Dill Pickle Pasta Salad is literally my favorite pasta salad ever! In this creamy pasta salad recipe, dill pickles play a starring role and add tons of flavor and crunch! This recipe is even better when it’s made ahead of time making it the perfect potluck dish!
I have a thing for dill pickles. I always have. My sister and I have exchanged pickle themed gifts for about 20 years now… I’ve received everything from pickle erasers and a case of pickle pops (like freezies.. but pickle juice) and given her everything from a yodeling pickle to pickle soap and jewellery. One thing we haven’t exchanged yet is a dill pickle recipe, so of course I have to dedicate this delicious pasta salad recipe to my sister Candace.
I like pasta salads, I make a ton of them. They’re easy to make and usually better if made ahead of time. They’re the hit of every potluck meal and perfect to pack the next day for lunch. As much as I like pasta salads, this Dill Pickle Pasta salad is honestly one of the best pasta salads I’ve ever had! Pickles (or even dill pickle relish) usually play a supporting role in recipes, especially pasta salad recipes and potato salads.
But not this time… nope, this time the prized dill pickle plays the starring role, front and center.
* cheer * yay * cheer *
There is pickle flavor infused throughout this recipe (in 3 different places) yet it’s just the right amount of pickley (if pickley is even a word!?). Yup, time to get pickled people (in the dill pickle sense of course).
When buying pickles for this recipe, I love baby dills if you can find them because I love the crunch they give and I love how they look in little rounds. I’m a bit freakish about my pickles so I actually pick up all of the pickle jars at the store and try to choose jar with the the smallest pickles. I look like a person trying to choose the perfect produce, only in the pickle aisle. If you only have bigger dill pickles (or homemade pickles), they’ll still be great in this recipe too, just chop them but not too small, you want them to keep that crunch.
If you have (or love) sweet pickles you can also throw a handful of those in here too. I mean, sweet and salty, crunch creamy… perfection right?!
Oh, and when you’re scooping out your pickle juice to add to the dressing in this recipe, try to grab all of those yummy little garlicky bits floating around and put them in the dressing too, they add extra flavor. And one last tip about the white onion… be sure to grab the onions with the white papery skin, the ones with the yellow skin are much stronger and will be a little bit overpowering in this dish.
This dill pickle pasta salad is pretty much guaranteed to be the hit of your next potluck and the best part is that it is awesome made the day before! If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers (which I doubt would happen) they’ll keep several days in the fridge and make the perfect lunch!
Items You’ll Need For This Recipe
* Dill Pickles * Shell Pasta * Cayenne Pepper *
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- ½ pound medium shells about 3 cups
- ¾ cup sliced pickles
- ⅔ cup diced cheddar cheese
- 3 tablespoons minced white onion
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- ½ cup dill pickle juice
Dressing
- ⅔ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons dill pickle juice
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil pasta al dente according to package directions. Run under cold water to stop cooking.
- Toss cold pasta with about ½ cup of pickle juice and set aside for about 5 minutes. Drain & discard pickle juice.
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
- Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
Video
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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Great recipe! I made it a meal by adding cubed ham and sliced cherry tomatoes. It was a huge hit. Thanks.
So glad you enjoyed it! Ham would be great in this!
I love dill pickles, usually I’ll have them in rice salad, now I’ll try them in a pasta salad. I looove the creaminess
Yummy! I love rice salad!
I’d love to have a recipe for rice salad
Loved the way it is explained.
I substituted canned diced carrots for the cheese and added celery. Very tasty on a hot day and better for my heart.
Hellmann’s makes Mayonnaise with olive oil.
i have a dill pickle attraction too! I love every single ingredient in this pasta salad! Sounds perfect for our next BBQ~
:) Enjoy Michele, this is the perfect BBQ side!
If someone loves pickles, this recipe is perfectly layered with pickle flavor!! Looks like a beautiful salad :) Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Nicole, there’s definitely no shortage of pickley goodness in this recipe!
Our family is all about pasta salad this time of year. I’d love to make this for a cookout or grilled chicken!
What about purple onion? We don’t like onion either but thought the purple might be ok. And has anyone tried miracle whip?
I personally find the white onions (with the white skin, not the yellow skin) to be milder than purple onions. You can certainly skip the onion if you don’t like it. I have made this with regular mayonnaise as well as a light mayo type dressing and both work perfectly.
Have you ever substituted olives for pickles? or added cucumbers with the pickles? Do you use Hellman’s mayo?
I haven’t subbed in olive but that sounds delish! I do usually use Hellmann’s mayo (or Hellmann’s light).
Sounds wonderful
Thank you Connie! :)
The main character of my Pickled and Preserved Mysteries would love these recipes! (Me, too!)
:) I LOVE the names of your books! They just might have to be the next pickley gift I give my sister! :)
That’s the way my Mom made her salad. But we use green onions only the green. As for the spices just salt and pepper. As we as we use elbow macaroni. Love it
All yummy variations for sure!!
I LOVE adding dill flavors to pasta salad…I do it every summer and it’s always a hit {sometimes, I even add bacon!}. This recipe looks just as delicious as mine, I’ll definitely have to give it a try for our next BBQ!!!
Yum… bacon is so good!! I hope you do try it out Sarah, it’s my favorite!
Try adding dill pickle juice to ground meat when making burgers, it adds so much flavor to them
would love the receipes
I make a potato salad with pickles and bacon! I also make a chicken salad with dill!
Yummy! I’ve made a similar potato salad and I love the idea of adding BACON!!!
I see you mentioned making sure to use white onions, with the white skin, but I didn’t see the onion in the actual recipe?
Lol… Nevermind, after looking for a THIRD time, I saw it. My apologies!
No worries!! Enjoy Eve! :)
Hi!
This sounds delicious…but I don’t like mayonnaise…what could I use instead? :)
I’ve only made this as written. You could try more sour cream or yogurt but it will change the flavor and it may miss some of the creaminess. I’d love to know how you like it if you do try it!
I did half mayo and half plain Greek yogurt, just to cut calories a bit (I loooove mayo though haha) it seems to have not compromised the taste, but I never tried it full mayo before either.
How about miracle whip?
That should work just fine!
Try using ranch mixed with the sour cream & add a little bit of cream cheese or plain yogurt to it.
I also do not like Mayo. But the recipe sounded so good I had to try it. The Mayo does not have a strong flavor in the mixture. The hint of Cayenne and the dill create enough zip to overtake the mayo. Try it. I think you’ll be surprised. This is now one of my favorite side salads! It has got such a creamy taste with a little “pop”. It’s great!
What would you think about removing the onion
I can’t stand them
You can certainly leave the onion out if you don’t like it. I might suggest a little bit of onion powder mixed into the dressing in it’s place.
I made this today it was really good. I too hate raw onion. I added granulated onion chopped radish Ed for the crunch subsitute. We like slot of robust flavor do I added a little garlic powder, lots of pepper, and Creole seasoning(we do quite a bit, depending on your tatse).also added a bit of rosemary, thyme and celery salt. My family loved it, even with the additions it had a wonderful dilly taste.
I don’t like raw onion either. I added onion powder to the dressing and to replace some crunch added red and orange sweet peppers……..so good!
I love your recipes! I have sooooooo many allergies and being able to prepare great food using made from scratch recipes makes me very happy.
I’m so glad Jane! Enjoy!
My hubby loves pickles so I’ll have to make this. (I like the zesty bread and butter pickles…would those be too much? (chopped up?)
I haven’t tried the zesty bread and butter pickles but if you love them, I say give it a try! If they’re sweet you could always try half and half with dill pickles!
I just made 26 pints jars oder zesty Bread and butter yesterday! They are our favorite
Sounds fantastic, I’m giving it a try for dure
Enjoy Bertha Lee!! :)
We started making this at the beach last year, and now we make it ALL THE TIME. It’s requested at family get togethers, work parties, and at home. This is the only pasta salad I make now.