Dill Pickle Pasta Salad is one of my favorite pasta salad recipes with tangy and crunchy dill pickles, tender pasta, cheese cubes, chopped onion, fresh dill, and a creamy mayo dressing! Enjoy this addictive pasta salad at your next summer cookout or potluck!
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Dill pickle pasta salad is a delicious alternative to other summer pasta salads - a serious crowd pleaser!
- This pickle salad is perfect for anyone who loves the crunchy and tangy flavor of dill pickles, especially when contrasted with the soft pasta and creamy dressing.
- The dressing of this dill pickle pasta salad can be made ahead of time, making the assembling of this irresistible pasta salad even easier than it already is! dressing Perfect for potlucks this dish can be made ahead of time.
Dill pickle pasta salad has to be one of my favorite pasta salad recipes. It’s perfect for potlucks and backyard summer cookouts!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this Pickle Pasta Salad recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- Shell pasta
- Dill pickles
- Cheddar cheese
- White Onion
- Fresh dill
- Pickle juice from the dill pickles
- Mayonnaise
- Cayenne pepper
- Salt
- Black Pepper
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Place the cooked pasta in a large glass mixing bowl.
- Pour pickle juice over the pasta and let it sit for 5-6 minutes.
- In the meantime, start to combine the salad dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
- Whisk the dressing ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
- Drain the pasta of excess pickle juice and return to the large glass bowl with the other salad ingredients assembled.
- Add the sliced dill pickles to the pasta.
- Add the cubed cheese and fresh dill to the pasta bowl.
- Fold in the salad dressing to the pasta bowl and mix well. Refrigerate the pasta salad for at least 1 hour prior to serving.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this BBQ and potluck Pasta Salad recipe successfully.
- Mixing bowl
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Dry measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Liquid measuring cup
- Wooden mixing spoon
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making Pasta Salad With Dill Pickles and Cheddar Cheese Recipe.
Pickle pasta is a creamy pasta salad with dill pickles as the hero ingredient, pickle juice, soft pasta, fresh dill, cheddar cheese, onion, seasoning, and a creamy mayonnaise-sour cream salad dressing.
Absolutely! Pickles and pasta are always a winning combination of contrasting textures. You can use small pickles or larger pickles cut and sliced down to size.
Yes, you can. I’ve added fresh dill to my pickle pasta and it’s delicious, highlighting the dill flavor of this pasta salad.
This really depends on the ingredients used. Some dill pickle pasta salads are more basic than others. This pickle pasta salad comes to around 239 calories per serving.
Combine ⅔ cup of mayonnaise, ⅓ cup of sour cream, ⅛ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 4 tablespoons of pickle juice, and salt and Pepper (to taste). Mix the ingredients in a bowl to pour over the pasta salad or store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- Real mayonnaise will also provide a better flavor and consistency for the salad dressing than a whipped dressing.
- Pre-sliced dill pickles can be purchased to reduce preparation time.
- It’s important to rinse the cooked pasta under cold water to stop it from cooking any further and to get rid of excess starch. It will also cool the pasta down so that ingredients such as the cubed cheddar won’t melt when added to the pasta salad.
- You’ll find that this pasta salad tastes even better the following day as all of the flavors have had plenty of time to mix together.
- Don’t use yellow onion instead of white onion. Yellow onion is too strong for this recipe and won’t blend as well with the pasta salad dressing as white does.
- If you’re in a rush then you can serve this pasta straight after assembling it but I do prefer allowing at least 1 hour in the fridge for the flavors to mix together well.
📚 Variations
- You can use baby dill pickles for this pasta salad or larger pickles cut down to size.
- You could use Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise or sour cream to reduce the strong tangy flavor but then the taste of this pasta salad will definitely change.
- I’ve used a basic seasoning of cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper. You could use celery salt instead of salt and pepper if you wish.
- Feel free to use any pasta that you prefer the most - cavatappi, shells, fusilli, Gemelli, penne, or bowtie would all work well. Avoid large pasta or noodles though.
- For a bit of color, consider garnishing the pasta salad with some sliced black olives.
- For a kick of sweetness, toss in a handful of sweet pickles.
- Shredded cheese can be used instead of cubed cheese. I love the sharp taste of cheddar cheese but you could opt for a milder cheese too.
- Make this pasta salad meaty with the addition of chicken, tuna, ham, or bacon.
- For added crunch and texture, consider including other vegetables such as chopped cherry tomatoes or celery.
- I love the pickle juice and mayonnaise combination for the dressing but apple cider vinegar could also be used.
- The fresh dill adds lovely color and flavor to this pasta salad. You could use dried dill instead or even use fresh parsley. You may just need to double the parsley as dill is naturally more intense in flavor.
🥫 Storage
Store this dill pickle pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I don’t suggest freezing this pasta salad as the creamy dressing may separate.
📗 Related Recipes
Try out a few of my favorite creamy and crunchy salads for your summer meals or next potlucks: Avocado Chicken Salad, Mediterranean Herb Antipasto Pasta Salad, Rotini With Fresh Lemon And Grape Tomatoes, Beet Salad With Hickory Bacon Vinaigrette, or Tomato Cucumber Salad & Yogurt Dressing.
🍽 Serve with
Enjoy this addictive dill pickle pasta salad as a side dish to grilled chicken, steak, kebabs, grilled fish, fried pork chops, or as a side to sandwiches, hamburgers, and wraps.
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
Pasta salads are some of the easiest and most delicious side dishes or even main meals, especially if combined with hearty ingredients. This dill pickle pasta salad is one close to my heart and a real crowd pleaser whether I’m serving it to friends and family or taking it to potlucks and parties.
The combination of the tangy and crunchy dill pickles together with the creamy pasta is simply mouth-watering.
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
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📝 Recipe Card
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad is a tangy and creamy pasta salad made with crunchy dill pickles, pickle juice, onion, cheese, fresh dill, and a creamy mayo dressing. It can easily be made ahead of time, allowing those tangy ingredients to mix well for maximum flavor!
If you like crunch with your salad, try our crunchy Asian Ramen Noodle Salad recipe. It's a huge hit at potlucks and backyard barbecues. And another classic picnic dish is our Ultimate Hamburger Baked Beans. One taste and you'll see why they're always requested.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
Dilly Pickle Pasta Salad
Equipment Needed
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Dry shell pasta About 3 cups
- ¾ cup Dill pickles sliced
- ⅔ cup Cheddar cheese cubed
- 3 Tablespoons White onion diced
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh dill
- ½ cup Pickle juice
Pickle dressing
- ⅔ cup Mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup Sour cream
- ⅛ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
- 4 Tablespoons Pickle juice
- Salt and Pepper (quanto basta) season to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil pasta to al dente which is about 1 minute less than package directions.
- Remove the pasta and transfer to a colander. Run cold water over the pasta to stop cooking.
- Pour the pasta into a large glass mixing bowl. Toss the pasta with ½ cup of the pickle juice and set aside for about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the pasta and discard the pickle juice.
- Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to blend.
- Toss the remaining ingredients in with the pasta. Pour the dressing over the ingredients and mix well.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Notes
- Real mayonnaise will also provide a better flavor and consistency for the salad dressing than a whipped dressing.
- Pre-sliced dill pickles can be purchased to reduce preparation time.
- It’s important to rinse the cooked pasta under cold water to stop it from cooking any further and to get rid of excess starch. It will also cool the pasta down so that ingredients such as the cubed cheddar won’t melt when added to the pasta salad.
- You’ll find that this pasta salad tastes even better the following day as all of the flavors have had plenty of time to mix together.
- Don’t use yellow onion instead of white onion. Yellow onion is too strong for this recipe and won’t blend as well with the pasta salad dressing as white does.
- If you’re in a rush then you can serve this pasta straight after assembling it but I do prefer allowing at least 1 hour in the fridge for the flavors to mix together well.
