I Tried the Popular Fried Eggs with Pickle Juice Recipe and I Was Pleasantly Surprised by the Results

One night as I was scrolling through TikTok, I came across this very perplexing post from creator @dansgoodside. Fried eggs cooked in pickle juice?! As an egg enthusiast and pickle pundit, my interest was piqued. Though it seemed so viscerally wrong to pour the liquid from a pickle jar straight into a hot skillet over partially cooked eggs, I felt like I had to try it before writing it off.

Try the Method: Pickle Juice Fried Eggs

These pickle brine-fried eggs start out like any other fried eggs: with a hot pan and enough fat to coat the bottom of it. I used about a tablespoon of butter for two eggs, but olive oil or any other oil would work just as well. When your oil or butter is hot, crack your eggs into the pan and cook them about three-quarters of the way through, until the whites are almost completely set. Next, drizzle about a tablespoon of dill pickle brine on and around the eggs, tipping the pan from side to side to allow the brine to run over the eggs and the surface of the pan until it evaporates almost completely, about one minute more. At this point you could cover the pan with a lid to continue to cook the yolks, but I like mine runny so they went straight onto a plate.

Serve them alone, in a breakfast sandwich, or on anything else you enjoy with a fried egg. I served mine on buttered sourdough toast with pickle-inspired garnishes and a side of pickles to really make those familiar briny flavors pop.

The flavor of these eggs was a bit more subtle than I was expecting, but I really liked the muted notes of garlic and herbs present in the brine. It was easier to detect the pickle flavor in the egg whites, which had a dill-flavored tang reminiscent of a lightly pickled egg. I also found that adding the brine during the cooking process allowed it to permeate the eggs, seasoning them throughout — perfect for a salt-lover like myself. 

The only downside I found was that the vinegar in the brine made the egg whites slightly rubbery. Eaten with plenty of creamy yolk, I didn’t find this too off-putting, but I wouldn’t recommend upping the amount of pickle brine for this reason. If you really want another boost of pickle brine flavor, you could drizzle a little more onto your eggs right before serving.

Would I make them again? Probably not, but that’s mostly because I’m not usually in the mood to complicate my breakfast routine — or anything else — early in the morning. Even so, it was a fun experiment and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

1. Don’t add the brine too early. To avoid the previously mentioned rubbery egg whites, allow your eggs to cook almost all the way through before adding your pickle brine. The liquid will evaporate quickly, and the longer the eggs cook with the brine, the more rubbery they’ll get. The added liquid will also help the yolks cook more quickly as it steams, so keep that in mind when deciding when to add the brine.
2. Season the eggs with pickle brine ingredients. To accentuate those subtle dill pickle flavors, I garnished my eggs with sprigs of fresh dill, cracked black pepper, red chili flakes, and a sprinkle of salt. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could rub your toast with a cut piece of raw garlic. These additions will make those quiet briny flavors sing.
3. Serve them with something creamy. Though these eggs were good with buttered toast, I think a richer, creamier spread would be even better to balance the slightly acidic flavor. Toast with avocado, cream cheese, or even a good goat cheese would do the trick.