Pickle Juice Is The Key To Bright (Not Overpowering) Pasta Salad

Don't you dare toss that leftover pickle juice — there's a world of uses for that perfectly tangy, briny liquid. From pickle juice-spiked drinks to marinades, and yes, even as the perfect ready-to-use addition to your pasta salad, the usefulness of pickle juice certainly doesn't end when you've eaten the last spear or kosher dill. One such use? Stirring it into your pasta salad. The combo of pasta, veggies, cheese, and dressing is everyone's favorite picnic dish, side, and the perfect throw-together meal as is, endlessly customizable to any dietary style or palate, season, or craving.

Its ease of preparation is a big reason to love pasta salad. And there is no one classic recipe, only a basic formula to follow. But every pasta salad needs a dressing of some type of oil and acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, traditionally. Swapping that acid source out for leftover pickle juice adds a bright pop of flavor and tons of added spices and flavors to boot, but without excess acidity. Thanks to the leftover pickling spices like peppercorns, garlic, dill, and mustard seeds that have already lent their flavor to the vinegar liquid, you get a balanced, rounded pop of brightness. For a recipe using a box of pasta, start with about ¼ cup of the pickle juice, mixing it with either your mayo or oil you're using as the creamy counterpart. You can always add more if your tastebuds say so.

Acids liven up and enhance the flavors of all the other ingredients in a dish, really making it pop. If you've ever had a dull or underwhelming dish ranging from pasta to soup to sauce, it's probably a touch of acid that it's missing. This is because acids — like lemon juice or vinegar — work by turning up the dial on existing flavors in any given dish, making the whole thing come alive without the need for added salt.

If you've ever made an underwhelming pasta salad, reaching for acid is the go-to fixer. However, adding more and more red wine vinegar, for example, can easily result in an unpleasantly astringent flavor — more is not always more, after all. Pickle juice gets the job done by adding the needed acidity via the vinegar, but offers a better-balanced blend of spices and garlic, not just a straight tang. You can also reach for a type of pickle juice that contains some sugar — as most do. Test out different types like garlicky dill pickle juice, or even toss in a splash from a jar of sweet bread-and-butter pickles to add some sweetness to the mix. And of course, play with your ratio of fatty ingredients like oil, mayo, or cheese for the perfect balanced bite.

You don't have to be a die-hard pickle lover to enjoy this tangy pasta salad rendition, though if you are, you're certainly in for a treat. And for those who can't get enough of all things pickle, feel free to lean in all the way and create a whole pickle-inspired salad with lots of dill, maybe even some cubed or chunked pickle pieces, and summery vegetables like cherry tomatoes.

But if you're not aiming for full-on pickle flavor, this pickle juice hack works just as well in about any pasta salad recipe, in place of the usual called-for vinegar or lemon juice. Experiment with swapping it out even in a totally non-pickle-forward recipe like a simple veggie antipasto, a southwestern-inspired version, or any other favorite of yours! Next time you reach the bottom of a jar of pickles, keep that juice in the fridge. Not only can you use it to remake another round of actual pickles — or use it as a marinade or drink mixer — but you can also keep it on hand and add a splash to your next pasta salad creation.