Waterbath Canner
- Pint canning jars, seals, and rings
- Large pot
- Canning funnel, lid lifter, and jar lifter
- Ladle and bubble tool
- Crinkle cutter (optional)
Instructions
- Start by preparing jars and getting water in the canner heating.You want the canner hot, but not boiling, when the jars are ready to be processed. See full water bath canning instructions here.
- Wash tomatoes and cut into desired sizes.
- Combine vinegar, water, and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil.
- Place garlic clove and dill into each jar,
- Pack tomato pieces into pint jars.
- Cover with vinegar solution, leaving 1/4” headspace.
- Remove air bubbles, wipe the rim clean, and place on seal and ring. Place jar in the warm canner. Proceed to fill all jars. Process according to the chart below.
Notes
Adapted from: Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving
Last Updated: 7/15/2021
What do you eat with pickled green tomatoes? How do you use them?
You just eat them as a condiment, just like pickles. Or if you can, chop them up and add them to sandwich spread. We mix tuna, finely chopped pickles, and some miracle whip, grated cheese, a little salt and pepper and serve it on toast. You can also chop them and add to an egg casserole or omelette.
Related Pages
Water Bath Canning
Water bath canning is where most newbies begin on their food preservation journey – with good reason! Water bath canning is fun and easy.
Pickle Recipes
Pickling…not just for cucumbers!
Pickled Eggs Recipes
This pickled egg recipe isn’t a canning recipe, but rather an easy refrigerator pickled egg using vinegar plus dill, beets, or spices!
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Page last updated: 5/12/2021
These look perfect to use up our buckets of green tomatoes! Our family loves pickles with dill and garlic. Thank you for sharing this.
Do these have a crunch or firmness to them at all? If not, do you think I could add some calcium chloride to help keep these more firm?
I would definitely add pickle crisp or some other brand. The crispness will depend on the tomatoes.
You did not specify pint jars or quart jars. If pints, what should be doubled for quart jars? (My preference is quarts. And I have a lot of green tomatoes!) Thanks
Kerry, this is for pint jars only. And unfortunately, you can’t just double the processing to do larger sizes. Canning just doesn’t work that way. You can go smaller, you’d just still process for the same time as the pints.
I didn’t have good results using cherry tomatoes and leaving them whole. But cutting small green tomatoes in half and adding a serrano pepper to each jar made a wonderful tomato pickle!
I made a few jars of this recipe, however I am not sure on how to use them. Do you have a favorite dish that uses the green pickled tomatoes. Please advise,
thanks
Most people just use this as a side condiment. Just like you would pickles. You could also chop them and add them to a potato or macaroni salad (if you like pickles in your salads.)
This recipe calls for 2 tsps of dill per pint jar .Do you crush it first or what ?
No I just put it in the jar.
I can not find actual dill seed but only it ground up or and dill weed .Can that be used in this recipe and how
much will it take ?
Yes you can replace the seed with the dill weed. Just use the same amount.
Hi This is my second year pickling green tomatoes. I grew up with them and decided to try.