If you’re a pickle lover, then I have the perfect pasta salad for you! Chopped dill pickles, bacon pieces, sharp cheddar, and crisp red onion, combined with pasta and an ultra-creamy dill pickle dressing! Perfect for summer cookouts and potlucks, and super easy to customize to your tastes.
This is one of my Cookout/Potluck recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
Pasta salads are such an iconic summer food… in fact, at just about every cookout this summer, you’ll probably see a bowl of some kind of pasta or macaroni salad.
Everyone loves them, and they’re the ultimate thing to BRING to a cookout, because you can make them up ahead of time.
That being said, some pasta salads are… well… pretty boring! A handful of vegetables, mushy/flavorless pasta, and some dressing that tastes like plain mayonnaise… sound familiar?
But not this one. This salad is loaded with flavor, and is anything but boring.
It’s perfect for pickle lovers, as it’s bursting with not only plenty of dill pickles and fresh dill, but the pasta is actually soaked in pickle juice, amplifying all that goodness and flavor!
Your potlucks and cookouts this summer deserve a big bowl of this pasta!
Why you’ll love this recipe!
If you love pickles, then you will absolutely love this! It’s a family favorite and always one of the first things gone at parties and potlucks.
- Flavor-packed – every layer of this pasta salad is jam-packed with bold flavors.
- Make-ahead – like other pasta salads, this recipe is a natural make-ahead recipe, and tastes better when all the flavors can combine.
- Customize-able – you can truly customize this recipe to your tastes!
What do I need to make this recipe?
- Mayonnaise – this recipe was tested with full-fat mayonnaise, so I can’t say how well light mayo would work.
- Sour cream – this adds a tang to the dressing, as well as additional creaminess.
- Pickle juice – this is used in two different parts of this recipe; the dressing, and the pasta is soaked in it.
- Salt and pepper – these are added to taste, so use what you think is best.
- Cayenne – this adds a mild heat, but can be adjusted to your tastes.
- Pasta – I like to use rotini, as the ridges really give something for the dressing to cling to.
- Pickles – the star of the show, I like to use an ultra-flavorful dill pickle. Grillos is my favorite brand, but feel free to use your own.
- Cheese – sharp cheddar is my preferred cheese, but mild or medium, or even colby or pepper jack would work well.
- Onion – the red onion adds crunch, as well as a savory and slightly sweet flavor.
- Dill – this accentuates the flavor of the pickles.
- Bacon – this adds protein, as well as crunch.
- Green onion – adds a subtle onion flavor, freshness, and a little crunch.
How to make dill pickle pasta salad:
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Combine dressing ingredients. No fancy tools required here, just a bowl and a whisk or even a fork.
- Whisk. You want the dressing to be smooth and creamy.
- Boil pasta and add other ingredients. You want the pasta to be cooked to al dente (according to the package directions).
- Stir. I find this salad comes together better if you stir together the pasta and ingredients, then add the dressing.
- Dress. Pour the dressing over the salad, and give it a good toss. If you’re making this more than a day ahead of time, I recommend holding a bit of the dressing back, so you can add it before serving to make sure it’s creamy.
Helpful Tip!
For this recipe only real mayonnaise will do. Miracle Whip and other spreads have other additives and flavors and just won’t taste right in this salad. For maximum creaminess, I highly recommend using full-fat mayo. Hellmann’s, Best Foods, and Dukes are the mayo brands I regularly use.
Variations of this recipe
- Other pasta – if you don’t like rotini pasta, you can make this salad with just about any short-cut of pasta (such as farfalle, elbow, penne, etc).
- Spicy – for a little extra heat, try adding some diced fresh jalapeños, or some diced pickled/jarred jalapeños. You could also add a splash of the jalapeño juice to the dressing, and increase the amount of cayenne pepper.
- Dressing – please feel free to play with the proportions of the mayo and sour cream in the dressing.
- Cheese – instead of cubes of cheese, you can use shredded sharp cheddar.
- Veggies/stir-ins – please feel free to play around with adding other veggies or even protein, such as shredded chicken.
- Doubled – if you require a larger amount, this recipe is easily doubled. Just make sure you double all ingredients.
FAQ’s
Since this recipe contains mayo and/or other dairy, for food safety reasons, once it’s been out for 2 hours, you should toss it. When properly refrigerated and kept in an airtight container, it should last about 3-5 days.
For a regular pasta or macaroni salad, I typically do rinse the pasta, just to cool down the pasta and stop the cooking process. However, part of the magic of this recipe is that the pasta soaks up some of the dill pickle juice. This is best done when the pasta is hot, so no, don’t rinse the pasta this time 🙂
Making pasta salad ahead of time
Pasta salad is an amazing potluck recipe because it’s actually supposed to be made ahead of time!
Once you mix it all together, it’s best to refrigerate it for at least 1-2 hours, but it can also be made the day before.
Before serving, just give it a stir to redistribute the dressing.
Storage
Leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container and enjoyed within 3-5 days.
I don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
More Pasta/Macaroni Salad Recipes:
My Favorite Mixing Bowls!
I love these mixing bowls for two main reasons: the airtight lids mean you don’t have to transfer the contents to another container to refrigerate, and they’re absolutely beautiful!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 1/3 cups mayonnaise
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup pickle juice from the jar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- generous pinch cayenne pepper
Pasta salad
- 16 oz box dried rotini pasta
- 1 1/2 cups diced dill pickles we love Grillo's brand
- 1 cup diced sharp cheddar cheese from a block
- 1/3 cup minced red onion
- 1/2 cup pickle juice from the jar
- 3 – 4 Tbsp minced fresh dill or about 1 – 1.5 Tbsp of dried dill
- 5 slices cooked and crumbled bacon
- 2 green onions diced
Garnishes (optional)
- additional crumbled bacon
- additional pickles
- additional green onions
- additional black pepper
Instructions
Prepare
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Make dressing
- Add 1 1/3 cups mayonnaise, 2/3 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup pickle juice, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and a generous pinch cayenne pepper to mixing bowl and whisk to combine fully. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Boil pasta and drain
- Once the water in the pot is boiling, add some salt (amount not included in the recipe – it's up to you).
- Add 16 oz box dried rotini pasta and boil to al dente, according to package directions. Drain.
- Immediately add pasta to a large mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup pickle juice and stir until pasta absorbs some of the juice. Let sit 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Assemble salad
- To the pasta, add 1 1/2 cups diced dill pickles, 1 cup diced sharp cheddar cheese, 1/3 cup minced red onion, 3 – 4 Tbsp minced fresh dill, 5 slices cooked and crumbled bacon, and 2 green onions.
- Stir to combine, then pour dressing into the bowl and stir again until well combined.
Chill
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Serve
- Give the pasta salad a good stir to redistribute some of the dressing.
- Serve cold, garnished with additional crumbled bacon, diced pickles, green onions, and a sprinkle of black pepper if desired.
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Chef Tips
- I’ve estimated this recipe serves about 8, but feel free to divide it up into as many servings as you’d like.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Karen says
For the pickle salad could I use bread and butter pickles instead?
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this recipe using sweet pickles, so I can’t say for certain how well those flavors would go together, or whether any other changes would need to be made. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
Pauline Chew says
Dear Amanda:
The proportion of the sour cream and mayonnaise are great with a squirt of spicy brown and hot and sweet mustard. The pickle juice for the dressing and pasta half dill and sweet are used. Spicy Paprika, Celery Seed, Garlic Powder, and Pepper are addition to the spices. I have omitted the cheese and substitute with 3 eggs. 1 cup of yellow onion, 2 cups of celery and its leaves, and with 3 sweet pickles combined. I love your dressing so light and creamy.
Dave says
Hesitated for a long time as this just didn’t sound appealing, I was dead wrong made it and the whole family loved it glad I tried it and will make it again. It was very light for a side dish.
Thank you
DC
Tina Kendrick says
The pickles pasta salad sounds good 👍
V.W says
Could you use sweet pickles instead of dill? I like dill pickles…husband doesn’t.
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this with sweet pickles, so I can’t say how well those flavors would work together. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it goes!