If it’s going to be called a Dill Pickle Macaroni Salad, then it must be packed with lots of dill pickle flavour. That means combining the taste of fresh chopped dill with chopped dill pickles and a splash of dill pickle juice. This salad is so drunk will dilly flavour it will make your lips pucker!

It just so happens that in our home, we all love the flavour of dill. Fresh dill is always best, but we always have some dried dillweed on hand too. We love it in potato salads, in our coleslaw, in our tartar sauce, and most certainly on our popcorn and chips! Dill Pickle Macaroni Salad is so fast and easy to make too, so there’s no excuse to not whip up a big bowl of this anytime the craving for dill takes you!
I love a quick and easy recipe. I love it even more so when I don’t need to cook – except boiling a bit of pasta here, of course! Besides the excellent taste, that’s what makes this macaroni salad so good. It can be the answer to that hateful question – What should I serve with this? As the primary cook in our home, it’s so easy to come up with a main for dinner, but deciding on a side is the one thing I despise the most about preparing a meal. This salad fits the bill in so many instances!
If you love dill as much as we do, then I have a few recipes here that will be sure to satisfy all of your dill cravings. Have you ever had dill on a pizza? Try my Bacon Dill Pickle Pizza; you’ll love it! I’ve also used dill pickles and fresh dill in a Dill Pickle Ranch Pasta dish. I bake with fresh dill too. My Savoury Dill and Feta Scones are perfect for those of you who love the combination of dill and cheese.
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INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE
The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.
- Pasta – You can use any short pasta, like macaroni, rotini, penne, etc.
- Fresh Dill – Dried dill is not a great substitute for fresh dill in a recipe where dill is the prominent flavour. Please use fresh chopped dill for best results.
- Dill Pickles – Use your favourite dill pickle. Chop them very finely.
- Green Onions – These add freshness, colour, and lots of flavour.
- Parsley – For freshness and garnish.
- Cheese – Cheddar cheese is so good in this salad. If you use shredded cheese, it gets too soft, so buy a brick of cheese and dice it for the best results.
- Mayonnaise – You can use any mayonnaise, even the fat-free stuff!
- Sour Cream – This adds tanginess, but will also lighten up the dressing with less fat and fewer calories than using all mayo.
- Dill Pickle Juice – Most of us have a jar of dill pickles somewhere in our fridge. Adding some of the juice to the dressing for this salad will not only add more dilly flavour but will also loosen up the consistency of the mayo and sour cream.
- Dijon Mustard – This adds a bit of warmth and spice to the salad. You can skip it or use honey mustard for a sweeter taste.
- Sugar – For more sweetness.
- Garlic Powder – Fresh garlic is too strong since most dill pickles have garlic already present. The garlic powder adds just the right amount of garlicky flavour to the dressing.
- Salt & Ground Black Pepper
HOW TO MAKE DILL PICKLE MACARONI SALAD
Placed the cooked, cooled macaroni into a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, dill pickle juice, dijon mustard, sugar, ground black pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Whisk to combine.
Add the sauce to the macaroni and stir well.
Next, add the fresh dill, chopped dill pickles, green onions, chopped parsley, and cheese to the bowl of macaroni and toss to combine. Transfer to a glass bowl with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

THE BEST DILL PICKLE FOR THIS SALAD
Well, Dear Reader, the best type of dill pickle for this Dill Pickle Macaroni Salad recipe is quite simply the dill pickle that you buy each time you buy pickles. I find some dills too salty, but if that’s the type you like, buy those.
Some dills are too dilly, but if that floats your boat, get that kind! For us, there’s only one brand of dills that we buy and we have never bought any other brand for the past 10 years. They’re the Bick’s Polskie Ogorki. They have just the right amount of dill-salt-garlic ratio and they’re always crunchy.

DRIED DILL IS NOT THE SAME AS FRESH DILL
If you don’t have any fresh dill on hand but still want to make this Dill Pickle Macaroni Salad, you can. Let me go on record right here and right now. Substituting dried dill will give you dill flavour, but it’s just not quite as good as fresh dill. The fresh dill, along with the dill pickles and dill pickle juice is what makes this salad so extraordinary.
So, if you need to substitute fresh dill for dried dill, it’s easy to do. For this particular recipe, you need to use 1/2 cup of chopped fresh dill. That would be equal to six to eight teaspoons. If you already have dried dill in your spice rack, I understand. But, if you need to buy dill, it might surprise you to learn that a bunch of fresh dill is cheaper than a packet or jar of dried dill!

SERVING SUGGESTIONS
If you’re much like me, you can be easily satisfied with just a big bowl of Dill Pickle Macaroni salad all on its own! But, I’m so used to preparing recipes for Lord Byron’s Kitchen and just eating them standing over the kitchen sink once the photographs are taken! If, however, I was serving this salad as part of a meal, I would want to serve it with a main that would complement or match the flavours of that salad – in this case, that would be dill! How about this Fried Dill Pickle Chicken? Fried chicken can feel heavy because of the oil, and in this case, it’s sweet and dilly. How about these Dill Ranch Chicken Fingers? Go full throttle with everything dill pickle flavoured. Have a dill pickle party!
I’ve got lots of dill pickle sides that you can whip up to go with the fried chicken and the macaroni salad too! I have this Creamy Dill Pickle Coleslaw that would add some added crunch and texture to your meal. And, it’s made with a lot of veggies which should make you feel less worried about the sodium in that pickle juice!

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Dill Pickle Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 450 grams macaroni, cooked according to package instructions, drained and rinsed under cold water until cold
- 1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1/4 cup dill pickles, finely chopped
- 2-3 green onions, finely sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup white cheddar cheese, diced
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons dill pickle juice, straight from the jar of dill pickles
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Placed the cooked, cooled macaroni into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a smaller bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, dill pickle juice, dijon mustard, sugar, ground black pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Whisk to combine.
- Add the sauce to the macaroni and stir well.
- Next, add the fresh dill, chopped dill pickles, green onions, chopped parsley, and cheese to the bowl of macaroni and toss to combine.
- Transfer to a glass bowl with a tight fitting lid. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Nutrition
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