Tangy pickle slices coated in a light and crispy beer batter.
They’re a great snack to serve with drinks or with barbecue. I love to serve them alongside burgers and chips!

A tall image of many fried pickle bites in a white bowl. Nestled in the right of the dish, there is a smaller, white dish filled with garlic mayo. In the left of the background, you can see there is a slate grey napkin tucked underneath the main bowl. This is all on a light grey background.
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These Fried Pickles are such an amazing, crunchy, tangy little nibble! And dipped into some garlic mayo, I could eat a whole batch of these in one sitting!

They perfectly satisfy that pickle craving, and only take 20 minutes to whip up! Sounds too good to be true I know. 😆

📋 Ingredients

An overhead shot of the ingredients for the beer batter is laid out on a wooden board. They are as follows: self-raising white flour, IPA (beer), baking powder, and cornflour.

Pickles – Any kind of pickles you can get your hands on will work great as long as they can be cut into these snack-sized circles! We used traditional dill pickles.

Self-Raising Flour – If you haven’t got self-raising flour, replace it with the same amount of plain (all-purpose) flour PLUS 1 tsp of baking powder (you’ll also still need to add the additional ½ tsp baking powder to the batter).

Beer – We use a light IPA for our batter. It gives a nice light batter with a tasty, savoury flavour. Don’t worry, you can’t taste the flavour of the beer.
If you use a darker beer or bitter, you may taste the maltiness of the beer a little in the batter.
You can swap out the beer for lager (we like Devon Rock, Coors lite and Madri).
The more carbonated the beer/lager, the lighter your batter will be.

How to make them:

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

  1. Make the batter by mixing the dry batter ingredients together, then slowly stir in the chilled pale ale until there are no lumps.
  2. Pat the pickle slices dry with some kitchen roll, then dust them with the cornflour, then dredge in the batter.
  3. Carefully fry them in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes.
  4. Drain and serve.

Pro Tip

Use different flavours of pickles to get some variation, like bread and butter pickles, or sweet pickles.

This recipe is super simple, but a game-changer when it comes to snacks!

A tall, close-up image of many fried pickle bites in a white bowl. Nestled in the right of the dish, there is a smaller, white dish filled with garlic mayo. In the left of the background, you can see there is a slate grey napkin tucked underneath the main bowl. This is all on a light grey background.

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🍽️ What to serve them with

These fried pickles go perfectly as a side to a burger dinner:


If you just want to make them as a snack, they go down great served with a dip (sweet chilli, garlic mayo, ketchup or BBQ sauce are good options) and a nice cold beer.

A tall image of many fried pickle bites in a white bowl. Nestled in the right of the dish, there is a smaller, white dish filled with garlic mayo. In the right of the image, there is a hand dipping one of the fried pickles into the dish of garlic mayo. In the left of the background, you can see there is a slate grey napkin tucked underneath the main bowl. This is all on a light grey background.

🍲 More fantastic Savoury Snacks

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Fried Pickles

Tangy pickle slices coated in a light and crispy beer batter. They're a great snack to serve with drinks or with barbecue. I love to serve them alongside burgers and chips!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Appetizer, side dish
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Beer Batter

  • 120 g (1 cup) self-raising flour (see swaps)
  • 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 240 ml (1 cup) refrigerated pale ale (it MUST be cold) (see swaps)

Also

  • Oil for deep frying
  • 200 g (7 oz) sliced dill pickles, drained
  • 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
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Instructions 

  • Heat the oil in your deep fryer to 180C/350F.
    Oil for deep frying
  • Layer the pickles out on pieces of kitchen roll and pat dry.
    200 g (7 oz) sliced dill pickles, drained
  • Place the flour, cornflour and baking powder in a large bowl and stir together to combine.
    120 g (1 cup) self-raising flour, 2 tbsp cornflour, ½ tsp baking powder
  • Stir in the pale ale until no lumps remain.
    240 ml (1 cup) refrigerated pale ale (it MUST be cold)
  • Dust the pickles lightly in cornflour and shake off any excess then place them in the batter to fully coat.
    3 tbsp cornflour
  • Lift the pickles out of the batter with a slotted spoon and allow the excess batter to drain off.
  • Add to the oil and fry to 1-2 minutes, until golden. You’ll likely need to work in 2-3 batches, to ensure you don’t overfill the pan/fryer.
  • Drain and serve.

Notes

How to scale up and down this recipe:

You can halve this recipe to serve a 2 or double it to serve a crowd, as long as you stick to the same ingredient ratios. 

Can I make ahead?

I don’t recommend making the fried pickles ahead, but you can make the batter ahead. 
Just cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours, then give it a mix before using.

Swaps

If you haven’t got self-raising flour, replace it with the same amount of plain (all-purpose flour PLUS 1 tsp of baking powder (you’ll also still need to add the additional ½ tsp baking powder to the batter).
If you don’t want to use pale ale, you can use lager, or for a non-alcohol version, replace the pale ale with soda water (remember it needs to be COLD).

Nutritional information

Nutritional information is approximate, per serving, based on this recipe serving 4 people as a snack. I’ve estimated that 75ml (5 tbsp) of oil will be absorbed during frying, but this can vary.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 336kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 408mg | Potassium: 153mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 92IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 0.5mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.

Welcome to Kitchen Sanctuary

Hi, I'm Nicky and I love to cook! I want to share with you my favourite, delicious family friendly recipes. I want to inspire you to create fantastic food for your family every day.

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Comments

  1. Dianne says:

    I am unable to see the swaps on your page. Not sure what is happening. It is all scrambled. Your end or mine???

    1. Nicky Corbishley says:

      Thanks for letting me know Diane. I don’t quite know what happened there, but I’ve re-added the information, so you should be able to see it now.