Applebee's Pickle Chips

Applebee's Pickle Chips are high in histamine. The cucumbers themselves start out low, but these are cucumbers that have been sitting in a salted vinegar brine, and brined pickles are one of the higher items on almost every histamine list.

Why applebee's pickle chips are rated high

The process is what raises this, not the vegetable. The published ingredients are fresh cucumbers, vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, spices, garlic, turmeric, and polysorbate 80. A fresh cucumber is a low food. Once it spends a long stretch sitting in brine, microbes have had time and a protein source to work with, and how much histamine ends up in a given batch depends on how it was made and held. The vinegar in the brine sits at moderate on its own, so it adds to the total rather than diluting it. Worth knowing that a vinegar brine is generally milder than a genuinely fermented sour pickle, but pickles as a category still land high here, and that is where this appetizer sits.

What changes your risk

• The pickle is the driver, the cucumber is not — fresh cucumber is low, and it is the brined form that carries the level.
• Vinegar is the second contributor — it sits at moderate on its own and it is in the brine, so it comes with every single chip.
• How long the cucumbers sat in brine — the longer a batch sits before it reaches the kitchen, the more opportunity microbes have had, and none of that is visible on the plate.
• Cooking does not lower it — heat kills bacteria but does not remove histamine that has already formed, so a hot crisp chip is not a lower histamine one than a lukewarm one.
• Sitting on the table changes nothing either way — the level is set long before this reaches your table, so eating them fast does not help and letting them cool does not hurt.

Lower-histamine alternatives

There is no lower version of this appetizer to reach for, so the honest move is a different item. On Applebee's lower list, Diced Grilled Chicken and Asian Greens are the two that make the most sense as something to eat, and Burger Patties and Prime Rib are fresh uncured meat rather than anything aged. Caramel Sauce, Syrup, Seasoning, Whipped Cream, and Red Passion Fruit also sit lower if you are looking at the sweeter end of the menu. If it is the crunch and salt you want, none of these are a real match for a fried pickle, and it is better to hear that than to be sent to a swap that is just as high.

How to lower the risk

Nothing on this item is published as removable, so there is no way to order it in a lower form. If the table is ordering pickle chips to share, put something from the lower list in front of yourself so you are not sitting there with nothing: Diced Grilled Chicken or Asian Greens are the straightforward picks. If you are the one ordering for the table, a plate of fresh grilled chicken travels around a table just as well as an appetizer does.

Common questions

Are fried pickles high in histamine?

Yes. The pickle itself is the high part, and frying it does not change that, since heat does not remove histamine that has already formed.

Is it the vinegar or the pickle that makes these high?

Mostly the pickle. Brined pickles rate high, and the vinegar in the brine sits at moderate on top of that.

Cucumbers are low histamine, so why are pickles high?

Because a pickle is a cucumber that has spent a long time in brine, and that hold is where histamine can build. The fresh cucumber is the low version of this food.

Are vinegar pickles the same as fermented ones like sauerkraut?

Not quite. Vinegar brining is generally milder than true fermentation, but pickles still land high on histamine lists, so the distinction does not make these a safe choice.