Cottage Cheese Fried Pickle Dip

A creamy Cottage Cheese Fried Pickle Dip with lots of protein and the tangy flavor of dill pickles. It comes together in 10 minutes, including a crunchy fried pretzel topping, which makes this taste like the viral fried pickles dip, but with fewer calories and higher protein. The cottage cheese means it is extra healthy, yet so delicious, you’ll want to dip everything in it, starting with chips over veggies to anything from your BBQ.

 

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• Why You’ll Love This
• The Ingredients
• Substitutions
• Equipment Used
• How to Make this
• How To Store
• FAQ
• Other Recipes You Might Enjoy

Why You’ll Love This 

In short:

• High protein due to being based on cottage cheese
• Low fat for the same reason
• No cream cheese, no sour cream, no mayo
• Super creamy because it’s blended
• Fabulous, tangy flavor from pickles, pickle juice and spices you already have at home
• Crunchy topping made of fried sour cream-chives pretzel crumbs
• Keto friendly
• Super easy and takes just 10 minutes to make

What is Fried pickle dip?

Fried Pickle dip is a viral snack that is usually made with cream cheese and sour cream, combined with pickles and topped with fried crumbs, which have it taste similar to fried pickles and with characteristics of creamy ranch dressing from the flavourings.

Usually it’s topped with fried panko breadcrumbs, but I love the flavor a topping of pretzel crumbs adds.

The original is fairly high in fat and not very high in protein, so I adapted it to suit my diet, aiming for higher protein and lower fat by using cottage cheese.

A super quick recipe

I’m having a bit of a week here, as I guess many of you. My horse Kachina has an ongoing infection in her jaw from a tooth that was partially stuck but not spotted in previous X-Rays. So she got surgery and is on antibiotics since (telling me in no uncertain terms how disgusting they taste! The faces she makes have me half laugh, half feel sorry for her!) but the once-a-day brand isn’t working, so we had to switch to a twice a day type. Let’s just say she is not pleased. And I have to get to the yard twice a day to give them to her, as she won’t let the staff catch her anymore to give her yucky tasting stuff . Who can blame her!
Maybe I just start sleeping in one of the stables…

This means I needed some super quick recipes to get me through the week.
Hence this super speedy dip which comes together with a whizz in the blender.
Plus a few other recipes I’ll share soon.

What to dip into this

I think the question is rather what not to eat with it.
Ok…well, maybe not fruits? I guess?
Though if you try, please let me know!

• Put together a colourful crudité platter and serve this as dip for a super quick summer dinner
• With your next bbq! Any protein like chicken, steak, crunchy fried tofu, pork chops and similar is improved by this creamy dip
• Make it for a party or for watching the game with chips and crackers on the side.
• Pretzels! I don’t know what it is, but I just couldn’t get enough from dipping my Pretzel buns into this.
• Use it as healthier dip for pizza
• Also makes a great midnight high protein snack with anything dippable from your fridge. Guilt free too for that matter!

The Ingredients

• Cottage Cheese – I used full fat, because even the full fat cottage cheese version has only 4% fat. So go ahead and enjoy the creaminess. It’s really good for you due to its high protein content, low calories and lots of nutrients. So you can enjoy it even while trying to lose weight.
• Pickles including pickle juice – Any type you enjoy eating. I like the slightly milder versions, but since this has a similar flavor profile to ranch dressing, a full on sour pickle would work well too. The juice replaces the classic vinegar that is often added to dips with a more flavorful option from the aromatics in the brine.

Tip:
Try and make your own quick pickles to use in this dip. It takes minutes and is super delicious.

• Dill – I love using fresh, but dried works fine
• Garlic and onion granules – Or garlic and onion salt. Just add less salt if you use the latter two
  
  Optional, though highly recommended:

• Sour cream and onion pretzels – Or any sort of crunchy snacks from a bag. You’ll just need very little, and it will be fried essentially re-crisping them, so you can use up any leftovers you might have. Alternatively use panko breadcrumbs. I just love the flavor the pretzels add.
• Butter – Or olive oil if you prefer, for frying the crumbs

substitutions

You can use Greek yoghurt instead of the cottage cheese for a slightly creamier version. Or of course make the full fat version with cream cheese and sour cream. Personally I wouldn’t go for the no-fat cottage cheese here, but feel free to try.

Vegan Greek yoghurt would work nicely too. I haven’t seen vegan cottage cheese anywhere yet, but I guess it’s just a question of time.

For the pickles: Try anything pickled like radishes for some color pops or even pickled beets for a stunning pink dip. Wildly experiment, this dip can take some variety.

Herbs – You can use any soft green herbs here. Parsley, chives, cilantro make all great additions.

For a gluten free version use gluten free breadcrumbs or snacks to fry. Or just skip the crumbs. Though, honestly, they are really good!

Equipment Used

• Blender – Ideally a high speed blender like the Nutribullet *. You could make this in a Vitamix *, but if so, double the recipe, as the original amount doesn’t really come up to the blades.
• Knife * and chopping board * – For the pickles

For the optional topping:

• Food processor * – or bag and rolling pin * to process pretzels into crumbs
• Frying pan * – For the fried crumb topping

Equipment used

Nutribullet

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knife

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chopping board

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food processor

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Frying Pan

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*

How to Make this

I said 10 minutes, which includes the frying. If you skip the crumb topping it’s just 5 minutes.

Blend

So let’s start by blending the cottage cheese, pickle juice, onion and garlic powder with a bit of salt and pepper (about 1/8 to ¼ tsp each, depending on your preferences) and the dill. Blend until really smooth. This will take about a minute.

The consistency will be relatively liquidly right after blending. If you want it firmer, just leave it to set in the fridge for a few hours.

Add pickles

Chop your pickles into small cubes. You can add more or less of them depending on your taste. I used one large pickle or 3 small. Stir into the dip.

You could just eat it as it is right now (I sure did):

Or you could take it over the top by adding the crispy fried Pretzel crumbs.

Fry Pretzel crumbs

I used my trusty food processor * to smash the pretzels into crumbs.
Alternatively put them into a bag and take out your frustrations on them by battering the bag with a rolling pin *. Make sure to push the air out of the bag first, or you’ll have an exploded one and crumbs all over the place! Been there, done that.

Melt the butter or heat the olive oil in a small frying pan *, add the crumbs and fry until golden brown.
Do not leave the stove at this stage, they burn really fast! Yup, done that too…

Serve Sprinkle the fried pretzel crumbs over your whipped cottage cheese pickle dip and tuck in!

Watch The Video

How To Store

This is best eaten on the day, as the crumbs may lose their crunch while resting on the dip. But if you want them crunchy longer, simply only top the part you want to eat right away. Or keep them separate if you want to serve it the next day.

FAQ

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please share. It helps me a lot.

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