[Recipe] Fried Pickles

I like fried. I like pickles. I LOVE fried pickles.

Fried pickles and ranch dressing are a match that no one can keep apart. Sure, they’re both married to other things. Ranch to salad. Pickles, well pickles are pretty promiscuous actually, spreading their love with most anything, but you get my point. Fried pickles and ranch are a love affair no one can deny. They just set off fireworks in your mouth.

This past Christmas, my husband and I decided we’d take advantage of a good deal on the new T-Fal Actifry. I love a new kitchen appliance, and I love that the Actifry effectively “fries” anything you put in it with much less oil than is required by conventional fryers. The Actifry produces crispy fried anything with just 1-2 teaspoons of oil – any kind of oil, allowing you to fry your favourite foods in healty oils like olive and grapeseed. Wonderful!

One of the first things I had to try in my Actifry were french fries, of course. I’m a fry fanatic. The Actifry didn’t disappoint. Since then I’ve gotten a bit braver, making all kinds of fried goodies, including these breaded pickle chips.

[Recipe] Fried Pickles

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp paprika
1 egg
1 cup dry bread crumbs (or some other breading, like shake n bake)
1 cup pickle chips, drained and patted dry
1 Tbsp olive oil

First, prep the pickles (about a cup or so, I’d guess) by spreading them out on a paper towel. Pat them dry.

Mix the paprika into the cornstarch in a medium bowl. Beat the egg in another medium bowl. Dump the bread crumbs into a third medium bowl.

Set up your breading station: cornstarch mixture, egg, breading.

First, put the pickles into the cornstarch mixture, shaking off any excess.

Dip the pickles into the egg, then into the breading. We used some leftover all dressed chips to bread some of our pickles. You know, to use them up. No waste!

A little tip – when breading anything, it’s good to keep a wet hand and a dry hand. Use your “wet hand” to put the pickles in the cornstarch and the egg, but use your “dry hand” to coat the pickles in the breading and move them to a waiting plate.

Once all of the pickles have been breaded, start the actifry.

Put the pickles into the belly of the actifry and pour in the olive oil.

Start the actifry. The pickles took approximately 12 minutes to cook to our desired doneness. This is of course, a personal preference. Cook them for as long as you’d like.

Alternately, if you don’t own an actifry, you can fry these pickles in about 1/4 cup of oil in a shallow frying pan.

Dip in the homemade ranch dressing we made last weekend.

Faint.