Recipes For Cooking With Pickle Juice

You should know by now not to throw away pickle juice. Sure, you could take a shot of it (with or without whiskey), but since it's basically pickle-flavored vinegar, you could just as easily cook with it. Here are seven ways to use pickle juice in your favorite everyday recipes.

① Coleslaw
The key to a solid coleslaw lies in mastering the combination of vegetables, salt, dressing and add-ins. Sub pickle juice for vinegar in dressing any of our coleslaw recipes, like this classic dry mustard- and celery seed-spiced version.

② Dipping Sauce
All you need are four staple pantry ingredients to make a thousand island-like condiment. Vehicle of choice is up to you, though chicken tenders and french fries are clear front-runners in our minds. Or pair it with fried pickles in an act of nose-to-tail pickle jar cooking.

③ Pasta Salad
This is comfort food at its finest, thanks to the addition of both pickle juice and crunchy sliced baby dills. The key here is tossing the just-boiled water with half a cup of pickle juice to briefly marinate.

④ Carla Hall's Hot Chicken
Brine is just a fancy way of saying "pickle juice," so you can also use it to marinade grilled chicken or a roast bird. A Ziploc bag will be your friend here, as all you have to do is place the pickle juice brine and the chicken inside and let them get acquainted for a few hours.

⑤ Macaroni and Cheese
In the same vein as pasta salad, pickle juice helps take something good and make it excellent. If a pickle juice-tinted cheesy béchamel sauce isn't enough for you, this recipe also calls for potato chips, Sriracha and strips of bacon.

⑥ Deviled Eggs
They may look the same as your everyday deviled egg, but dill pulls a hat trick in pickle, juice and herb form here.

⑦ Mashed Potatoes
Think salt-and-vinegar chips but in a silky, spoonable iteration. And since the pickle juice gives this popular side so much flavor already, there's no need to add butter—unless you want to, that is.