Dilly Beans

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Author:

Sharon Flynn

Servings

1 litre jar

A classic lacto-fermented pickle, using beans instead of cucumbers - flavouring with the same spices as we do: fresh dill and garlic. These develop into a bright, clean acidic crunch quite quickly with only a 5-7 days of fermentation. Pop into the fridge as they can get chewy rather than crunchy. I like to snack on these but also chop them up into potato salad, salsa's or just in a green salad as well.

Fermentation time: 5-7 days at room temperature

Storage: Months in the refrigerator

Ingredients

500g fresh green beans
1 litre filtered or non-chlorinated water
30g sea salt
4-6 fresh dill sprigs (or 2 dill heads)
4-5 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1-2 dried chillies (optional)
1 teaspoon of brown and yellow mustard seeds
½ teaspoon coriander seeds (optional)

Equipment

1 litre glass jar with lid
Fermentation weight or small glass jar for weighing down

Directions

Wash beans thoroughly and trim stem ends only, leaving pointed tips intact.
Dissolve salt completely in water to make your brine. Set aside.
Place dill sprigs in the bottom and along sides of your clean jar.
Pack beans upright in the jar, standing them vertically for best fit.
Tuck garlic cloves, peppercorns, chilli, and coriander seeds (if using) among the beans.
Pour brine over beans, ensuring they are completely covered. Leave 2cm headspace at top.
Weight beans down to keep them submerged beneath the brine.
Cover jar loosely with lid (do not seal tightly) and leave at room temperature away from direct sunlight.
Check daily. You should see bubbles forming within 24-48 hours. Taste after 5 days.
When beans reach desired sourness and maintain a good crunch (typically 5-7 days), seal jar tightly and transfer to refrigerator.

Recipe Note

Beans will soften slightly but should retain crunch. If brine becomes cloudy, this is normal. Discard if you see mould or off odours develop

Here's a video of me and Jo Barrett making a brined ferment using another kind of bean.

https://youtu.be/iL7MrBmoDXA

Written by Sharon Flynn

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Comments

Hi Sharon, thank you for sharing your recipes. I’ve just started both the dilly beans and cherry tomato ferments on the weekend. Is there a reason why you don’t need to have a tight lid, nor burp daily with the beans though the tomatoes need a tighened lid and a daily burp? Thank you :)

Trudy Parker on Mar 13, 2026

Hello Rosie – I usually add the vegetables and weigh and tare – then pour the water in to measure that – and work out my salt percentage then. Quite often – in a one litre jar for example, you end up with just under 500mls of water. And I know that 2% of that is a scant tablespoon of salt (around 15g), however – I’m pretty casual with weights and measures hah.

Sharon Flynn on Mar 09, 2026

Hi there
Just wondering with your recipes to calculate the salt weight are you using the combined water plus vegetable weight or just the water?!
Thanks so much! Rosie

Rosie Hamilton on Mar 09, 2026

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Dilly Beans

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Ingredients

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Directions

Recipe Note

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