Pickle alfredo pasta
Creamy and tangy pasta with alfredo sauce loaded with pickles and bacon! I don’t crave alfredo sauce often, but when I do, it really hits the spot. The thing is, it’s usually a little one note. It’s not common to have a tangy element in the sauce cause it will break if it gets too hot. Thankfully I was able to incorporate pickles and have a sauce that hit all the right notes!
The inspiration for this recipe
I have been seeing this pickle dip all over social media and for some reason I kept thinking it would taste good as an alfredo pasta sauce. The trouble though with making a creamy pickle sauce is the acidity has the tendency to break the sauce. I set out with a plan to keep it all together, and it worked perfectly. This pasta was crazy indulgent and so tasty I couldn’t stop eating it!
Prep the pickles
The fun of the viral pickle dip is that you use the whole container. I wanted to recreate that for the alfredo pasta sauce, so I strained out the pickles and kept the sauce in another container. The only thing I threw away in this container was the grape leaf.
Once you isolate the pickles from the juice, chop them all up!
Start the pickle alfredo
A little bacon in a pan with butter, then add the pickles, and later some garlic. There is probably enough garlic in the pickle jar to carry the garlic flavor in this sauce, but I always want more.
Flour next, then the reserved pickle juice. Watch it thicken as it comes to a simmer and form the base of the pickle alfredo pasta.
Finishing the pickle alfredo
Some cream cheese, parsley, and parmesan cheese. Then add in heavy cream. Now is the time where you have to be careful. If you overheat it, the pickle alfredo pasta might break.
Add the pasta to the pickle alfredo
Stir the pasta into the pickle alfredo sauce. I cooked it all together on low for a few minutes. If it is too thick, add a splash of the pasta cooking liquid.
Serving the pickle alfredo pasta
I served my pickle alfredo pasta right in the pickle tub like the viral dip, but of course you can serve it in a regular pasta bowl. Top with extra parsley and pickles.
So tasty! It’s rare to have a pickle flavor in a sauce like this and it was worth all the extra effort to make it! It actually wasn’t that much extra effort anyways!
Tips and twists on this recipe
I know I mention a ton of times about the sauce splitting, but you don’t need to be overly nervous about it if you follow the instructions. If you want to make this vegetarian you could use some vegan bacon bits or just leave out the bacon all together.
For more tasty pastas, check out this pickle bacon pasta salad, or my creamy general tso alfredo.
Pickle alfredo pasta
Ingredients
- 16 ounce tub of pickles
- 3 slices bacon chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 12 ounces tagliatelle noodles
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley plus more for garnish
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Strain the solids from the pickle tub and keep the liquid in a bowl.
- Remove the grape leaf and any other parts you don't want to eat. Chop the pickles and garlic and anything else in the pickle tub to a small dice. Reserve about 1/4 cup to use later as a garnish.
- Put a heavily salted pot of water over high heat to boil.
- Meanwhile, add the bacon to a frying pan on medium heat. Stir and cook until rendered and starting to get crispy.
- Add the butter and the chopped pickle mixture, Cook about 5 minutes stirring often.
- Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add in the flour and stir to remove any lumps. Stir and cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Stir / whisk in the liquid from the pickle tub. Continue to cook and stir until it comes to a simmer. It will thicken up a bit. The color is ugly at this point but don't worry.
- Turn heat to low and stir in the cream cheese, parsley, and parmesan. Add in the cream. Continue to stir until everything is combined, but be careful at this step. If it gets too hot, the sauce can separate. Take off the heat as needed and continue to stir.
- Drop the pasta into the boiling water. Cook to package instructions. Just as the pasta is about done, reserve 1 cup of the starchy salty cooking liquid.
- Strain the pasta and add it right to the sauce in the pan. Stir to combine. Return to low heat if needed and cook a few minutes. Add a splash of the pasta cooking liquid if it is too thick.
- Serve and top with more pickles and parsley