Fried Pickles 101

How to Make Deep Fried Pickles

I've been asked to post a recipe for Fried Pickles and I guess I haven't done this yet because there are just so many ways you can do it. I don't claim to have the "perfect" recipe or technique, it's just one of those things that can be done a million different ways and as long as there is a pickle in there somewhere and it's FRIED, I mean, how bad can it be?* The article above by Kathy Browning is very thorough and I think anyone can find it useful. Now, that being said, I DO have preferences which I'm happy to share.

I didn't grow up eating fried pickles, like I've said before, they are found in the South but they aren't exactly COMMON. I know that Sonic Drive-In (I LOVE Sonic and usually fully endorse their menu items) served "Pickle-O's" when I was really small, but they stopped serving them at some point and then brought them back a few years ago and they were awful. I first had fried pickles in college at AJAX DINER in Oxford, MS. My friend Randy is the owner and he makes the BEST fried pickles in the world. He uses sliced hamburger dills and lightly batters them so when fried they come out nice and crispy but still very pickle-y and you get a whole heapin' plate full of them. There is a place in Manhattan that comes kind of close to Randy's recipe, the taste is almost exactly the same, but you get about a third of the amount of pickles on your plate for about twice the cost...oh, Manhattan...but I guess it's worth it...try Rodeo Bar on Third Avenue.

There are plenty of places that serve fried pickle spears. I've had these at state fairs, burger joints and even at home and they are great. You get more crunchy batter and pickle per bite. While I personally prefer the sliced style, I would never turn down a spear. In New York, you can get great fried pickle spears at Soho Park. I tracked these fried spears down in high falutin' South Beach Miami at a BBQ place, so wherever you are, check your BBQ joints first, they usually have pretty good selections of fried foods.


Kathy Browing also mentions frying a whole pickle, which I've never encountered or really even imagined...until NOW...so thank you Kathy, I'm on a mission. I picture taking a whole pickle, cutting it into thick slices, and re-assembling the pickle on a skewer and deep frying the whole thing. It's kind of cheating, I know--it would appear to be a whole pickle, but would be easier to eat, and I would maybe even slip a jalapeno slice in between each pickle slice just to spice it up a little, but I'll deep fry a whole one plain and simple just to be "scientific" in my research. You can thank me later.

The last thing I want to mention in relation to the article is that I always use flour for my batter and never the cornmeal. Cornmeal gives you a totally different texture, very grainy and gritty. Save your cornmeal for cornbread and hushpuppies.

*There are 2 exceptions-first are the Pickle-O's at Sonic and the second are the fried pickles at the Manhattan BBQ chain Brother Jimmy's-a bastardized version to avoid at all costs.