Old Bay Seasoning Adds A Burst Of Spicy Flavor To A Classic Tangy Snack

Old Bay seasoning is best known for spicing up seafood. The multi-spice seasoning blend is the brainchild of Gustav Brunn, who invented it back in 1939. His seasoning company was sold to McCormick in 1990, and it's become synonymous with good seafood. But that's not all it enhances. Old Bay has been used on everything from chicken wings to potato chips — and it even adds delicious, spicy flavor to tangy pickles.

Homemade pickles are easy enough: They're essentially just sliced cucumbers that are soaked in brine. But adding different elements to that salty vinegar blend helps infuse flavor into the pickles. Anything from garlic to chile peppers will work, but if you have Old Bay on hand, you can quickly turned pickle chips into the perfect topping on your next fried fish or Cuban sandwich. Just make sure to add enough seasoning so the flavor infuses well into the pickles as they sit.

To pickle any vegetable, you need a few basic ingredients: water, vinegar, and salt — along with some kind of sweetener, such as sugar or even syrup, to offset the bitterness. But once you have the basic pickling recipe nailed down, you can get creative with other flavor infusions. TikTok user iz_eats offers up the Old Bay take, which includes Old Bay seasoning, plenty of garlic, and a little maple syrup. While pickle chips are the cut of choice here because they're best for sandwiches, if you make these yourself, you can also slice them into spears to pair as a side to anything from grilled shrimp to an oyster po' boy — or just eat them on their own as a snack.

If you want a truly spicy snack, you can even add Old Bay Hot Sauce into the brine in addition to the classic seasoning. You'll have to give the pickles some time to marinate in the brine and absorb its flavor, so if you're making pickle chips, leave them in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Pickle spears are thicker, so they'll need about three hours. The homemade pickles will last a few weeks if stored in the fridge.