Air-Fryer Fried Pickles with Ranch

The fried pickle is one of those Southern-American bar appetisers that travelled from a few specific roadside restaurants in Arkansas (where the recipe is generally credited to a place called the Duchess Drive-In, 1963) to nearly every chain-restaurant appetizer menu in the country, and now to home air fryers, in the space of about six decades. The journey was justified. A properly fried pickle is one of the great salty-sour-crunchy snacks ever invented.

The technique is straightforward but has one critical step: drying the pickles before breading. Pickle slices straight out of the jar are dripping with brine, and that brine prevents the breading from sticking. Pat each slice on both sides with paper towels until they look matte — like, really commit to the patting. Then dredge in flour-egg-panko (the standard breading), spray with oil, and air fry until the crust crackles.

The dipping sauce is non-negotiable: ranch dressing. Homemade if you're being ambitious (Greek yogurt, mayo, buttermilk, dill, chives, garlic powder, lemon), bottled if you're not (Hidden Valley is the cultural reference, but any quality ranch works).

The photo shows the assembled appetizer: a black wire basket lined with parchment, the pickle chips piled inside and spilling out, with a green ramekin of herb-flecked ranch in the middle. Some chips are leaning to show their craggy edges; the breading colour is genuinely golden, not pale.