The Best Deep Fried Pickles

The Best Deep Fried Pickles

Okay, confession time, on the Saturday morning before Superbowl Sunday, we had these for breakfast! ...and loved them! When we were at the Penguin diner in Charlotte, North Carolina this past summer we had some very, very tasty deep fried pickles and I finally got around to trying some of my own. The batter here is a very simple tempura style batter with ginger and chipotle powder added to it for a little extra kick. The pickles were soaked in buttermilk which releases some of the vinegar so that taste does not dominate. We served this with some of our homemade Chipotle Ranch Dip which was just perfect with these crispy snacks; an ideal party snack for Superbowl Sunday or at any time of the year.

8 to 10 large garlic dill pickles, sliced
1 cup buttermilk, approximately

Soak the pickle slices in the buttermilk for a couple of hours or overnight. Rinse the pickles in cold water and pat dry with a clean dish towel or paper towels. Preheat deep fryer to 375 degrees F. I use canola oil for frying but peanut oil or corn oil would be fine too.

Tempura Batter

1 extra large egg
1 cup ice cold water
1 cup sifted flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp chipotle powder

Sift together the flour and spices. It is important to sift your flour here or the batter will be too thick. Tempura batter should be quite thin in consistency. Add a little more water at the end if you feel you need to.

Whisk together the egg and cold water then quickly whisk in the dry ingredients. Small lumps are perfectly fine, even preferred. Dip each pickle slice in corn starch before dipping into the tempura batter to help the batter stick much better. Drop into the hot oil and fry to golden brown about 6 -8 minutes. Drain on wire rack before serving.