Pickles are having a moment - snack inspo here!

I blinked and pickles were everywhere. There's a pickle-themed menu at Popeye's right now, and it's impressive. The pickle lemonade was surprisingly refreshing!

But pickles have been weasling their way into gastronomy for a while, and their Trojan horse? Fried pickles. First, this carnival favorite trickled into the app menu at family chain restaurants. The next thing you know, you're snacking on Vlasic's Pickle Ball chips in front of the tube. Yes, I can vouch for those too. Those corn puffs taste more like pickles than pickles do. 

The current craze has me discovering new and exciting ways to enjoy pickles. Below are some of the best contributions to modern snacking.

Two-ingredient pickle and cheese crisp

Crispy on the edges, soft enough to roll, this baked snack has incredible contrast.

Ingredients:

• Shredded cheese
• Pickle slices 

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.
• Take shredded cheese (your choice) and sprinkle atop the parchment paper. You can cover a large section or create smaller cheese piles.
• Lay pickle slices atop the cheese, making sure the cheese ratio is always higher, as it serves as the base. 
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove, enjoy!

Cheeto Pickles

Though Flamin' Hot Cheetos was the original chip of choice, it can be substituted with many alternatives from the chip aisle. Mix it up!

Ingredients:

• Sliced pickles
• Hot Cheetos or alternative chip

Instructions

• Take a small bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos (still sealed) and lay it flat on the counter.
• Roll over the bag with a rolling pin until the contents are crushed.
• Open the bag and drop in a few pickle slices.
• Shake shake shake!
• Use chopsticks to enjoy the pickles, continuing to add slices as you snack.

Pickled eggs

It may sound like a hokey country snack, but this Southern classic is as zesty as it is nutritious. 

Ingredients:

• Jar of pickle juice (from a recently-finished jar of pickles)
• Six eggs

Instructions:

• Hard boil eggs until firm.
• Crack, peel, and drop into the jar.
• Wait at least one or two days for the egg to soak up the flavor, then enjoy.

Below, you can see that I even use my pickle-cheese roll up to substitute as bread for sandwiches! It has incredible flavor. If you have creative pickle snack ideas, we'd love to hear about them!