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Dill Pickle Soup is a creamy, potato chowder style soup, loaded with dill pickles and plenty of flavor. I can pretty much guarantee that you’ve never tasted anything like this!
Every so often, you run across a recipe that grabs your attention and simply doesn’t let go. The first time I saw Dill Pickle Soup mentioned, I did a double-take and wondered what on earth it would taste like. Then I heard some friends raving about this soup and decided I needed to try it myself.
Pickle Soup
My friend Cathy from Noble Pig created this recipe for Dill Pickle Soup and it is by far the most unique soup I have ever tasted. We are almost entirely a family of pickle lovers and this soup is a pickle lover’s dream come true.
My oldest son took his second bite of this pickle soup and declared this soup to be his new lunch choice for his birthday meal. This is a BIG deal in our house because on your birthday you get to choose all the meals for the day. Lots and lots of thought goes into their choices all year long.
If you love pickles and you haven’t yet tried Dill Pickle Dip or Dill Pickle and Bacon Potato Salad you’ll want to try both of those too!
Soup Recipes
Want a few more soups to warm you this winter? I start looking forward to this Creamy Turkey Noodle Soup about this time of year every year. Turkey will absolutely be set aside for this recipe.
My cousin Helene gave me this recipe for Pizza Soup years ago and my kids still rave about it when we make it. And this Green Chile Stew recipe happens several times each fall and winter. Served with warm tortillas, it’s a memory in a bowl for those of us who spent some years in New Mexico.
This Pho recipe caught my eye a few days ago and I immediately pinned it to my “can’t wait to eat this” Pinterest board. Along with this Lemon Chicken and Dumplings, I have some delicious new recipes to try this winter.
Dill Pickle Soup
- In a large pot, combine the broth, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Add the pickles and continue to simmer.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sour cream and the flour to make a paste. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot broth from the pot, whisking until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the cream mixture into the pot and whisk or stir until smooth. Stir in the pickle juice, Old Bay, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
- Cook 5 more minutes, to thicken the soup slightly. Remove from heat.
- Scoop into bowls and garnish with additional pickles and/or fresh dill.
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2½ pounds russet potatoes peeled and chopped into 1/2″ pieces (I used 2 giant baking potatoes.)
- 2 cups chopped carrots small dice
- 1½ cups chopped dill pickles small dice (3-4 large dills or 20+ baby dills)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour*
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups dill pickle juice
- 1¾ teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt only as needed
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Toppings: slivered dill pickles fresh dill
*Gluten-Free Alternative
- 1 cup brown rice flour
Instructions
- In a large pot, combine the broth, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork tender. Add the pickles and continue to simmer.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sour cream and the flour to make a paste. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot broth from the pot, whisking until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the cream mixture into the pot and whisk or stir until smooth. Stir in the pickle juice, Old Bay, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
- Cook 5 more minutes, to thicken slightly, and remove from heat. Scoop into bowls and garnish with additional pickles and/or fresh dill. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
{originally posted 10/21/14 – recipe notes and photos updated 11/7/18}
I am such a chicken but I bet my husband would love this recipe! It sounds wonderful and fascinating and does get your attention. It is very pretty too Mary!
When I read the name, I knew this had to be looked into. It does sound very unique and should be tried.
I need to try this very soon, so different!
What is Bay seasoning? Is there a substitute I can use or where can I get it?
You can find Old Bay seasoning in the spice aisle at the grocery store. It is a great blend of spices for seafood and lots of other foods!
Is a traditional Polish soup called "ogórkowa", if the taste suits you should also try a soup called "Kapuśniak"
2 or 3 litres vegetable broth
half kilogram sauerkraut (without juice)
2 large carrots
1 large parsley – root or parsnip
1 small onion
half small celeriac
200 g smoked bacon
half teaspoon marjoram
half teaspoon caraway
4 medium potatoes
3 seeds pimento
2 bay leafes
salt
pepper
3 tablespoon tomatoe puree
1. Cut sauerkraut. If you bought sauerkraut in juice – use just cabbage. You can drink juice – is full of vitamine C and very tasty! If you like kapusniak very sour – you can add some of juice to broth.
2. Dice into small pieces carrots, celeriac, potatoes and parsnip. Add vegetables, cabbage, bay leafes, pimento, caraway, marjoram to broth. Start cooking on low heat. Cook for one hour (more or less).
3. Dice bacon and onion into very small pieces. Fry bacon. Add cracklings to soup. Use fat from bacon and fry onion on it. When golden-brown add to soup. Cook for 30 minutes.
4. Add tomatoe puree and season soup. Cook for 10 minutes.
5. Serve very hot with fresh sourdough bread.
I was surprised also to see this labeled as American cuisine. (Try to find this in any American restaurant, never going to). Have to make your own or order online from Poland. Make sure you have turned on the translator of your phone for directions on the later if you don’t speak Polish.
That is interesting, Cheryl. I guess I thought of it as American cuisine in that I’ve never heard of it elsewhere. Thanks for the tip!
ohh you can also use pork spareribs instead of bacon 😉
Can you use whole wheat flour instead of white flour or rice flour to the sour cream? Thx.
That should work fine.
Is this "paste" to make the soup thicker? I had a recipe where you mixed flour, water & sour cream & drop it into the soup by the tablespoon. What happened is it made teeny little dumplings. It wasn't supposed to because the recipe should have said to put the tablespoons of mixture in before soup was boiling. Boiling turned it into little dumplings–which personally I enjoyed. Wonder if you could do that with this??
Yes, the "paste" thickens the soup. I imagine you could make dumplings with it if you'd like. I've never done that myself. Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
This is an amazing soup…not sour at all…extremely wonderful…very hard for anyone to pinpoint what the flavor is!!! We love it with crusty bread and butter…..dont miss out
Can we make a day or two ahead
It should work nicely and keep for a couple days.
I have made this recipe a few times, and it is always a hit. Thank you!
I’m so happy that you love it, Milissa!
Just made the dill pickle soup. It is so good! Husband likes it!
Thank you!
I’m so glad that you like the soup, Alexis!
I followed recipe exactly. The soup was way to thick.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t love it, Barbara. Without being in your kitchen with you, it’s hard to guess what might have gone wrong. Did you by any chance substitute an ingredient? It really shouldn’t have been very thick.
Pickle soup?? This is the reaction from people when I mention this soup. It’s not for everyone, but I love this soup and have made it several times, whenever I’m in a pickle mood, because you do have to go through a lot of pickles just for the juice. Years ago, thinking about how much I love pickle juice, I was thinking, what if there’s a way to make soup out of it? And that’s when I found your recipe. Thank you for sharing this!
That is awesome and yes, it’s definitely a soup for pickle lovers! I’m so glad you love it too, Amy.