How To Make Pickled Onions – Easy Pickled Red Onions Recipe
How To Make Pickled Onions – Easy Pickled Red Onions Recipe – quick to make, with minimal prep work and just 5 basic ingredients. These pickled red onions are great for appetizers, antipasto platters, salads, soups, nachos, burgers, on top of pizza, sandwiches or tacos. These simple to make pickled onions add a great crunch to dishes, but also are great on their own, too!
I’ve been making these Easy Pickled Red Onions for a very long time, but I decided to share them, because I recently had them at a very nice restaurant here in Chicago. The food there was great, with lots of fresh ingredients and some amazing charcuterie style appetizers. This is where they served the pickled red onions – on a platter, with meats and cheeses and I questioned myself, why haven’t I already shared this simple and effortless recipe with you?
By the way, I’ve never seen pickled onions on a jar at the store. I’ve seen them at the olive bar/antipasto sections, where you can get them together with olives, but never sold separately in a jar.
So how to quick pickle onions? What ingredients do you need to make pickled onions?
Choose your onions for pickling:
- Red onions are ideal for pickling, because of their milder flavor and beautiful, vibrant color. Of course you can use white or yellow onions.
Get the rest of the ingredients necessary for making quick pickled red onions ready:
Ingredients necessary to pickle onions:
- water – tap or distilled water is fine, I use tap water
- vinegar – to make easy, quick pickled onions I use apple cider vinegar. This is just my preference. This is pretty much the only vinegar I use in my recipes. I know that it is stronger that for example white vinegar. Of course you can use white or red wine vinegar. If you decide to use a colored vinegar with white or yellow onions though, keep in mind that some coloring may occur.
- salt, either regular or sea salt
- sugar – regular sugar or honey is fine
- You may use garlic cloves to add some extra flavor. I like to use one per small jar like this.
- Black peppercorns also add some great flavor to these easy pickled red onions.
What spices to use to enhance the flavor of pickled onions?
You can add fresh or dried thyme or rosemary, or red pepper flakes. Garlic and black peppercorns are just enough for me though.
Par Blanching onions for pickling. What is par blanching and how to do it?
All you need to put the sliced raw onions in a pan filled with boiling hot water for no more than 1 minute, then quickly drain.
This will soften the onions. No need to rinse with cold water afterwards and classic blanching method requires.
I like to leave the onion rings in hot water for anywhere between 30 to 60 seconds, no more. This way they
What size of jar to use for pickled onions?
I like to use small 8-12 oz jars. This way they don’t take up too much space in the fridge and I have enough freshly pickled onions, but not too much.
Also a small onion, fits perfectly in a 8 oz jar and a medium one in a 12 oz jar. This is just to give you an idea, but please understand that the results may vary.
Another important thing is that you need a jar that closes tight. A Ball or Weck jar will work great! I get my jars on Amazon.
Similar Recipes:
- Pickled Vegetables
- Bulgarian red pepper and tomato spread – Lutenitsa
- Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles
How To Make Pickled Onions - Easy Pickled Red Onions Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 red onion — small to medium size, 3-5 oz approximately
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar — white vinegar can be used
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar — or honey
- 1 garlic clove
- 5 black peppercorns
Instructions
-
Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Thinly slice the onions onto rings or half moons. Turn the heat off and add onions. Let them stand for no more than 1 minute, then drain.
-
In a jar (8-12 oz jar this a lid that closes tight) combine salt, sugar, garlic, black peppercorns and vinegar. Stir to dissolve. Add onions. Close the lid and let the onions come to room temperature, then refrigerate.
Onions taste best after at least 24 hours. Store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Calories: 13, Sodium: 297mg, Potassium: 36mg, Carbohydrates: 2g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin C: 1.2%, Calcium: 8%, Iron: 0.1%
How AMAZING would these pickled red onions be on just about any sandwich?? I’ve never pickled onions before and I’m anxious to try these, Mira! Gotta love that pink color!
these look perfect Mira, the color is so pretty!
I have never thought to make pickled onions before, but I do love them! This is such a great recipe, Mira! I love how easy this is. I’m definitely pinning to try out. Sounds delicious!
I like your story. I st here enjoying them in my fish tacos and wondering why I never tried making them 😉 Cheers to you for taking the time to publish your recipe! ? Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Don! Thank you! Hope you like these!
How do I get it to have such bright pink color?
Ni Nina,
Honestly, it is just that some purple onions are way more pigmented than others, this is why these look so bright pink, it is all about what your local store has.
Another trick is to use a little bit of beet in your pickling process if you want to color things a bit without using manufactured additives. I’ve done that with carrots, onions etc.
nutrient content without serving size is not very helpful. 😉 have a great day.
It is for the whole jar.
I’ve made these from this recipe at least 5 times now. Although they say they stay good in the fridge for a month, my experience is that as long as they stay covered by the vinegar they are good for much much longer. I use these on almost everything I can think of. Salad, enchiladas & tacos, with burrata as an appetizer, on caprese stacks, sandwiches, even as a garnish on some soups. I cannot thank you enough for sharing this recipe.