20 Creative And Unique Ways to Use Pickles

Some people assume that pickles are only supposed to be used as a condiment along with a meal. However, the truth is that any time is a good time to have pickles.

Here are 20 creative and unique ways to use pickles.

1. Eat as a Post Workout Snack

Your body craves electrolytes and salt after a long, strenuous workout. Ditch the boring post-workout Gatorade, for a shot of some healthy and natural pickle juice.

Pickle juice is full of active electrolytes that help you stay energized and hydrated after a tiring work out.

Some athletes swear that pickle juice can also relieve muscle cramps and soreness. You can even chomp on an asparagus or radish pickle to get your breath under control and help your body recover better.

Enzymes in radish pickles are known to detox your body naturally while asparagus helps feed the probiotics in your gut which in turn boosts immune health.

2. Make Dill Bread

Dill pickle bread or Jewish deli bread is an Israeli delicacy. There is nothing like fresh bread, and dill pickle can really add some flavor to your rolls.

This is yeast raised bread dough and instead of using warm milk or water as the liquid ingredient, you use pickle juice.

Add finely chopped dill pickle pieces and dill weed while kneading the dough. It is an easy loaf to make if you have a dough mixer and Dutch oven. In addition, you can also use a bread maker.

3. Marinate Cheese

If you like cheese for their probiotic goodness, then you cannot pass on cheese marinated with pickles. Pick any soft white cheese like mozzarella, and turn it into a tangy joy by marinating it with chopped pickles in its juice.

Serve alongside roasted red peppers and crusty bread with some homemade herb butter for the perfect appetizer.

Spice things up by using homemade pickles like garlic, ginger or pepper for a sharp and pungent flavor. Marinated cheese can be had with hot rolls, and salads. You can also just grate some on pizza and pop it in the oven.

4. Relieve Heartburn

Heartburn can be an uncomfortable and often painful condition. The worst part is that if you are prone to heartburns, then these can hit any time, particularly middle of the night. If you are tired of this condition, then add pickles to every meal that you have.

In fact, start chomping on pickles as a snack. You could also consider sipping pickle juice straight out of the jar. Heartburn occurs due to acid reflux. Pickles help calm this acidity and balance the pH levels in the stomach.

5. Use as Mulch

If you have pickles that were left to ferment for too long, then don’t just throw them away in the garbage.

You can use them to make mulch that is naturally weed-resistant. However, make sure you use it on plants like rose, rhododendron, and daffodils among others, which naturally prefer highly acidic soil.

You could also use pickle juice as a natural herbicide. Simply spray the top soil with some pure brine solution and watch the weeds perish. The best part – pickle juice is natural, chemical-free, and pet friendly.

6. Make a Hangover Cure

Hangover is nothing but your body’s reaction to dehydration and poor nutrition. Your body is struggling to balance the pH levels making you feel like something dragged out of hell.

The magic cure to hangover is to drink something that will balance out the electrolytes in your body and calm your stomach at the same time.

Pickle juice is sour, tangy and full of electrolytes and salt. This can easily balance your body’s pH level. You won’t even feel like throwing up because of the sour flavor. Pickles are also full of beneficial probiotics which help in healing your gut after a night’s binge drinking.

Have a shot of pickle juice right before sleeping (if you don’t pass out first) and the first thing in the morning. After an hour chomp down on some gherkins. Your headache, exhaustion and any other ailment should magically disappear within an hour.

7. Try a Dill Pickle Soup

If you like dill pickles, then there is no better way to have them than in a soup.  This polish recipe makes use of chicken broth for base and garlic dill pickles for that added flavor. Top with sour cream and serve with fresh dill bread.

8. Pickle Butter

Don’t spend those extra dollars for different butters. Buy regular butter from the store (or better, make some at home) and whip it in a standard mixer with any pickle of your choice. This compound butter will lend an extra sharp and sour flavor to your soups, salads, and rolls.

It can stay fresh for as long as the butter you bought, if kept in the refrigerator. You can add carrot ribbons pickle, chopped radishes, cucumbers, and jalapeno for different flavors in this compound butter.

9. Meat Tenderizer

If you are among the many, looking for fresh, creative ways to tenderize your meat, then leftover pickle juice might just be the solution. You can tenderize everything from steak, chicken, ribs to pork chops.

Pickle juice is highly acidic and works great to tenderize meat from the inside out. Simply add the pickle juice instead of vinegar or lime juice in the marinade (keeping the proportions same). For briskets and meat lumps, you may consider using a whole cupful, depending upon the meat you use.

Pickle brine is a great alternative to store bought meat tenderizers and works fantastically well for tougher cuts of meat.

For best results, leave the meat in pickle juice marinade overnight. Pickle brine lends the meat a delicious tangy flavor and leaves it soft and tender, rather than dry and rubbery.

10. Pickle Cleaner

If you like shiny pots and pans, then do not throw away leftover pickle juice. Once you are done using the pickles to add flavor to your palate, transfer the liquid to a glass bottle and use it to scrub away those stubborn stains on your pots and pans.

Pickle juice is a great cleaning agent and can be used on cooktops and counters as well. Keep those chemicals far away from your cooking with all-natural pickle cleaners.

11. Pickled Bloody Mary

Bloody Marys’ are pure libation in their truest form, but when you add pickled olives, or any other pickled vegetable of choice to this drink, it becomes something else.

Add a pickle of choice and some juice to your next Bloody Mary and experience the transformation and with this golden economy there’s a good chance you can afford it.

12. Deviled Egg

Nothing is more scrumptious than having deviled eggs topped off with chopped pickles. You can mix it up by adding some minced pieces to the deviled egg filling as well.

Serve with some crusty dill pickle bread and compound pickle butter for extra flavor.

13. Use it as Vinegar Replacement

Pickle juice is naturally acidic and can easily be used as vinegar replacement in a variety of dishes. You can add it to coleslaws, salad dressings, soups, marinades, and anything else that catches your fancy.

14. Fly Repellant

You can use pickles as natural insect repellants, particularly flies. Use the leftover pickle juice to ferment some lemons for 3 – 4 days. Leave out the lemon on shallow dishes around the house with some pickle juice in them.

Flies hate lemon, and even if they come close, they end up falling into the pickle juice trap. Alternatively, you could simply add a few drops of some fruit-scented soap or essential oil to a dish of pickle juice and leave it where you don’t want flies to come.

15. Make Relish

Pickle relish can be used year-round to add an extra zing to hot dogs, sandwiches, deviled eggs, cold salads, and tartar sauce to pair with fried seafood.

You can make a punchier version at home with leftover pickles withering away in the fridge. Mix chopped pickles in some brine with hot or sweet mustard and a few pinches of dill to it. You can always add onion, garlic, shallots, or hot peppers for that extra punch.

16. Make a PMS Remedy

Pickles are naturally high in sodium content, which is known to prevent and reduce muscle cramps. You can either drink pickle juice to prevent PMS-related cramping or chomp down on some garlic pickles to alleviate your mood.

17. Pickle Popsicles

If you are craving pickles once they are over, then don’t fret. Simply freeze the leftover juice for some sour pickle popsicles that can keep your tangy tastebuds happy till you ferment a new batch or head to the store.

18. Tiny Pickle Sandwiches

Got the munchies? Make tiny pickle sandwiches by layering a pumpernickel bread slice with your favorite pickle (minced), Gouda cheese, and thinly sliced smoked ham.

Melt some butter in a skillet and carefully cook, turning once until the cheese melts. Cut into quarters and serve with potato chips.

19. Make Pickle Peanut Butter Spread

Peanut butter goes down well with just about anything and the same holds true for pickles. Dice your favorite pickles (try gherkins) and blend them with peanut butter in a high-speed blender.

Add in some honey and apple slices if you want things sweet or sour cream if you want things just sour. Spread on crusty bread and enjoy.

20. Pickle Cocktail

This drink is guaranteed not to leave you with a hangover. Shake 2 parts vodka and 1 part dill pickle juice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with dill pickle or pickled olives.