Chow-Chow

This pickled vegetable mixture is a great way to make the most of end-of-season green tomatoes and other late summer produce before that first frost hits.

Renu Dhar

and

Leah Colins

Updated September 09, 2024

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Bowl of Chow Chow with a spoon in it. The bowl is on a blue table cloth with other plates and sparkling water around it — Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

In This Recipe

Why It Works

Using a food processor to chop the abundant vegetables in the recipe saves time and energy.
Tossing the chopped vegetables with salt and refrigerating them overnight allows the vegetables to release their excess moisture, ensuring a less watery and more flavorful and crunchy pickled relish.
Using a blend of mustard powder, mustard seeds, spices, and a very small amount of turmeric gives the relish a punchy flavor and beautiful golden color without overpowering the vegetables.

Chow-chow, the sweet and tangy relish of pickled vegetables, is a staple condiment on many Southern tables. While it’s beloved throughout the South, the types of vegetables in it can vary depending on where you find it. Here we stick with one of the most common combinations: green tomatoes, green cabbage, bell peppers, and onions. The pickled vegetable mixture is a great way to make the most of end-of-season green tomatoes and other late summer produce before that first frost hits.

The chunky relish is tart, sweet, and sure to bring a welcome pucker to your mouth. And it keeps in the fridge for up to four months, so you can pull it out to brighten up almost any meal—hot dogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, stewed beans, and even salads.

Making the relish is fairly simple: The vegetables are simply chopped, salted, and pickled in the fridge with a medley of spices, but it’s important to prepare the vegetables properly for chow-chow that’s flavorful and retains a crisp texture. For the best chow-chow to take you from summer right through the coldest days of fall, we asked our test kitchen colleague Renu Dhar to methodically pickle batch after batch to come up with our foolproof method. Read on for Renu's tips and the full recipe.

Tips for Making Chow-Chow

Use a food processor. We strongly encourage you to pull out your food processor to chop the cabbage, bell pepper, and onion in this recipe instead of chopping the ingredients by hand. This will save you a lot of time and energy. If you don’t have a food processor, of course go ahead and just chop everything with a chef's knife—just be sure your knife is good and sharp for the safest, most efficient chopping. One exception to the food processor suggestion: Be sure to still cut the tomatoes by hand. Pulsing them in a food processor will give them a sauce-like consistency, which we do not want for this relish.

Salt the vegetables overnight before pickling. It’s crucial to toss the chopped vegetables with an abundant amount of salt and let them sit for an extended period of time before pickling them. During this hands-off resting time, the vegetables will release excess liquid, which will be later discarded before they are pickled. We’ve previously talked at length about the benefits of brining vegetables, and encourage you to read about it. Essentially, brining drives water out of the cut vegetables, concentrating flavor and firming up their texture slightly for a more delicious, perfectly crunchy relish.

For best results, start the brining process at room temperature and let the veggies sit for about 20 minutes to jump start the process, then refrigerate the bowl of salted chopped vegetables for at least eight hours or up to 12. You’ll be amazed by how much water seeps out of them in this time frame—almost three full cups water from about four pounds of vegetables! When you're ready to pickle, drain and discard all of the excess liquid before proceeding with the recipe.

Add robust seasonings. Earthy turmeric, fiery chile flakes, tangy mustard powder, brown mustard seeds, and celery seeds add a pop of flavor to the otherwise simple vegetable mixture. This blend of spices is flavorful enough to add interest to the relish without overwhelming the vegetables, making it perfect to pair with a range of foods.

Chow Chow ingredients mixing together in a large bot, being stirred and cooked with a wooden spoon — Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

Tips for Storing and Canning Chow-Chow

The recipe was tested and written using short term refrigeration storage, which will preserve the chow-chow for about four months. But the pickled chow-chow can also be preserved using the hot water bath canning method that we outline in our beginner’s guide to canning. With this method, the chow-chow can be stored for up to a year. Whether you opt for the hot water bath canning method or the easier refrigeration storage, we recommend always using sterilized glass jars.

How to Sterilize Jars for Your Relish

To properly sterilize jars, place clean jars on a rack in a large pot and cover by at least one inch of water. Bring to a boil and sterilize the jars by boiling for 10 minutes. You can then remove the jars with long metal tongs and fill right away, or reduce the heat to a low simmer and hold the jars warm until you’re ready to use them. Make sure to cool the filled jars to room temperature before sealing and refrigerating. This will prevent trapping excessive steam in the jars, which could lead to mold growth.

How to Serve Chow-Chow

One of the best things about chow-chow is its versatility, and how it adds bright, sweet and tangy flavor to everything you pair with it. Spread the Southern relish over a hot dog or a burger, mix it in a one-to-one ratio by volume with good mayonnaise for the perfect coleslaw dressing or sandwich spread, or spunk up a bowl of beans with a spoonful chow-chow and a side of cornbread.

This recipe was developed by Renu Dhar; the headnote was written by Leah Colins.

Recipe Details

Chow-Chow Recipe

Prep 30 mins

Cook 15 mins

Refrigeration Time 8 hrs

Total 8 hrs 45 mins

Serves 24

Makes 6 Cups

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Ingredients

4 cups coarsely chopped green cabbage (13 1/8 ounces; 380g), from 1 small cabbage
1 large yellow or Vidalia onion, (10 ounces; 280g) coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 medium bell peppers, any combination of red, yellow, or green (18 ounces; 510g), coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
1 1/2 pounds (680g) green tomatoes (about 3 medium-size green beefsteak tomatoes), finely chopped (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume or the same amount by weight
1 cup (240ml) white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar (2 ounces; 60g)
1 tablespoon (15ml) ground yellow mustard powder
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

Directions

In a food processor, pulse cabbage until finely chopped (pieces measure about ¼-inch), about 6 pulses. Transfer to a large nonreactive bowl (such as stainless steel or glass). In now-empty food processor, pulse the onion, red, green, and yellow bell peppers until finely chopped and add to bowl with cabbage. (Alternatively, use a sharp chef's knife to finely chop all ingredients by hand.) Stir tomatoes and salt into the bowl with cabbage until well combined. Let sit at room temperature until vegetables start to release moisture, about 20 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 12 hours.
Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze
Drain vegetable mixture using a fine-mesh strainer set over a large bowl, pressing lightly with back of a wooden spoon; discard liquid.
Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze
In a large saucepan, bring vinegar, sugar, ground mustard, mustard seeds, crushed red pepper, celery seeds, and turmeric to a boil, stirring to combine, over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, and simmer brine until mustard seeds slightly plump up and mixture looks cohesive, 5 to 7 minutes.
Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze
Stir drained vegetables into brine mix and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until vegetables are crisp tender, 1 to 5 minutes. Let vegetables cool completely before placing in 3 pint-sized clean, sterilized heat-safe glass jars, and refrigerate for 12 hours to further develop flavor before serving.
Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

Special Equipment

Food processor, fine-mesh strainer, large saucepan, 3 pint-sized glass heat-safe storage jars

Make-Ahead and Storage

Chow-chow can be refrigerated for up to 4 months.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
33	Calories
0g	Fat
7g	Carbs
1g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 24
Amount per serving
Calories	33
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 332mg	14%
Total Carbohydrate 7g	3%
Dietary Fiber 1g	4%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 41mg	203%
Calcium 22mg	2%
Iron 0mg	2%
Potassium 161mg	3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)