Bread and butter pickles may get a bad rap, but they bring sweet-and-sour punch to burgers, salads, sauces, and more.
I’ve always liked bread and butter pickles, but for a while, I felt like I wasn’t supposed to. They were generally looked down on in the restaurant kitchens where I cooked and made fun of by several of my food-savvy friends, and there are more than a few Reddit threads dedicated to people hating on them. They are often dismissed as being cloyingly sweet, too yellow, and a childish caricature of a “proper” pickle.
Amid this much bread-and-butter vitriol, I kept my mouth shut. But in my fridge, there has always been a jar of them. Now I’m saying it out loud: Bread and butter pickles are delicious and criminally underrated.
What Are Bread and Butter Pickles?
Back when I was discreetly hiding jars of them in my fridge, I knew bread and butter pickles had more going on than people gave them credit for. They’re not just sweet. They’re the definition of a pleasantly nuanced bite: sweet, salty, and tangy all at once.
Bread and butter pickles are typically made with sliced cucumbers, vinegar, sugar, and a mix of spices like mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric—plus, sometimes, onions and garlic. The result is a flavor that’s sweet but not syrupy, tart but not harsh.
That signature sweet-and-sour profile is a combination we’re usually quick to celebrate. We love it in Italian agrodolce, in the sharp brightness of a gastrique, in the sticky sauce clinging to sweet-and-sour chicken. So why not here? Maybe it’s time we reset the conversation. And what better moment than summer during peak burger season, when pickles matter most.
The Global Appeal of Sweet Pickles
Sweet pickles aren’t unique to the US, either. Germany’s spreewälder gurken—a specialty pickled cucumber from Brandenburg categorized by the EU under a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)—are beloved and often served alongside cheese, cold cuts, or coarse rye bread. They were my first introduction to this category of pickle.
One summer, while my dad was teaching in Germany for a few months, he brought home a big jar for us to try. We loved them so much that we finished them in days, sometimes eating them straight from the jar, with no accompaniments needed.
When we picked up a second jar, my mom, dad, and sister had their hands full of grocery bags. Wanting to feel helpful—and maybe just a little mighty—I grabbed one of the bags. It happened to be the one with the cherished pickles. I didn’t make it far. The bag slipped, the jar hit the ground, and shattered. Pickle juice and pieces of glass spread across the sidewalk. We didn’t get to snack on our new favorite that night. The jar broke, but my love for sweet-and-sour pickles was sealed.
So What’s All the Hate About?
So why are bread and butter pickles so divisive? It’s not just the sweetness—though that’s usually the first complaint. Just look at sweet gherkin pickles. They’re sugary too, but because they’re left whole and keep their firmness, they don’t catch nearly as much flak. The other issue for bread-and-butter pickle skeptics is the texture. Because they’re sliced before pickling, bread and butter pickles soak up more brine more quickly, which softens their texture. For those who expect their pickles to have a sharp snap, that tenderness can create a bit of a sensory dissonance.
The color doesn’t help either. That electric yellow—sometimes veering into neon territory—can be off-putting for some (including myself), especially when it comes from artificial dyes. But not all bread and butter pickles glow yellow. Many brands, especially those sold at farmers markets, rely instead on turmeric for that warm, earthy golden hue.
How to Use Bread and Butter Pickles
And yet, for all the strong opinions, bread and butter pickles aren’t exactly a niche product. They line grocery store shelves, show up at nearly every farmer’s market, and land on burgers at diners and gastropubs alike. They’ve endured because they offer something other pickles don’t: A sweet-and-sour flavor that plays beautifully with fat, heat, and smoke.
Yes, they’re made for burgers—hot off the grill, oozing with melted American cheese, and nestled in a soft, squishy bun. That burst of brightness and sweetness plays off the meatiness of the patty and the creaminess of the cheese, giving each bite just enough contrast to keep it exciting. But their talents go way beyond the patty.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to use them:
- Tuck them into a sharp cheddar cheese sandwich on rye. The rich, savory nuttiness of the aged cheese, the slight bitterness of the bread, and the sweet-tangy pickles deliver a salty, umami, sweet, and sour bite at once.
- Chop them into egg salad or tuna salad. A few chopped pickles add a welcome pop of sweetness and acidity that cuts the richness of the mayonnaise in these salads.
- Use the pickling liquid in a marinade or vinaigrette. That leftover brine is liquid gold. Use it to brine chicken wings before roasting or frying, or whisk it into a dressing for a green tomato salad—the pickles’ mellow sweetness balances the tomatoes’ tart bite.
Blitz them into a dipping sauce. A quick blend of chopped pickles, mayo, mustard, and hot sauce makes a punchy spread for fried chicken sandwiches or a dip for fries.
The Final Case for Bread and Butter Pickles
Bread and butter pickles may not win over every pickle purist, and that’s fine. But judged on their own terms—not compared to Kosher dills or gherkins—they’re deeply satisfying and highly versatile. Like bologna, Spam, and sardines before them, maybe they’re due for a quiet renaissance.
