Fried Pickles

Fried Pickles – (recipe and video tutorial follow) – About a year ago, I tried my first fried pickle. My husband had went out to this restaurant for a work meeting that day and brought home his left overs. He was super excited and said “you’ve got to try these, they are so good!” So I was like OK, I like trying new things and I took a big ole’ bite of my first fried pickle. And, it was delicious. A couple of bites in though, it was a little too spicy for me (yes, I’m a baby when it comes to spicy stuff). So, I decided to make my own recipe that would be more to my taste. Of course I didn’t want to totally get rid of the spiciness (my husband and kids love spicy), but I just wanted to be able to get through a whole pickle without my mouth feeling like it was on total fire. Also, we decided that we wanted to make our pickles two different ways, regular (like the restaurant served), and extra crunchy. Here is the recipe that I came up with – it works for both the regular (a little crisp) fried pickles and the crunchy fried pickles. If you want regular crispiness, stop where it says to in step five. Also, if you would like to have your pickles a little more spicy, you can adjust the cayenne in the Cajun Seasoning. I would try them this way first though so that you have a gauge of how spicy they already are. Also, I love these served with Thousand Island Dressing or Ketchup. You can also dip them in Ranch, but I think it’s a little overpowering for this recipe – do what you like best though, you’re the one eating it :)

Ingredients

1 cup A.P. Flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
3 Tablespoons Cajun Seasoning  (*recipe follows)
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups panko bread crumbs (if making extra crunchy)
20 pickle spears (refrigerated are best)

Instructions for Fried Pickles

1. Drain your pickles. It is easiest to do this by lining a sheet pan with paper towels and placing the pickles on the paper towels.
2. In a dish large enough to dip your pickles easily (I use an 8 x 8 baking dish) mix your flour, cornstarch and Cajun Seasonings. Stir them up well to combine evenly.
3. In a separate bowl, also big enough to dip your pickles easily, whisk your eggs and milk together (you can use a fork if you want to, no big deal).
4. On a plate, lay out the 2 cups of panko (again, if making the extra crunchy).
5. Working one pickle at a time, start by rolling your pickle in the flour mixture. From there, dip the pickle
into the egg mixture, then back into the flour mixture. Stop here and fry them if you want them to be “regular crispy”, otherwise ……… then, one more time into the egg mixture and finally, roll the pickle in the panko. To get the panko to stick better, gently press down on it as you bread your pickle.
6. Carefully place the pickles into your hot frying oil. The oil should be between 350°F and 375°F. The best way to tell if your oil is at the right temperature is to look for the bubbles. When you add a pickle, you should get lots of bubbles all around it. If your oil ever starts smoking, turn off the heat and wait for it to cool before you continue or you will have burned fried pickles and possibly a fire.
7. Fry until golden brown. This will only take a couple of minutes.
8. Enjoy with your favorite dip – we like to use thousand island dressing!

*Cajun Seasoning Blend
Ingredients

(feel free to adjust these to your taste, especially the cayenne)

3 Tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (double this if you like spicy)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 Tablespoon oregano
2 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons celery salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon thyme

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Stir them until they are well combined.

Store this spice mixture in an airtight container so it’s ready to use anytime. This Seasoning blend is not only great in this recipe, but is also yummy sprinkled on fish, chicken or beef :). I especially like grilled Cajun Chicken!