“Fried” Pickles+ Vegan Avocado-Cashew Aioli (Gluten-Free)
Last weekend we had a few of friends over for an afternoon BBQ where we grilled veggie kabobs on the tiny grill on our fire escape. Ross marinated the veggies in his secret sauce (he won’t tell me the recipe but he says he’ll do a guest post eventually) and our friend Amy brought over these unbelievably tasty vegan crab cakes -seriously, you gotta try them!
I wanted to make the perfect finger food to snack on while everything else was cooking. Recently I’ve been seeing fried pickles pop up on menus quite a bit so I decided to try my hand at a vegan, gluten-free, baked version. I am so excited about how these “Fried” Pickles turned out!! The pickle flavor stayed strong while the outside became coated and crispy. Fresh out of the oven, they are the absolute perfect party appetizer. I used kosher dill pickles this time but I’m looking forward to experimenting with different varieties. The recipe calls for vegan worcestershire (did you know traditional worcestershire isn’t vegan?)-I used this kind.
I made a super simple Avocado Cashew Aioli to dip the pickles in which was the perfect tangy compliment. To make the aioli, simply blend together the following:
- 1/4 cup cashews, soaked at least 4 hours
- 1 avocado
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 tbs dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs nutritional yeast
- 1 tbs agave
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 32oz jar of pickles, either whole or pre-sliced
- 1 tbs ground flax seeds
- 1 tbs olive oil+ extra for greasing
- 1 tbs vegan worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp agave
- dash of salt and pepper
- 1 cup cornmeal
- Preheat oven to 450°. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil.
- If pickles aren't already sliced, slice them into ¼" rounds.
- In a small bowl, stir ground flax seeds together with 3 tbs warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes before adding other ingredients.
- Create batter by stirring olive oil, worcestershire, agave and salt and pepper into bowl with flax. Pour ¼ cup of cornmeal onto a plate.
- Individually dip each pickle slice into batter, then roll it on plate with cornmeal until coated. Place on baking sheet. Add more cornmeal as needed until all pieces are coated.
- Bake for 20 mins, flipping halfway through. Serve warm with Avocado-Cashew Aioli!
It looks so delicious (as usual of course 😉 )
Quite sure I’m going to make them for my birthday next month.
They are definitely a good birthday snack!! 🙂
Fried pickles are amaaaaazing! I am so excited to try these!!
🙂
Wow, these look great! I love pickles in any form. Bookmarked^^ and happy vegan mofo 🙂