Tempura Fried Pickles Recipe

This classic bar food treat is a fun and easy dish you can make at home. There are many different versions of classic Fried Pickle from heavy and stodgy ones to light and airy ones. Our Tempura Fried Pickles are the best version of this recipe, with a light and airy Tempura-style batter that’s crispy and delicious, without being so heavy that you can only eat 2 or 3 before being full. This dish is a great recipe to enjoy all year round, as a bite to eat any time of day, or a side dish to enjoy with your favorite beverage

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How to make Tempura Fried Pickles

This dish requires some deep frying which is very easy to do at home. Just prepare accordingly and it is one of the best ways to prepare food at home. If you are always aware there is hot oil about, and respect it accordingly, it’s super-safe to deep fry at home

So, before any frying is done the first step in the process is to pick out your Pickles. You can really use any kind of Pickle you like for this dish from Sweet Bread & Butter Pickles to Dill Pickles or Sour Pickles. The result will vary drastically depending on your favorite preference

Homemade Tempura Fried Pickles Recipe — Our delicious Tempura Fried Pickles are very easy to make at home and taste so good

For this dish we ended up cooking with Bread & Butter Pickles, but I would recommend using something a little less sweet, as the richness of the fried Tempura Batter paired with the sweetness of the Bread & Butter Pickle can be too sweet for some

For the best result I’d suggest some sliced Dill Pickles or Sour Pickles in brine. Remove the Pickles from the brine and sit them out on a paper towel to remove any excess moisture. It’s ok to keep some of the brine on the Pickles, we just don’t want them totally wet when they’re coated in the batter

Preparing the Batter for our Tempura Fried Pickles

Unlike other types of Batter, Tempura is extremely light and quite runny. It’s sometimes a little tough to tell if a Tempura Batter is even going to stick to the dish as it’s so light and runny. That’s ok, trust the process and you’ll be enjoying the best tasting Fried Pickles ever

I like to prepare the batter just before it’s time to cook, as with a Tempura Batter it is critical that the lightness and bubbliness is at its peak. So, the combination of ingredients is simply All-Purpose Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, and the secret ingredient – Beer

Light and crispy Tempura Batter for Pickles — This light and crispy Tempura Batter is perfect to coat these delicious Pickles

Now, you can either use Beer or Soda Water for this recipe. The classic approach is Soda Water, however we’re making Fried Pickles here which pair naturally with Beer, so I recommend using a light pilsner style Beer like a Corona for this recipe

The Carbonation of Beer or Soda Water is the secret to achieving a light and fluffy batter. So you really want to whisk in this ingredient right before you’re ready to fry so your Batter will be as light and bubbly as possible

Frying the Pickles

Now, for our Tempura Fried Pickles you will need to be doing some deep frying. Because there’s not a load of volume to this ingredient, you can use a regular saucepan with a heavy bottom and it will be more than ample for some home frying

Fill your saucepan about halfway up with a neutral Frying Oil such as Vegetable Oil or Canola Oil. Avoid filling the saucepan any higher than halfway up, to avoid any risk of the Oil spilling over the top during the cooking. This is a great rule of thumb to live by for any deep frying you do at home

Batch frying Tempura Fried Pickles — We recommend frying our Tempura Fried Pickles in batches for the best result

Place the saucepan filled with Oil on the stovetop over a medium high heat. We want this Oil hot, at about 350F to be precise, which we highly recommend you use a kitchen thermometer to monitor the Oil temperature. If it’s not hot enough the Pickles will become soggy and oily which is not a pleasant bite of food

Once hot, the process of coating the Pickles and adding them to the Oil is almost the same motion. Because the batter is so light it will begin to drip off the Pickles immediately. So, for optimal coating you want to dip the Pickles one at a time into the Batter and immediately place them (carefully) into the Oil

To make this step easy and safe, I recommend placing the Batter right next to your Oil so you don’t have to move the Pickles far, and can easily move them from one to the other without losing any batter in the process

Cook until golden-brown and serve

Cooking our Tempura Fried Pickles is easy, and it’s not as much about ‘time’ as it is about watching the color. Because the Pickles can be eaten raw, we’re only monitoring the Batter to ensure it’s golden-brown and beautifully crispy

The cook time should take about 1 minute but may vary depending on how hot your Oil is and how many Pickles you’ve placed into the Oil at one. I don’t mind adding about 10 Pickles in one batch, as they’re so light the Oil shouldn’t drop in temperature too much. If you need to you can absolutely batch cook

Fried Pickles with Mayo — Serve the Fried Pickles with your favorite dipping sauce. They go great with Aioli or Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise

Once golden-brown and completely cooked, remove the Pickles carefully from the Oil using a spider strainer and place them on an elevated wire rack. This will help to ensure all the Oil will drop off the Pickles without the underside getting soggy

Another hack is to ensure that you immediately season the Fried Pickles as soon as they come out of the Oil as the batter will be so warm that the Salt will stick to it. So, give them an aggressive seasoning and they’re now ready to eat!

I like to enjoy these Tempura Fried Pickles with a Mayo-based sauce, such as Aioli or simply get some of that delicious Japanese Mayonnaise and serve it in a dipping bowl on the side

Recipe Details

Servings

2 – 4 people

Prep time

15 minutes

Cooking time

3 minutes

Total time

18 minutes