Easy Air Fryer Fried Pickles
Enjoy fried pickles at home with these Easy Air Fryer Fried Pickles! Dill pickle spears with a crispy buttermilk dill coating, fried to perfection in the air fryer in just 8 minutes!
If there are fried pickles on the menu you better believe I’m ordering them! You know… back in the days when we could go to restaurants and enjoy apps and other people’s company, ha! Those days are coming back soon-ish, I think… I hope… and I can’t wait! In the meantime, you can make Easy Air Fryer Pickles at home! Dill pickle spears coated in a thick, buttermilk breading and coated generously in Panko bread crumbs, air fried to crispy perfection in just 8 minutes!
If you have never tried fried pickles, let me just say, you are majorly missing out! The delicious buttermilk dill breading combines perfectly with the zingy, dill pickle flavor. And the air fryer gives them a crispy crunch without additional fat from deep frying. They are a delicious, super easy appetizer that you can feel good about eating and serving your family!
How to Make Air Fryer Fried Pickles
The first step is making sure you get the pickle spears as dry as possible! Use paper towels to blot them until they are not wet to the touch. If your pickles are too wet the buttermilk coating will slide right off and you will have a mess on your hands!
Once your pickles are prepped, make the buttermilk coating. It is a mixture of buttermilk, egg, flour, dijon mustard (for flavor!), dried dill weed, onion powder and salt. Whisk everything together in a large, shallow bowl. The mixture should be thick like pancake batter.
Working 1 pickle spear at a time, dredge in the buttermilk coating. You want the pickle completely coated in as thick a layer as it will hold. Immediately transfer the pickle to a plate of Panko bread crumbs and roll it to coat evenly and completely. Place the pickle on a clean plate and repeat with the remaining spears.
Prep the air fryer by preheating it to 400°F for 5 minutes. Before you place the pickles in the basket make sure you spray it throughly with olive oil spray. Lay the pickles in the basket. Only put in as many as you can pit without them touching. It is important that the air has room to circulate about the whole pickle so it will crisp it evenly. You will likely need to work in 2 batches of 6, but it depends on the size of your air fryer.
Before starting the fryer, spray the pickles with a generous amount of olive oil spray. The olive oil helps to get that crispy finish on the bread crumbs. Now you are ready to fry! Fry the pickles at 400°F for 8 minutes.
Carefully remove the fried pickles from the air fryer and place on a serving dish. Serve the pickles with a dipping sauce – I like creamy ranch dressing! You will want to serve the pickles soon after they finish frying because that is when they are the crispiest! But do be careful because the pickle itself gets very hot and can be much hotter than the coating when you bite in!
The Best Dips For Fried Pickles
My personal dip preference for fried pickles is a creamy ranch dressing, make things easy on yourself and pick one up from the store, OR make it homemade! But thats’s not the only option, other’s include:
Honey Mustard – In my opinion, you can never go wrong with a good honey mustard dip in my opinion!
Cheese Sauce – If you want to get a little crazy, dipping them in a delicious cheese sauce would take them to the next level! This Cheddar Cheese Sauce looks AMAZING!
Fry Sauce – Combine equal parts ketchup and mayo and voilá, you’re ready to dip!
Looking for more Air fryer appetizers? Check these out!
Pretzel Crusted Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
Easy Air Fryer Fried Pickles
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 12 Fried Pickles 1x
Description
Enjoy fried pickles at home with these Easy Air Fryer Fried Pickles! Dill pickle spears with a crispy buttermilk dill coating, fried to perfection in the air fryer in just 8 minutes!
Ingredients
1 24oz jar dill pickle spears
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup white all-purpose flour
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp dry dill weed (divided)
1 tsp onion powder (divided)
1 tsp salt (divided)
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
olive oil cooking spray
ranch dressing (optional for dipping)
Instructions
Drain the pickles
Lay the pickles on paper towel and gently blot to dry*, set aside
In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, flour, mustard, 1/2 tsp dill weed, 1/2 tsp onion powder and 1/2 tsp salt
Add the bread crumbs to a rimmed plate
Add the remaining dill weed, onion powder and salt to the bread crumbs, toss
Preheat the air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes
Get out a large clean plate
While the air fryer preheats, prep the pickles
Working 1 pickle at a time, dredge in the buttermilk mixture, make sure the pickle is coated completely
Transfer the pickle to the bread crumbs and roll to coat entirely
Place pickle on the large, clean plate
Repeat the 3 steps above with remaining pickles
When air fryer is preheated, spray the basket throughly with olive oil spray
Place pickles in the basket – as many as you can fit without them touching**
Spray the pickles generously with olive oil spray
Air Fryer for 8 minutes at 400°F
Carefully remove the pickles from the air fryer and place on a clean serving dish
Repeat the 4 steps above with remaining pickles
Serve pickles immediately with a dipping sauce***
Notes
*This is an important step, the pickles need to be dry for the fry coating to stick.
**Depending on the size of your air fryer you will need to work in batches. I can fit 6 in my fryer so for 12 pickles I need to do 2 batches.
***The pickles get hot so be careful not to burn your mouth when you bite into them. I like to serve them with ranch dressing as the dipping sauce.
- Prep Time: 12 minutes
- Cook Time: 16 minutes
- Method: Air Fryer
Keywords: #airfryerrecipes, #airfryedpickles, #firedpickles, #airfryerappetizers
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If you make these Easy Air Fryer Fried Pickles let me know how you like them! Leave a star rating and comment here! If you snap a photo, I’d love to see it – share it over on Instagram and tag me @sprinklesandseasalt!
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All About Air Fryers
Every time I post a new air fryer recipe I get asked whether or not I think an air fryer is worth the investment. My answer is 100% YES! Of all the “extra” appliances I have in my kitchen it is the one I use most often! There are tons of uses for your air fryer that don’t even require cooking, like warming up leftover pizza or heating up frozen foods!
WHAT IS AN AIR FRYER AND WHY USE IT OVER DEEP FRYING OR BAKING?
An air fryer is a countertop kitchen appliance that uses hot air as opposed to oil to “fry” foods. In some recipes a small amount oil is used, but the use of hot air eliminates the need to use a lot of unhealthy oil as you would in a deep fryer to yield a similar crunchy, crispy “fried” texture.
Baking is also often used as an alternative to deep-frying. The air fryer cooks foods faster than an oven and yields crispier results due to the small compartment (basket) for cooking and hot air convection process.
WHICH AIR FRYER SHOULD I BUY?
You have a lot of choices when it comes to picking out an air fryer.
You could go with an affordable option like this air fryer by Dash. This was my first air fryer. I like the large basket and it’s easy to use. However, air frying is it’s only capability and it is not small, it takes up a lot of room on the counter top or in storage in your kitchen.
I was gifted the Ninja Foodi which has 9 different functions including air frying, pressure cooking, dehydrating and slow cooking. I like that it is multifunctional and the air frying function works really well. The downfall is that it is expensive, but if you are looking to consolidate a lot of your cooking appliances into one it is definitely the way to go!
I have also heard good things about the Cuisinart Air Fryer Convection Toaster Oven, it doubles as a toaster oven and is a more natural item to keep out on your countertop.
It can be overwhelming trying to decide which air fryer is best or which one is going to work for you. I suggest you consider how often you are going to use it, where you are going to store it and if there are other kitchen appliances you need or want to consolidate when making your decision.
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These sound great. I’d like to take them to a party (host has an airfryer) – Do you think I could par-fry them at my house and finish them at hers?
Hmmmm… I would be afraid of them getting soggy if you try to par-fry them. My suggestion would be to prep and freeze them at home and then take them frozen to your friend’s house to air fry! Just make sure you freeze them in a way that they don’t stick together, like flash freezing them on a baking sheet before packing them into something more convenient.