Baked Pickle Fries with Southwest Avocado Ranch

Baked Pickle Fries with Southwest Avocado Ranch

One of our favorite burger spots makes pickle fries and while I love them, they’re not only fried but they are battered, and fried, so every delicious bite is also a touch shameful and I often find myself choosing between some milkshake and some pickle fries, and let me be honest the struggle is REAL. So during "take that take out" I decided I was going to make my own pickle fries and dipping sauce and that they would be even more delicious!  With some breading things logic, and the second try being the charm I found that you can make a whole jar of pickles into crispy, juicy, delicious fries in way less time than it takes for the delivery guy to inevitably screw your order up!

Ingredients

1, 24 oz. jar small dill pickles, cut into quarters

2 eggs, scrambled in a shallow bowl

½ cup flour

1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup corn meal, I had used coarse ground the first time and they were a bit TOO crunchy, so go for fine.

1/4 cup seasoned or plain breadcrumbs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

Salt and pepper

Cooking spray

Instructions

Pre heat the oven to 450 degrees and spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray and set aside.

Drain the pickles and cut them into quarter and lay them out on paper towels, pat dry all sides.

Set up a breading station, dry, wet, dry.  In a shallow bowl put your flour, then in a shallow bowl put your eggs and scramble them, and in a third shallow bowl combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, cornmeal and spices and mix well to combine.

Take about 5 pickle spears at a time and coat them in flour, shake off the excess and coat them in the egg, then coat them in the breadcrumb mixture, be sure to press it onto the pickles so that it sticks well and covers all sides.  Place them on the sprayed tray and repeat until all of your pickles are breaded.  Try to use one hand for the dry part and one hand for the wet so you don’t end up with Franken fingers full of mucky breading.  Once all the pickles are lined up on the tray spray the tops of them with cooking spray as well!  Place in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Southwest Avocado Ranch

Ingredients

Southwest Avocado Ranch

1 tbsp. dill, chopped fine, or dried

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. paprika

½ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup buttermilk

½ small avocado

2 tbsp. white vinegar

¼ cup milk or half and half (optional)

Instructions 

Put all your ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth.  EASY, PEASY!

I hate ranch, notoriously, but this was absolutely delicious.  I added that last ¼ cup of milk and regretted it because it made my dressing a touch too thin, play with the ratios based on how thin or thick you like your dipping sauces, mine was more the consistency of salad dressing, which worked out perfectly for lunch today.