Not Fried Pickles With Creamy Ranch Dip

I've been sort of dragging my heels on posting these little babies mostly cuz I'm just not crazy about the photos.  I know, that's sort of lame, but I really want you to try these and sometimes an awesome photo can be very persuasive.  I'm just hoping you will be persuaded enough to break out that jar of sliced dill pickles in the back of your pantry and get these made.  If you love dill pickles, you may have just found your latest addiction.  Boy howdy, are these ever good!

I watched Trisha Yearwood make them on her show a while back and being big dill pickle eaters here, thought I'd give em a go.  Unbeknownst to me, I had stockpiled 3 jars of these pickles in my pantry. What's up with that?!  The Husband loves dill pickles on his burgers and sandwiches, so perhaps I was afraid to run out?  I honestly have no clue, but I was mighty pleased to see them in there and immediately set about to unfry myself some dills.

And by "unfrying" I mean we're going to bake them (Air Fryer instructions below).  So, my understanding is that fried pickles are one of the all-time great bar foods, and for good reason.  They're crazy good (or so I've heard). Fortunately, I came to this recipe with no pre-conceived notion of how a fried pickle tastes and therefore, no broken expectation that they're not as good as fried, although I'm betting they aren't. But still, by not frying them, we're saving ourselves some fat and calories and sacrificing very little in the process.  

And speaking of process, this is how you do it...

Firstly, we'll dip our little pickle slice in this super tasty egg mixture that includes Worcerstershire sauce, garlic, chili powder, hot sauce and stuff like that.

Then we're going to dip it in a panko breadcrumb-parmesan cheese mixture and then place them on a baking rack to ensure they come out super crispy, which they do.

Then we're going to bake them, thus the name "not fried".  Although I suppose you could fry them at this point if you were so inclinced.  I was not.  Cuz these baked pickles come out crispy and tasty and ever so scrumptious.

And then we're going to make our favorite ranch dressing dip (I'll give you mine) and we're going to dip and munch and enjoy the heck out of our little baked pickle slices.

We've got a lot of football parties coming up which would be a perfect excuse to make some of these, but the only excuse you really need is a beer (or a glass of wine) and an empty plate.  Time to not fry some pickles!  Here's the recipe...

Not Fried Pickles

Click here for a printable recipe

Cooking spray

1 (16-oz) jar dill pickle slices

2 large eggs

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp hot sauce (like Tabasco)

Salt and black pepper, to taste

1 cup panko bread crumbs

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Ranch dressing (here's my recipe)

PREP

1.  Spray a rack with cooking spray; place on baking sheet.  Put sheet with rack in center of oven; preheat oven to broil.

2.  Drain pickles (I place them on paper towels to absorb as much moisture as possible)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk eggs, flour, Worcestershire, garlic powder, chili powder, hot sauce, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

2. Combine bread crumbs and cheese in a large bowl.

3.  Remove heated rack/baking sheet from oven. One at a time, dip pickles in egg mixture to coat, allowing excess to drip off. Dip in bread crumb mixture, pressing to help crumbs adhere. Lay pickles in an even layer onto prepared rack. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Return to oven and broil 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve with ranch dressing, if desired.

Air Fryer Instructions:
Spray the rack in the air fryer with cooking spray. Also spray the dipped pickle slices and place in the air fryer basket. Air fry at 420 degrees for 7 minutes . Let cool briefly before dipping and eating. :)

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