Give Your Sandwich A Tangy Twist With Crispy 'Pickle Bread'

As one of the more controversial sandwich toppings, pickles are kind of a love-it-or-hate-it ingredient. Their acidic flavor, unforgettable crunch, and conspicuous green color have driven many sandwich lovers to cry "hold the pickles" at the drive-thru. But for those of us happy just to get a spear on the side, these vinegary treats are a must. The pickle lovers of the world are always searching for new ways to use these briny cucumbers — and now they're replacing sandwich bread entirely with the stuff. Cooks on social media platforms are hooked on a viral sandwich of sorts that swaps the bread with long, thin slices of pickles which are smothered with cheese and baked until they're firm and crispy enough to fit whatever sandwich fillings you like.

Making pickle "bread" is a quick three-step process: Sprinkle a bed of shredded cheese on a baking tray, arrange pat-dried pickles of your choice on top, and finish off with another layer of shredded cheese before baking until golden. There's a lot of room for customization and creativity here, which probably owes to its popularity online. The only thing your pickles need to be is thinly sliced, like the longer sandwich slice variety, but anything goes in terms of flavor. Dill, sweet, or hot, it's all up to personal preference. But if you're stumped on which brand to buy, it's worthwhile to look into which store-bought pickles are the best. 

As for the cheese, cheddar is the most commonly used variety. Plenty of folks emphasize the low-carb factor of the pickle "bread," which is a nice perk, but it's what you put between your slices that makes the whole thing work so well.

Once you've baked your cheesy pickles to crispy perfection, you've got a tasty base for a million different sandwiches. Theoretically, anything could go between these slices, but the tangy taste definitely pairs better with some fillings than others. Peanut butter and jelly might not be an ideal match, but some sliced turkey breast with tomato, onions, and avocado is a safe bet. A traditional hamburger patty is also right at home here, with all the toppings you'd usually get — save for the pickles and cheese you'd put inside, of course. You could also choose bacon and lettuce to make a pickle sandwich that puts your usual BLTs to shame. If you feel like the sharp acidity of the pickles is limiting your options, you could opt for thin-sliced zucchini as a substitute when making the bread. Or, you can even take out the pickles and bake a bread with some raw onion rings and cheese.

Of course, this isn't the first time people have conspired to replace sandwich bread with pickles, and it likely won't be the last. One of sandwich chain Jimmy John's long-held secrets is the dubiously official Picklewich, a standard sub order with a huge pickle cleaved into halves like a hoagie roll and used as the bread. The trend was an online curio for years — an oddball custom order Jimmy John's fans had somehow convinced certain locations to make. In late 2024, the chain put the Picklewich on the menu for a limited time. It didn't have much success with the general public, but for pickle fanatics, it must have been a dream come true.