Pasta and Pickles Salad

Name: Pasta and Pickles Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: american
Ingredients: 1 shallot, thinly sliced; 1 tablespoon vinegar, such as white or red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or other favorite; Salt and pepper; 1 pound short pasta, such as fusilli or cavatelli; 1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream; 1 garlic clove, finely grated; 5 tablespoons pickle brine plus 2 cups sliced dill pickles; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan, plus extra for topping; Big handful chopped dill

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published July 25, 2024

Pasta and Pickles Salad — David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Total Time: 30 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 4(222)
Comments: Read comments

This recipe is your invitation to the pasta and pickle party. Dill pickles work double time here: The brine is added to the creamy dressing to bring acidity, while a generous amount of pickles are used in the salad, bringing crunch and saltiness. The sourness of the pickles and the punch of the quick-pickled shallots really cut through the heaviness that is often found in creamy, mayonnaise-laden pasta salads. (This one skips mayo for lighter crème fraîche or sour cream.) An emphatic handful of dill reinforces the grassy notes of the pickle; if you have parsley or scallions lying around, you could throw those in too. Experiment by adding other pickles — sauerkraut, beets, radish, daikon would all work — or bulk this pasta salad up with some chopped romaine, chickpeas or hard-boiled eggs.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

1shallot, thinly sliced
1tablespoon vinegar, such as white or red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or other favorite
Salt and pepper
1pound short pasta, such as fusilli or cavatelli
1cup crème fraîche or sour cream
1garlic clove, finely grated
5tablespoons pickle brine plus 2 cups sliced dill pickles
2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2tablespoons finely grated Parmesan, plus extra for topping
Big handful chopped dill

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Place the shallot and vinegar in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of water. Set aside to pickle while you prepare the rest of the salad.
Step 2
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions until al dente. Drain pasta and run under cold water until cool. Drain again.
Step 3
Meanwhile, place the crème fraîche or sour cream and garlic into a large bowl. Add the pickle brine and sir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 4
Drain the shallots and discard the pickling liquid.
Step 5
To the crème fraîche mixture, add the cooled pasta, pickles, olive oil, grated Parmesan and dill; toss to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper. To serve, top with quick pickled shallots and more grated Parmesan.

Ratings

4 out of 5

222 user ratings

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Comments

karen b10 months ago

I adjusted all ingredients to taste using less pickle brine using Orzo pasta and sour cream. Added: chopped flat leaf parsley and dill (dried or fresh). I skipped the cheese. I like the chopped pickles, but next time I will do half mayo, half sour cream.

Captain O10 months ago

I love, really, really love, pickles but 2 cups plus the brine is way over the top even for me. And pickled shallots for more acidity plus parm for more salt? Yikes. Half the readers of the NYTimes will need to adjust their BP meds.

Jack10 months ago

Wild recipe

Sarah N.5 days ago

This is good! The creaminess does cut through the sourness and it all came out tasting very refreshing. We used crème fraîche and didn't change anything about the recipe. This will go into the summer recipe rotation.

Kaylee1 week ago

Yum! I did half greek yogurt/half mayo, because it’s what I had. Added some chopped celery and some grilled onions I had left over. Delicious!

Sean1 week ago

We found this quite bland. Maybe we used the wrong pasta (orzo) versus another slightly larger pasta? Maybe our pickles weren’t high quality enough? Perhaps using creme fraiche instead sour cream was a mistake? We thought this ended up largely uninteresting.

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