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 dry shell pasta about 3 cups
- ¾ cup pickles sliced
- ⅔ cup cheddar cheese diced
- 3 tablespoons white onion finely diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill
- ½ cup pickle juice
Dressing
- ⅔ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons pickle juice
- salt & 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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Can’t wait to make the dill pickle pasta salad!
Up up up, good
This is one of my favorites! I like to add sliced black olives to it as well! The kids LOVE it!
So happy to have discovered this recipe. I am a dill pickle lover, coming from German heritage. This is so simple to make and truly wonderful. Try this!
We love the dill pickle pasta salad! For a change, we used the Famous Dave’s Signature Spicy Pickle Chips and it is WONDERFUL!! We followed the recipe as normal and just used these pickles and the same pickle juice!! We’ll be having it with fried chicken!!
We Love the Dill Pickle Salad. The only change I made was I also add in Dill Pickle Relish (lots) and more pickle juice for extra flavor.
I love this dill pickle pasta salad! I have made it for numerous parties and everyone loves it! I am curious how big of a serving the nutritional value is for?
This recipe is a serving size of 1/2 cup as a side dish. Enjoy Kim!
This salad was so scrumptious! We brought to a friends weekend and everyone asked for the recipe.
This pasta salad is AMAZING. We have a family full of picky eaters, and they all love it. I will admit when I first saw this recipe I was a little nervous about it, but it is very good. One thing I do is make some extra dressing if we are not going to be eating it the same day it is made, as with most pasta salads it dries out quickly. We like ours nice and creamy. Also try with radiatore pasta for a different texture. We have used dry dill in place of fresh and it’s definitely not as good.
What an easy, tasty recipe which can be made with ingredients that most of us always have on hand. Even myK picky grandkids love this recipe!
All I can say is A-MA-ZING! This is a must have for picnics but I see myself serving this year round! I served it with my version of Chick-Fil-A sandwiches!
Looks delish.
This dill pickle pasta recipe is a must. One of my favorites. My question is can I substitute dried dill weed in place of fresh dill?
Yes, you can substitute dried if needed. You will need about 1/3 the amount of dried herbs, so in this recipe about 2 teaspoons.
This recipe looks great, I will definitely be making it soon. Just finished canning a bunch of dill pickles so they should be ready to open in about 4 weeks. I just might try making it with garlic dill sandwich savers we always have at least 1 jar in the fridge and 1 in the pantry. I always dice up some slices to put into my potato salad or pasta salads, but I never thought of putting the pickle juice in the dressing. What a good idea. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome Richard! Enjoy it!
Loved this! Thanks for the recipe. My poor husband that hates pickles will never get regular pasta salad again!
Maybe he’ll learn to love them now ;)
BEST PASTA SALAD EVER!!!
I have made this pasta salad several times and I am addicted! I can’t stop eating it when I have a bowl in the fridge. It is always a hit with friends and family too! Thank you for such a great recipe :)
Yum! This pasta salad was good! Like others, I didn’t drain the pickle juice either and even added a little more after the pasta soaked it all up after a sit in the fridge. I didn’t have an onion, but I couldn’t wait to make your recipe so I used a little onion powder. Can’t wait to make it again, thanks for the great recipe!
Omg this has become my absolute favourite pasta salad recipe and I get asked to bring it everywhere!!!
I always use Miracle Whip instead of mayo, only because its what is usually on hand.
However I need to make some for tomorrow and all I have on hand is Penne noodles! Would they work just as well?
You can use whatever noodles you prefer! Enjoy!
This has become my favorite recipe! Tangy yet comforting. If you like dill pickles, you will love this recipe.
I just love this dill pickle pasta salad…have brought to functions and its always been a winner! I have a question though, I made it the day before the event and found it a little dry. Is there something I should be doing to prevent this or shoulld it be nmade the same day, still good though.
thanks Donna
As the pasta sits it will certainly soak up some of the moisture drying it out slightly. If I am leaving it a long time (overnight for example), I do ensure there is plenty of dressing. You could add a spoon of each of the mayo, sour cream, and pickle juice to freshen it up!
I love to cook. I’ve seen your recipes and would to try them, they look so delicious.
Made this once before and followed to a tee! My husband and I loved it!!!
Making again tonight. Have you ever used a different cheese? I was considering pepper jack…only because it is already open…♀️
I haven’t but I do think it would work out just fine!