Crispy Fried Pickles

8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Fried Pickles with sliced dill pickles breaded in seasoned flour and fried crispy. A tasty side dish to add to your BBQ plate. Easy to make!

The perfect easy Summer Recipe to accompany any BBQ menu, Fried Pickles are tangy and savory. Serve them alongside an Easy Tri Tip, Potato Salad and Ultimate Cornbread for a cookout your guests will never forget!

Sabrina’s Fried Pickles Recipe

Fried Pickles are crispy, slightly spicy and sour, and they taste amazing dipped in ranch or honey mustard. If you’ve ever enjoyed Fried Pickles at your favorite local BBQ joint and wanted to try making them at home, you’ll be amazed how easy it is. These things can be addicting, especially for any pickle lovers out there. It’s inexpensive and easy to make them fresh at home and anyone who hasn’t tried them will wonder how on earth they’ve never had them before because they are amazing!

Recipe Card

Fried Pickles

Fried Pickles with sliced dill pickles breaded in seasoned flour and fried crispy. A tasty side dish to add to your BBQ plate. Easy to make!
Yield 8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 jar whole dill pickles
  • 2 large eggs , beaten
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 pinch cayenne
  • vegetable or canola oil for frying , (depending on the size of pan you use)

Instructions

  • Slice the dill pickles ¼ inch thick with a crinkle cut knife and dry them very well between sheets of paper towels.
  • Add your flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne to a bowl and mix.
  • Add the eggs to the buttermilk in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
  • Add the pickles to the dry ingredients and coat.
  • Remove from the dry ingredients.
  • Add the pickle chips to the milk mixture one at a time and dredge back through the dry ingredients a second time.
  • Coat all the pickle chips before you begin frying, once you start frying you won’t have time to mess with the pickle chips and your fingers getting caked in egg/breading mixture.
  • Heat your oil to 350 degrees.
  • Fry the pickles in small batches to avoid crowding, for two minutes or until golden brown.
  • Remove and drain onto a brown paper bag. If you drain the oil onto paper towels the pickles will soften from the steam it creates.
  • Serve with ranch or honey mustard dipping sauce.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 93kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 782mg | Potassium: 126mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 263IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 1mg

Chef’s Note

As someone who is addicted to pickles, frying them and dipping them in a sauce isn’t a huge leap for me. This recipe is adapted from a local BBQ restaurant where I tried these for the first time, and the chef not only shared his recipe, but he actually showed me how to make perfectly fried pickles! So this tried and tested recipe is as authentic as they come.

How to Make

Time needed: 30 minutes

  1. Prep time

    Slice the dill pickles ¼ inch thick with a crinkle cut knife (or serrated knife) and dry them very well between sheets of paper towels. Add your flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne to a bowl and mix. Add the eggs to the buttermilk in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.

  2. Dredge pickles

    Add the pickles to the dry ingredients and coat. Remove from the dry ingredients. Add the pickle chips to the milk mixture one at a time and dredge back through the dry ingredients a second time.Fried Pickles Collage of preparation steps

  3. Fry pickles

    Heat your oil to 350 degrees. Fry the pickles in small batches to avoid crowding, for two minutes or until golden brown.Fried Pickles Collage of frying steps

  4. Finish

    Remove and drain onto a brown paper bag. If you drain the oil onto paper towels the pickles will soften from the steam it creates. Serve with ranch or honey mustard dipping sauce.

Can I make these ahead of time?

The pickles are best served right after you fry them but you could prep them ahead of time and freeze for later. Simply bread them as usual, then spread them out on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. Freeze for two hours, then transfer to a freezer safe container. Freezing them first keeps them from sticking and prevents freezer burn. They will keep for about 3-4 months. Fry the pickles from frozen, adding a few minutes as needed to the cooking time.

How to Store

  • Serve: Serve the pickles hot and fresh from the pan. Don’t leave them at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
  • Store: After completely cooling, store the pickles in an airtight container lined with paper towels in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
  • Freeze: I don’t recommend you freeze Fried Pickles after they are cooked, as the breading will get soggy. You could freeze them before cooking, see my make ahead section above.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of pickles should I use?

The best Fried Pickles are made with whole dill pickles! You might be tempted to use pre-sliced ones for convenience sake, but they are usually too thin and too soggy once you dry them out. So a quick slice with a crinkle cut knife is all it takes, and the pickle chips will look amazing.

What size pan should I use?

It depends on how large a batch you want to make. It’s best to use your trusty cast iron skillet, but use a pan as small as you need. No point wasting more oil if you don’t have to!

What dips go with crispy fried pickles?

Serve the breaded pickles with your favorite Ranch Dressing or Honey Mustard sauce. You can also dip them in BBQ sauce, spicy mayo, or even ketchup!

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More Fried Appetizers

Fried Pickles Pin collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

homemade Fried Pickle slices in pile
Fried Pickles piled high for a side dish
homemade Fried Pickle slices
Crispy breaded pickle slices
collage of homemade Fried Pickle slices
homemade crispy pickles pin
Fried Pickles in basket with ranch sauce
Fried Pickles in basket dipped in ranch sauce
Crispy pickles in basket with ranch

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Incredibly happy to find you have this recipe. We just perfected a Fried Mushroom recipe, and I was gonna compare ours against yours — but I didn’t find one. Anyway, are you gonna come up with your own Ranch dressing or other type of nice tasting dressings? We just bought this new store bought dressing “litehouse ranch dressing”, and it was incredible. ALso, we found that the Marie’s Ranch Dressing is incredible too for friend mushrooms. Can’t wait to try this recipe of yours, Sabrina. Once again, your site has everything needed for the Home Cook.

    1. I have created some dressing recipes and will get them on the site soon I hope. Thanks for your kind words and the 5 stars!

  2. Delicious!! Been looking for a good fried pickle recipe. Thank you! Any way you can give a good dipping sauce recipe for these other than the normal ranch or honey mustard please? I think half the key with these is the dipping sauce and you always have amazing ideas.
    Thanks in advance! You are by far my favorite chef!

  3. Question… where do you put the “prepared” pickles until you fry them? I get that “battering” them up before you start frying makes sense, but where do you put them so the batter doesn’t come off?

    1. I just lay them on a cookie sheet. They’re only there for a short time so it doesn’t really affect the batter staying on.

  4. I just wanted to say that I love your recipes and your posts! I spent about 30 minutes on your site yesterday reading and looking at recipes. I also subscribed 🙂 Looking forward getting updates!

  5. These look great! We love fried pickles as a summer treat and your recipe makes it sound easy! Thanks for sharing!

  6. Slicing whole pickles…of course! I’ve only tried making fried pickles once, and I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about, and I love all things pickle.

  7. I bet your clients like the fried pickles! I also really love pickles and like to make my own!! Now to think about frying them…yes!!!

  8. See, this is the kind of snack I could graze off of all day 😀 And they’d be all mine, too – the husband won’t do eat pickles (no idea what’s wrong with him!)

  9. Oh wow…I can’t let my kids see this, they will run away to your house. I have no idea why my kids are such pickle-a-holics!

  10. Oh, I loooove me some fried pickles (too much)! Your recipe sounds delicious, I think I’ll have to make a batch soon!

  11. Totally with you here Sabrina! Fried pickles are the absolute BOMB! Thanks for the GREAT recipe! Going to make these soon!