How to Make Deep Fried Pickles

Although most people are trying their hardest to avoid deep fried foods; few can resist the deep fried pickle. If you've never tried one, you owe it to yourself to indulge in this unusual culinary delight. Nearly everyone who tries them agrees they are unexpectedly delicious and incredibly addicting!

While it's hard to determine who made the first deep fried pickle, research indicates it originated in New Orleans. Today, deep fried pickles are served in restaurants and bars across the country, with each having a unique recipe and flavor.

Deep fried pickles can be made from just about any type of pickle including pickle slices, pickle spears, and whole pickles. It doesn't matter what flavor of pickles because they all taste great when they are deep fried. The most common choices include regular dill and garlic dill, but bread and butter pickles and baby gherkin pickles make excellent choices as well.

The first thing you will need to do is choose your pickle type and flavor. Crinkle-cut pickle slices tend to hold the batter better than other pickle types. In general, pickle slices are easier to eat than other forms of pickles. Whole pickles take longer to cook and have the potential to squirt hot grease into the mouth of the pickle-eater, so if choosing whole pickles, consider yourself warned.

Pickle spears also make a good choice, and are almost as easy to eat as pickle slices. Just be careful when biting into them, as they retain their heat for quite some time and could potentially burn your mouth if you're not careful.

Regardless of your choice of pickle, it's best to use refrigerated pickles when making deep fried pickles. The batter tends to stick to the pickles better when they are cold. Deep fried pickle batter can be made from cornmeal or flour and includes a variety of spices, depending on your tastes. You can use any type of frying oil including vegetable, canola, corn, olive, safflower, or peanut.

Now that you have selected your pickles and oil, it's time to being constructing the deep fried pickle.

Step One: Thoroughly drain the juice off the pickles and dab excess juice off the pickle using a paper towel.

Step Two: Coat each pickle with egg wash using the recipe below.

Step Three: Coat each pickle with batter mixture using one of the recipes below.

Step Four: Repeat steps two and three to double-coat your pickles. The breading will adhere better if you give it a double dunk.

Step Five: Place each battered pickle on a cookie sheet that is lined with wax or parchment paper and freeze for at least 30 minutes. If you neglect to freeze your pickles, the pickle batter will not adhere and you'll end up with a naked pickle and a bunch of batter floating in the oil.

Step Six: Heat cooking oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Seven: Carefully drop each frozen pickle into the preheated oil. Stir occasionally and let cook until pickles float on the surface of the oil and turn golden brown. Generally, pickle slices take 2 to 3 minutes; spears take 3 to 4 minutes; and whole pickles take 6 to 7 minutes.

Step Eight: Remove pickles from oil and allow them to drain on paper towels.

Step Nine: Transfer to serving plate and serve with your favorite dip!

Egg Wash Recipe:

1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk or buttermilk - you can use whole milk, 2% milk, soy milk or rice milk

Whisk egg and milk together using a fork for about 30 seconds.

Cornmeal Deep Fried Pickle Coating Recipe

2 cups plain Cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 teaspoon dried Parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper

Mix ingredients together and set aside.

Flour Deep Fried Pickle Coating Recipe

3 cups Flour - this can be any type of flour including white, whole wheat or rice flour.
1 teaspoon Garlic salt or powder
1 teaspoon Adobo seasoning or Mrs. Dash seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper

Mix ingredients together and set aside.

Deep fried pickles are usually served with Ranch dressing; however, you can use any type of dipping sauce or dressing that you prefer. Chunky blue cheese dressing makes a great accompaniment with deep fried pickles, as does Thousand Island dressing.

If you prefer deep fried pickles that have a bold and spicy flavor, add a few drops of hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce to the egg wash recipe. You can easily adapt the above recipes to suit your tastes. Replace the suggested spices with those of your choice and experiment to create your personal deep fried pickle recipe.