Dill Pickle Chicken: chicken breasts are brined overnight in pickle juice, breaded in seasoned bread crumbs and baked until perfectly juicy and golden brown!
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Do you love pickles? Do you feel bad when you have to throw away the leftover pickle juice?
Then boy oh boy, do I have the pickle recipe for you: Dill Pickle Chicken.
We marinate, or more properly — we brine, thin chicken breasts in dill pickle juice for 8 hours.
Then we dredge the chicken in flavored breadcrumbs and bake it until golden.
The chicken stays insanely juicy, has a very light pickle flavor and is one my new favorite ways to make “oven fried chicken”.
Pickle Juice Brined Chicken
Why pickle juice? Well, first, I hate wasting anything and pouring out a jar of pickle juice kills me a little inside.
But mainly, because it makes an amazing easy pre-made chicken brine!
If you do not have an almost empty jar of pickles, that’s ok. These days they sell pickle juice all by itself!
While I used classic dill pickle juice for this recipe, I also tested it with a spicy pickle juice and bread and bread and butter pickle juice.
All of the versions were delicious and added slight variations to the finished dish.
Feel free to switch it up and try what pickle juices you already have in your fridge.
Oven Fried Chicken
Oven fried chicken is my personal favorite way to make fried chicken at home.
It is not the same as true fried chicken, but it’s healthier and delicious in it’s own right!
To get the best finished texture and taste, I dip my thin chicken breasts in a mixture of eggs and milk.
Then I coat them in a mixture of seasoned bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper.
Place the coated chicken breasts on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and lightly spray with olive oil (or olive oil cooking spray).
You can also use coconut oil, just make sure you get an even light mist sprayed on both sides.
The cooling rack allows the air to get on both sides of the chicken breast and neither side will get soggy.
It’s the best way to make perfect oven fried chicken, every single time!
This Dill Pickle Chicken recipe is incredibly easy to make and takes minimal prep on your part.
It makes a perfect weeknight chicken dinner to go along with some good vegetable sides. My kids gobbled it up!
Share how the recipe turned out for you by rating it or leaving a comment below!
Dill Pickle Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs thinly sliced chicken breasts
- 1 ½ cup dill pickle juice
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ¾ cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- ¾ cup seasoned panko bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- olive oil cooking spray, optional
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Instructions
- Place chicken and dill pickle juice in a ziplock bag. Remove as much air as possible and move chicken around to coat in pickle juice. Marinate in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours.
- After marinating, remove chicken from pickle juice and dry the chicken on paper towels. Discard any leftover pickle juice.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or place a wire cooling rack on a rimmed baking pan for crispier all around chicken.
- Whisk together eggs and milk in a medium sized bowl. In a large shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs, panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper.
- Dip chicken breasts in the egg mixture, then into the breadcrumb mixture and shake off any excess.
- Place the chicken onto the prepared baking sheet and spray both sides with olive oil cooking spray.
- Bake for 10 minutes and then flip and continue to bake for approximately 8 minutes more. You want your chicken to be golden brown and cooked through with an internal temperature of 165°F.
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My grandson loves dill pickles and I cook for him on swim lesson days, which means a later dinner. He thought it was terrific, and I liked the easy preparation. By the way, as a good blogger and cook, I know you want everything grammatically correct so please accept a small edit from a retired school teacher. It’s ‘its’ ( no apostrophe) ‘….delicious in its own right!’ when using the possessive adjective.
Have you tried making this with fish? If yes, I was wondering how long to bake.
Hi Mary! I have not, but I would use a meat thermometer so you know exactly when it’s done cooking and has reached temp. 🙂
I made this last night, turned out great. Thank you for sharing 🙂
There is a restaurant that serves a sandwich like this but they also have a dill aioli on it with slices of pickles.
Do you need to flip the chicken if you’re using a baking cooling rack?
You can! You don’t have to, but if you want it extra even, yes you can flip it!
Can you use something else if there’s no breadcrumbs at home:)
I’m doing keto ,I sub the bread crumbs with a almond flour and parm cheese .it’s delicious !!
This has to be THE most bizzare recipe for chicken I’ve ever read and I’ve read umpteen zillion of them thanks to social media!! I LUV dill pickles, specifically Claussen dills, they’re in the ‘fridge section of the grocery store. I can’t wait for the sun to rise so I can make a grocery run for the pickles and chicken!!
BTW, please start adding the recipe name as well as your’s to each pic to make it easier for lazy people like me. Thanxabunch !! ~Judy
Can you soak the chicken overnight? I just put some thighs in a ziploc baggie with the pickle brine, a sliced jalapeno, fresh dill from the garden and a large helping of fresh grated garlic. I can’t wait to try it!
Yes you can! Sounds great – please let me know how it turns out!
So excited to make this at home. I have been looking for a recipe like this for a bit, thank you so much!
Can this be made using an electric fry pan or grilled?
I don’t think grilling is a good idea with the breading, but I think it would be great pan fried!