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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Fabulous recipe! I’m so glad I found it. I added chopped celery for crunch, tuna for protein and substituted white for Vidalia onion.
Great additions, thank you for sharing!
what msyo did you use Hellman’s, Kraft or Miracle Whip?
I’ve made this with both Hellman’s or Miracle Whip. :)
This looks so delicious! I just made a pickle pasta salad yesterday with spicy dills… was so good! Do you think this would still taste okay without the cheese?
I love the cheese, but I think it would still be good without it. Enjoy Miranda!
My Wife’s favorite dish I got from you. But she would certainly miss the cheese…
I love the cheese too, but for those who cannot have, better to have it with no cheese than not at all :) Happy to hear your wife LOVES this pasta salad Daniel!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. To say that this is delicious is a gross understatement. This flat ROCKS!!! Exactly the flavors we were looking for in a nice, refreshing, summer salad.
I added more pickles – but then we like pickles. I sent the recipe to a chef friend of mine to try. I’m intrigued by the method you used of tossing then marinating the pasta in the pickle juice. Brilliant.
Thank you for the great feedback Dave! So glad to hear you love this recipe! It is great for summer especially!
As a child of the 60’s I was strangely attracted to this potentially disgusting recipe. I’m glad my inner child is still hanging around BECAUSE IT IS FABULOUS! It’s now my go-to take along for summer BBQ’s.
I love this recipe and I have to say is probly one of the best salads I’ve ever made, I skip the Cayenne pepper and used course shredded cheese in place but I would recommend that it needs to sit more than 1 hour if not 24 hours before serving
Delish. 5 thumbs
So glad you loved it Don!
I’m going to add white onion for hot, purple onion for sweet and green onion for color, along with some sliced black olives, chunks of ham and I think I’ll sprinkle in whole peppercorns to see how that all works together. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Hehe, it looks delish, can’t wait to taste it!
Sounds like you’ve got a great variety going in Shelli :) Enjoy!
Hello! I’m making this for Memorial Day and I need to double it. I was wondering if I should double all of the ingredients (except the cayenne pepper) or would doubling the pickle juice make it too salty. Doubling recipes is not always as easy as it sounds! Thanks in advance.
Other readers have simply doubled the recipe as is and it worked well for them. Enjoy, Kelly!
Great taste! I used a whole vidalia small onion and didn’t dice it really small because I love the onion flavor.
Glad you loved the pasta salad Susan!
I made this yesterday for the first time, and it was excellent! I had leftovers today, even better when the flavors had a chance to meld. 5-Stars!
So glad to hear you loved this salad Janet! It’s true that can be even better the next day!
I made this once last year and loved it. Making it again and can’t remember – Do I add the 1/2 cup of pickle juice to the dressing/chopped pickles/cheese/etc? So is it you soak the pasta in 1/2 cup AND add 1/2 cup to the dressing? Or just 1/2 cup to soak the pasta?
In step 2, you toss cold pasta with about ½ cup of pickle juice and set aside for about 5 minutes. Drain & discard pickle juice. In step 3, you combine all dressing ingredients, which includes 4 tablespoons pickle juice. Hope that helps Mary. Enjoy!
Saw this recipe a couple of days ago and could not wait to make it! It’s delicious! Can you tell me why you have to drain the pickle juice off the pasta? Why not use that with the dressing?
You can certainly use it in the dressing as well, there is a too much juice so it would make the salad runny if you used all of it. :)
amazing
Have made before, was well liked. Making again for Memorial Day weekend.
So glad to hear Jean!! Enjoy!
I love the flavour, but found the dressing to be a bit soupy, so maybe will try with a little less pickle juice or else more sour cream. also I’m a cheese fiend, so more cheese cubes!
Have made this recipe countless times . Always a favorite !! I don’t use the cayenne in the dressing but the rest is the same!
delis, easy to make ,everyone loved it !!!!!
Loved this so much! We will make it often
So glad to hear you love this salad as much as we do Shannon!
Love this recipe. I’ve added sliced black olives.
Great addition Wanda!
I love love dill pickles my brother would laugh at me because the way I would get them like corn on the cob but I am goin to print and make all of these dill dishes
This is literally the best pasta salad recipe EVER!! I have made it no less than 10 times since discovering it. It gets raves everywhere I take it and it makes the best warm weather lunch when paired with a sandwich. I cannot thank you enough for this recipe! If you love pickles, then you must make this, you will not be disappointed!
I’m so glad you love it Jen!
Made this for a potluck, it was delicious!!