Cornmeal panko herb crusted dill pickles baked in the oven until golden and crisp with a light buttermilk ranch dip. Have you ever had fried pickles?
Oven “Fried” Pickles with light Herb Buttermilk Ranch Dip
Fried pickles to a New Yorker is quite uncommon, alien actually! But in the South they are wildly popular. The first time I tried fried pickles was at a restaurant in DC, I found myself trying to decide if I liked them, yet oddly reaching for seconds and thirds.
Since then I have had many requests for a make-over and finally tackled the request.
Baking them worked out great, the crumbs stuck perfectly and with a generous amount of oil sprayed on top, they baked to a golden crisp. You can easily make 1/2 batch (1-16 oz jar) for less people. If you are watching your sodium, you may not want to make them unless you can find low sodium dill pickles.
As a base I started with a version Mary from Mary’s Bites shared with me, which I slightly adapted it to suit my taste. Hope you Southerners and even all you Yankees enjoy!!
Oven "Fried" Pickles with Skinny Herb Buttermilk Ranch Dip
Ingredients
- 2 -16 oz jars, 48 slices sliced oval dill hamburger pickles, I used Vlasic
- 1/2 cup of Panko crumbs
- 1/4 cup of cornmeal
- 1/4 cup of flour
- 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
- 1/4 cup dried parsley
- 1/8 th tsp kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- olive oil spray, about 1 tsp
For the Ranch Dip:
- 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
- 1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp light mayo
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh chives 1/4 tsp salt
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 cup 1% low fat buttermilk
Instructions
- Make ranch dip by combining all the dip ingredients and refrigerate until pickles are done.
- Place pickles to drain on paper towels.
- Mix crumbs and flour together along with paprika, parsley, and half the chipotle powder and salt.
- Whisk eggs and egg whites in a bowl and season with remaining chipotle powder.
- Dip pickles in egg mixture and then into the crumb mix, pressing down on the crumbs.
- Heat oven to 450°F along with 2 baking sheets.
- When the oven reaches 450°, remove baking sheets and spray with olive oil spray; place pickles on the baking sheets and spray the tops of the pickles with more oil.
- Bake 8-10 minutes, turn and spray if needed and cook an additional five minutes.
- Remove pickles from cooking sheet and serve hot with dip.