Flavorful, sweet, and tasty, the heavenly feeling of a well-prepared sweet pickle relish melting in your mouth is on its own class. Throw in some hamburgers, hot dogs, or some potato salad, and you’ll have yourself an irresistible treat. This is why sweet pickle relish is very popular among people of different ages, children and adults alike.
Unfortunately, there may be times where you don’t have the necessary ingredients to make a sweet pickle relish. Or maybe you just want to try a different side dish that is just as scrumptious as sweet pickle relish.
So, what is the best substitute for Sweet Pickle Relish? A good substitute for sweet pickle relish is Chutney. Sweet pickle relish is basically a westernized version of East Indian Chutney. It has a similar taste profile and is equally as delicious as pickle relish. Other viable alternatives to a sweet pickle relish include Dill Relish, Piccalilli Relish and Ketchup.
An Overview of Sweet Pickle Relish
Sweet pickle relish is a trendy American food dressing. It doesn’t just deliver vinegar and sugar to your taste buds; it also delivers layers of flavor and spice. The charm with sweet pickle relish is that you can use different recipes to give you a different flavor while still maintaining that unique sweet pickle relish taste.
While you can get ready-made pickle relish from a store, home-made pickle relish has the edge over store-sold ones. Once you get your ingredients chopped up and ready, your sweet pickle relish can be ready for in no time. The best sweet pickle relish is the densely packed ones that are full of bits of crunchy, fresh veggies.
Why Replace Sweet Pickle Relish?
Of course, in as much as we all love sweet pickle relish (apologies if you don’t), there’s always going to be times that you need alternatives to it for a number of reasons. It could be because:
- You crave something different: No matter how you love any food, there’s always going to be that time that you yearn for something different. Or, it may not be you. It may be your family that yearns for something different. At that point, you’ll find alternatives to it quite handy.
- Difficulties getting ingredients: It could be you traveled to a location that sweet pickle relish isn’t a hit. As a result, you may have difficulties getting ingredients for a sweet pickle relish dish.
Irrespective of whatever reason you may have, we’ve got you covered. Below, we’ll give you a glimpse into equally palatable alternatives to sweet pickle relish you can prepare right out of your kitchen.
Chutney — A Great Substitute For Sweet Pickle Relish
If you are considering a sweet pickle relish alternative, then a warm chutney dressing should be on top of your list. If you’re not careful, you might actually end up loving it more than a sweet pickle relish. And quite frankly, there’s no reason why not.
Just like sweet pickle relish, you can prepare a chutney dressing with different ingredients. Depending on your choice of fruits or veggies, you’ll get a bit of difference in taste and flavor. However, that unique, scrumptious Chutney taste will always remain.
No one wants to spend an eternity preparing a side dish. Whoever invented warm Chutney dressing properly understood this. If you’re doing things the right way, you should be able to prepare a chutney side dish in a much faster time than you would prepare a pickle relish.
Since there are several kinds of Chutney, you’ll need to choose one that has a similar flavor profile with sweet pickle relish. Branston pickle (a popular British chutney) or green Mango Chutney should appeal in similar ways to your taste buds.
How Does Chutney Differ From Sweet Pickle Relish?
People who have had both Chutney and relish mistakenly use the two names interchangeably. However, Chutney and relish (whichever kind of relish) are two different things.
They’d probably be good buddies if they were living beings, but they’re nonetheless different dishes. For a relish side dish, including sweet pickle relish, vegetables are often used while fruits, especially dried fruits, are used for chutneys. An average relish will usually contain chopped vegetables, salt, sugar, vinegar, and spices like mustard, dill seeds, turmeric, curry powder, or chili.
On the other hand, chutneys are usually made of chopped fruit pieces or nuts, sugar, vinegar, and spices like cumin, ginger, coriander, garlic, cardamom, and tamarind. There are different variants of Chutney out there. If you’re a foodie, then there are chances you’ve already had different versions of it.
Preparing A Simple Chutney Side Dish
If you want to get your hands on a simple Chutney side dish, the following ingredients should get you going:
- 2 Tablespoons of prepared Chutney
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon of powdered mustard
- 1/4 cup of HOLLAND HOUSE Malt Vinegar
- One tablespoon of kosher or sea salt
- 2 Tablespoon of sugar
- One clove of garlic
Direction
Simply place all the listed ingredients into a food processor or spacious blender and process until it smoothens.
Serving suggestions
This could get excellently well with crackers, green salad, cheese, or shrimp cocktail. You can double the recipe to meet your demand. Don’t worry about it getting spoilt; it should be able to last in a refrigerator for around two weeks.
Other Sweet Pickle Relish Alternatives
Piccalilli Relish
Another great sweet pickle relish alternative is Piccalilli Relish. Piccalilli Relish is a mustard-based relish that can deliver soothing flavor to your taste buds. Piccalilli can be used as a condiment for hot dogs or any other sandwich. Of course, you can get creative with what you do with it.
Dill Relish
Dill Relish is one of the next viable options on the list of sweet pickle relish. However, that’s largely dependent on what you want to do with it. If you’re looking for something that will go with burgers and sandwiches, then Dill Relish is the way to go. It is crisp, tangy, and refreshing.
Since cucumbers are big players in Dill Relish’s preparation, you should ensure to select the right ones. Kirby cucumbers are great. They should be better than English cucumbers as ingredients for a Dill Relish. If adequately prepared, your Dill Relish dressing/side dish should elicit similar feelings as when taking a sweet pickle relish.
Ketchup
Ketchup doesn’t really look the part, but it could come in handy when out of options. It might not have the same texture and taste, but it would introduce the same sweetness and acidity that sweet pickle relish would offer as a side dish during mealtime.
Whichever sweet pickle relish alternative you settle for, whether listed here or not, always go for healthy options. Also, when buying ingredients for preparing sweet pickle relish or any of its alternatives, always go for fresh and organic options.