Homemade Pickled Okra
Enjoy a little taste of summer all year. Make your own Pickled Okra with tender young pods of okra preserved in a brine with garlic, dill, and peppercorns.
Here’s another little bit of southern deliciousness for you today – Pickled Okra! You know how I enjoy canning in the summer. I almost always make some Strawberry Jam and our favorite Kosher Dills along with a good Basic Salsa recipe. We’re already enjoying all of those this year.
I still need to make a few jars of my Sugar-Free Bread and Butter Pickles and might even have to make a few more jars of the kosher dills if I can get my hands on any pickling cukes this late in the season.
My Favorite Canning Recipe
But I can’t let the summer end without sharing my recipe for Pickled Okra. This is my personal favorite. I’ll breeze right by a dill pickle if there’s pickled okra around. I love it with a sandwich or just as an accompaniment to some good, old-fashioned southern vegetables. It’s also a great addition to an antipasto platter.
Select the Okra Carefully
When I get ready to make pickled okra, I hand select every pod for the recipe. Really. I literally stand there in the produce aisle or the farmer’s market and choose every single pod because I want them to be young, tender, and no longer than the depth of a pint jar. It usually takes between 1 1/2 to 2 pounds to make three pints.
Subscribe now to receive our FREE Favorite Recipes digital cookbook with 10 amazing recipes inside!
You’ll have to use your cook’s judgment based on the okra that is available to you. If you have leftovers, so much the better! Slice it, dredge it in some cornmeal and fry it up!
Prepare the Equipment
Start by preparing the jars, rings, and lids according to standard canning procedure. If you haven’t canned before, or if it’s been a while since your last canning session, please review the process and get all your equipment ready before you start.
Review Procedures
One of the best resources for new and seasoned canners alike is the Ball Blue Book. It’s published by the people who make the Ball canning jars. It’s available in lots of locations and on the web at amazon.com.
Some other good online resources are:
- National Center for Home Food Preservation (University of Georgia)
- Home Food Preservation Site (Pennsylvania State University)
- “Some Canning Do’s and Don’ts” from The New York Times
- A Beginner’s Guide to Canning from Serious Eats
The National Center for Home Food Preservation even offers a free online course in food preservation. It’s well worth the time for the amount of information you get!
How to Make Pickled Okra
Let’s Go Step-by-Step
I always like to show you the photos and step-by-step instructions for my recipes to help you picture how to make them in your own kitchen. If you just want to print out a copy, you can skip to the bottom of the post where you’ll find the recipe card.
My recipe makes three pints. Feel free to double it if you want more!
Prepare the Okra and Spices
Wash the okra in cold water. Trim the cut ends only if necessary.
Get your spices ready. You’re going to need canning salt, dill seed, whole peppercorns, and garlic cloves. Peel the garlic, but leave it whole.
Umm…can you just pretend that there is some salt in that photo? It was sitting off to the side…oops.
Fill the Jars
Into the sterile jars, pack as many pods of okra as possible with the tips pointing up.
To each jar add 1 teaspoon of canning salt, 1 whole garlic clove, 1 teaspoon of dill seed and 1/4 teaspoon of whole peppercorns.
Finish packing the jars as fully as possible with additional okra, tips down, fitting the pods in tightly but taking care not to crush the okra.
Bring the vinegar and water to a boil. Fill jars with the vinegar and water mixture to within 1/4 inch of the rim.
Close the Jars and Process in Water Bath
Place the lids and rings on the jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Allow Cooling Time
Remove the jars from the canner and allow them to cool completely. Notice the difference in color after they come out of the canner. The okra has taken on a beautiful olive green color.
Let the pickles sit for about a month to achieve the best flavor.
FAQs
Pickled okra is not slimy. Not even a little bit. Okra only gets slimy when it’s cut into and you don’t cut the okra to make pickles. Besides that, vinegar neutralizes the slime anyway so the pickles would never have a chance of becoming slimy.
You can use any vinegar that has at least 5% acidity for pickling.
Your okra is tough because it was too mature when you purchased or harvested it. When choosing okra for pickling or for cooking, bigger is not better. You want young, tender pods of about 3 inches in length.
Pickled okra is shelf stable as long as it’s correctly processed and the lids formed a good seal to the jars. If one or more jars did not seal in the canning process, those can be stored in the refrigerator and used first. Do store the unused pickles in the refrigerator after you open a jar.
Serve pickled okra anywhere you’d usually serve dill pickles. It’s delicious with sandwiches, alongside summer vegetables, or on a southern themed meat and cheese tray.
Have you tried this recipe? I’d love for you to give it a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card and/or in the comments section further down. You can always stay in touch on social media by following me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest and Sign Up to Get my Newsletter, too!
Recipe
Pickled Okra
Ingredients
- 2 pounds okra choose small tender pods (may need more or less than two pounds)
- 3 cloves garlic peeled
- 3 teaspoons canning salt
- 3 teaspoons dill seed
- ¾ teaspoon whole peppercorns
- 1 ½ cups white vinegar
- 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- Prepare jars, rings and lids according to standard canning procedure.
- Into the sterile jars, pack as many pods of okra as possible with the tips pointing up.
- To each jar add 1 whole garlic clove, 1 teaspoon of canning salt, 1 teaspoon of dill seed and 1/4 teaspoon of whole peppercorns.
- Finish packing the jars as much as possible with additional okra, tips down, fitting the pods in tightly but take care not to crush the okra.
- Bring the vinegar and water to a boil. Fill jars to within 1/4 inch of the rim.
- Place lids and rings on jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
- Remove jars from the canner and allow them to cool completely.
- Let the pickles sit for about a month to achieve the best flavor.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
You said “Pickled okra is not slimy. Not even a little bit. Okra only gets slimy when it’s cut into and you don’t cut the okra to make pickles. Besides that, vinegar neutralizes the slime anyway so the pickles would never have a chance of becoming slimy.”
But my pickled Okra does get slimy. I use a 50/50 mix of vinegar to water as you do. Could I be packing the pods too tightly causing them to get slimy? If I have a few too long and trim the blossom end, would that cause the batch to be slimy? I pickled okra years ago and it turned out fine, this year, not so much
Interesting that I’ve never had that happen and I’ve been using this recipe for pickled okra for about 40 years. I’ve also purchased pickled okra many times and never found any that was the least bit slimy.
I did some research and here’s what the National Center for Home Food Preservation says — “slippery/slime in pickled foods can be caused by: leaving on the blossom ends, not enough vinegar, using weaker than normal vinegar (less than 5%), not enough brine, improper processing, or molds on any of the ingredients.”
With okra pickles, you want to be careful not to cut into the okra pod below the “neck” area although even then the vinegar should neutralize any mucilage released.
can you add alum for a crispy spear when you can it ? I have used it in canning pickled green beans and they do turn out crispy.
Hi Jacie – I don’t use alum in my pickle recipes and haven’t tested this one with it. You can certainly try it if you like. Found this info from USDA, in case you’re interested: “Alum may still safely be used to firm fermented cucumbers, but it does not improve the firmness of quick-process pickles. If you use good-quality ingredients and follow current canning methods, alum is not needed. If you do use alum, do not use more than 1/4 teaspoon per quart of pickling liquid.”
Great recipe made several pints added some Carolina Reapers to a few
You’re braver than me! Way too hot for me, but I hope you enjoy them!
I just canned 7 pints of pickled okra and several jars have pods that split open, exposing seeds the length of the pods. Total loss??
No, not at all. As long as the jars sealed and they were processed correctly, the pickles should still be safe, they just won’t be as pretty. However, I can’t imagine how that happened. I’ve never seen it, ever.
So simple and delicious. I added a couple slices of pickles jalapeños to each jar and they are perfect!
Great stuff right there. I put a few red pepper flakes in mine.. gives a little zest to it
Thanks, Glenn. I sometimes add a dried red pepper to the jar.
We grow okra every other year and this recipe has been very successful this, our growing year. Like the small batches.
Can i put in a jalapeno pepper?
Sure. Most recipes for hot canned okra specify a dried red pepper, but I see no reason why a jalapeno wouldn’t work. It would still be safe for canning.
Could you use dill weed all the stores around me can’t get dill seedB
You can try to substitute, sure. I think it would be equal amounts, but do your own research on that. Just FYI – dill seed is available from Amazon.
Hi,is it normal for some of the liquid to disappear in the jars after they have set for several days,? thanks
Not after sitting for days, no. Sometimes you’ll lose liquid into the canner if the lids or rings aren’t applied correctly. But you shouldn’t lose liquid after the jars sit for several days.
Hey, My liquid is also low after canning. Should I have split the Okra before putting the brine in so that it could enter the pods?
Hi Donna – no, don’t split or pierce the okra pods. That would cause even lower liquid because it would be absorbed into the okra. Unless I was there with you watching your process, there’s really no way for me to know what happened, but you should not experience a significant liquid loss during the canning process. Here’s an article that goes into all the things that can cause liquid loss during canning — https://www.pickyourown.org/canning-problems-loss-of-liquid.php And one more for reference: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/cannedfoodproblems.html
Thank you for your reply and links. It looks like I packed the okra to tightly. I have done another batch and they are fine. !!
I am a GA native, and this recipe looks great, but I have one question, based on my lifelong search for the perfect homemade pickled okra: is the pickled okra crispy when it finally emerges from the jar? Thank you!
It’s fairly crisp. Like any homemade pickle, it gets cooked a bit during the canning process (there’s no help for that) so it won’t be like raw-crisp. I think it’s delicious anyway.