The Unexpected Way To Use Pickle Juice That Elevates Potato Salad

Potatoes may be the most beloved comfort food of all time, but let's be honest here — that's mostly due to how versatile they are, not how good they are naturally. Though potatoes are extremely nutrient-dense, they're a smidge bland and boring when eaten on their own. However, when dressed up with seasonings and luscious fat, potatoes transform into the creamy, craveable side dish of your dreams. That's because the starches in potatoes act like little sponges and soak in any flavors they're mixed with, opening a world of endless possibility.

This may be why there are literally hundreds of variations of potato salad recipes cropping up at almost every warm-weather gathering in the United States. Your family might favor a classic mayo-based recipe, prefer a more vinegar-forward version, or go all-out with a potato salad dressed with fresh green herbs. Regardless of which kind is your favorite, there's a way to pack even more flavor into these humble tubers: To take your potato salad from tasty to out of this world, the secret is pickle juice. 

Tangy, tart, and infused with the garlicky bite of dill, pickle juice offers a host of flavors that potatoes absolutely adore, making it one of the surprisingly tasty ingredients that give potato salad new life. Since cubing and boiling your potatoes is already part of making potato salad, it's not a far leap to swap ordinary water with pickle juice. Once they're fork-tender, feel free to drain and cool them before folding into your favorite potato salad dressing to create a deeply-flavored, zingy side dish.

Though simply boiling your potatoes in pickle juice adds a ton of deliciously tangy flavor, it may not be enough for the truly pickle-obsessed (no judgements — us, too). Once your main ingredient is sufficiently infused with vinegary goodness, you can cleverly add that flavor to other areas of the dish to not only unify it, but also make it nearly irresistible.

While it's beyond acceptable to simply chop up your favorite pickles and fold them into the recipe, you may want to opt for whipping up a batch of pickle juice salad dressing instead. This creamy dressing is rich and substantial enough to thoroughly coat your potato salad without an added drop of mayo or red wine vinegar. Simply blend any remaining pickle juice with lightly spicy mustard and a neutral-tasting nut or seed butter to create a dressing that's as delicious as it is nutritionally dense. Of course, after you've used up all of your pickle juice, you might have a handful of actual pickles to use up. Not to worry — as mentioned, a certain number of them can go into the potato salad itself for extra pickle goodness and crunch. The rest can go into a shockingly craveable pickle salsa to create a spicier version of your new favorite potato salad.