Name: Spicy Dilly Beans
Ingredients: 2 lbs green beans, washed and trimmed at ends (Do not snap beans); 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce (according to your heat preference); 2 cloves garlic, whole and peeled; 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (optional); 1 head dill (or 1/2 tsp. dill weed); 5 cups distilled vinegar; 1/2 cup pickling salt; 5 cups water

Why it works: Green beans and beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 36 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Spicy Dilly Beans

Time20 minutes

Ingredients

2 lbs green beans, washed and trimmed at ends (Do not snap beans)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce (according to your heat preference)
2 cloves garlic, whole and peeled
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (optional)
1 head dill (or 1/2 tsp. dill weed)
5 cups distilled vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt
5 cups water

Directions

Prepare

Prepare jars for canning.
Bring vinegar, salt and water to a boil.
Place the garlic cloves, mustard seed, and dill at the bottom of each hot sterilized jar.

Pack and process

Pack jars with fresh green beans, packed lengthwise. Do not snap the beans.
Process for 20 minutes at 1000' altitude, or adjust time according to your altitude.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

53Calories

2 gProtein

1 gFat

9 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 11 ingredients. The other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Snap Bean	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Green beans + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together36 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Mustard + dilltop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together560 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + dilltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green beans: Form the main body of the pickle and stay crisp when packed whole and processed.
Distilled vinegar: Provides the acidity that preserves the beans and gives the pickled sour flavour.
Cayenne pepper or tabasco sauce: Adds heat that spreads through the brine into the beans.
Garlic: Adds aroma and savoury flavour that infuses into the brine and beans.
Dill: Contributes the characteristic herbal aroma of dill pickles.

The step that matters

Pack jars with fresh green beans, packed lengthwise, without snapping them. Snapping breaks the beans and releases their cell contents, leaving them soft and cloudy. Whole, firm beans packed tightly keep their crunch and look through the jar, and the acidic brine penetrates them evenly during processing.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (green beans, beans, pepper, clove, garlic, dill, vinegar):

Mustardthe original
Cucumberfits about as well
Broccolifits about as well
Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against green beans, beans, pepper, clove, garlic, dill, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Green Peas229 recipes

Green Pea Soup181 recipes

Green Corn Soup46 recipes

Green Peas Soup35 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Spicy Dilly Beans