Jarred pickles are a staple in any refrigerator. But once the crunchy, briny snacks are gone, you may find yourself with a jar of pickle juice that seems relatively useless. That is, until now.
One waste-minimizing cook recently took to Instagram to share her tasty hack for using up leftover pickle juice — and it only requires one additional ingredient.
The scoop
In her waste-minimizing Instagram series called "Scrappy Cooking," cookbook author and plant-based cook Carleigh Bodrug (@plantyou) shared her hack for using up leftover pickle juice.
Honestly, the recipe couldn't be easier: In your pickle jar, add a cup of tahini to your leftover dill pickle "juice" — aka the leftover vinegar infused with all of that pickled flavor. Close the lid and shake to emulsify the concoction. You're left with a creamy dill dip that is perfect for veggies, breads, and more.
Bodrug recommends topping the dip with crispy chickpeas and a little olive oil, using it as a dip for flatbread. On her website, the cook wrote that the dip is an accessible and fun way to try a vegan dip if you're new to plant-based cooking.
"It's quick, low-effort, and budget-friendly," Bodrug wrote of the hack on her website. "Naturally, it's also delicious!"
How it's working
As Bodrug wrote on her website, this hack will save you money by upcycling often-wasted pickle juice into a delectable dip. But the hack is also a small way to help minimize your food waste.
In the United States, 30 to 40% of the food supply goes to waste. Yes, that means perfectly good food goes to rot in landfills. But it also means the resources used to produce and transport that perfectly good food are wasted — and even more resources are spent to dispose of that discarded food.
Reducing food waste contributes to a cooler, healthier planet by easing the strain on the Earth's resources needed to produce and transport food. Even skipping out on a veggie dip in the supermarket for something you already have can make a difference in curbing some of your personal food waste.
What people are saying
Bodrug's followers were impressed by the innovative waste-not recipe, with many promising to try the hack once they have leftover pickle juice.
One commenter joked: "This upcycling hack is a big dill."
Among comments praising the hack, followers also shared their own culinary tricks for using leftover pickle juice, an often overlooked gem in the kitchen.
"I reuse my pickle juice to pickle red onion and the results are delish," one commenter wrote. "Super simple!"
"I normally toss hard-boiled eggs into leftover pickle juice, but I'll have to try this," another Instagrammer added.
A third commenter advised: "I usually save mine as a chicken brine, but this looks great too."
Many commenters, however, couldn't fathom the concept of leftover pickle juice, saying they are often guilty of drinking the briny liquid straight from the jar.
As one commenter wrote: "Or just chug [the pickle juice] straight out the jar like a heathen."
If you try this hack for yourself, don't forget to save your pickle jar once you're done shaking up this dip. Pickle jars are great for food storage, including keeping veggies fresher and snappier longer.
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