The Tangy Ingredient That'll Amp Up Your Favorite Pasta Salad

If there's one dish to take pride in at any event, pasta salad has to be it. People might forget how dry the burgers were or that you ran out of paper plates, but they'll never forget who made the best pasta salad. The next time you want to make a pasta salad that's unforgettable in the best kind of way, you're going to want to add some pickle juice.

Pickle lovers will rejoice at this idea and wonder why they haven't already thought of it. For those who scrunch their noses at the thought, however, just hear us out. People have found a number of clever ways to use up leftover pickle juice, even adding the liquid to their deviled egg filling. Sonic sold pickle-flavored slushies back in 2018, so what's the harm in adding some pickle juice to your favorite pasta salad? Consider when you'll want to add this secret ingredient to maximize the amount of pickle flavor that comes through each bite.

Nothing has to change about your traditional pasta salad ingredient list — just pour a few shots of this glorious juice directly into your tried-and-true recipe. To really taste the pickle flavor, there's no need to use half the jar's worth of juice. After all, no one wants to navigate a soupy pasta salad. Just pour a bit of juice over your noodles before adding any other ingredients to achieve a slight kick in flavor without adding too much "pickle" taste. Freshly cooled noodles will soak up the flavor and help the pickle juice blend nicely into the rest of the dish.

Those who want to taste pickle in every bite can add their juice after they've stirred in the rest of their ingredients. Wait until the very end of your mixing process, and then stir in the pickle juice slowly to disperse it throughout. This way, all of the salad's components will taste like pickles, including the dressing. Regardless of which dressing you're fond of, pickle juice is bound to mix well with it in your pasta salad. Not everyone agrees that fried pickles should be on every fast food menu, but one taste of pasta salad mixed with pickle juice may just convince you that this is the only way from now on.