Go Back Email Link
–+ servings
Ella Cooks

Dill Pickle Soup That Actually Tastes Like Pickles

Love it? Click to rate
Be the first to rate this recipe!
The first two times I made this it came out as potato soup with something vaguely sour going on in the background. Which is what most dill pickle soup tastes like, and I could not work out why, because I’d put half a jar of brine in. Then it clicked. I’d been putting the brine in early and simmering it for twenty minutes. Vinegar and fresh dill are both fragile. Cook them and they go soft and dull and mostly disappear. So now the brine goes in at the very end, off the heat, and the difference is not subtle.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Soup
Calories: 290
Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
  

The base
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 onion finely diced
  • 2 carrots coarsely grated
  • 2 celery ribs finely diced
  • 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 1 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes cut into small cubes
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
The pickle part
  • 2 cups dill pickles coarsely grated, about 7 or 8 spears
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup dill pickle brine cold, straight from the jar
  • 3 tbsp fresh dill chopped

Method
 

How to make it
  1. Build the base. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook gently for 6 or 7 minutes until everything has softened and the onion has gone translucent. You’re not looking for colour here.
  2. Make the roux. Stir in the flour and let it cook for a minute, stirring the whole time. It’ll look like a thick paste and that’s right.
  3. Add the liquid. Pour in the stock a cup at a time, stirring after each addition so it stays smooth. Add the potatoes, dried dill and pepper.
  4. Simmer. Bring it up to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 15 to 18 minutes, until the potatoes give easily to a fork but haven’t started falling apart.
  5. Add the pickles. Stir in the grated pickles and give it another 5 minutes. They only need warming through.
  6. Temper the dairy. Whisk the sour cream and heavy cream together in a bowl, then ladle in a cup of the hot soup and whisk it in. Now pour that back into the pot. Doing it this way stops the sour cream splitting, which it absolutely will if you drop it in cold.
  7. Off the heat. Take the pot off the hob completely. Now stir in the cold brine and the fresh dill. Taste it. It should be properly tangy, not gently sour.
  8. Salt last. Between the stock, the pickles and the brine there’s a lot of salt in here already. Taste before you add any.

Nutrition

Calories: 290kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 6gFat: 17gSodium: 980mgFiber: 3gSugar: 4g

Notes

Things I learned the hard way

Don’t boil it once the cream is in. It’ll split, and there’s no coming back from that. Gentle warming only from step 6 onward.
 
Squeeze the grated pickle. Not bone dry, just a light squeeze over the sink. Otherwise you’re adding a surprising amount of extra liquid and the soup goes thin.
 
Taste before the second half of the brine. Pickle brands vary enormously in how sharp they are. Add a quarter cup, taste, then decide.
 
If it’s too tangy, a spoonful more sour cream pulls it back. If it’s not tangy enough, more brine, still off the heat.
 

Tried this recipe?

Let us know how it was!
QR Code linking back to recipe