This is a seriously quick and easy recipe to make pickled red onions. You know that bright pink, impossibly crisp, tangy thing piled on your favourite taco or banh mi, you can make it in less than 5 minutes and eat after an hour. The sliced onions go with absolutely everything, even avocado toast and you can tweak the taste so easily. Oh and onions are packed full of goodies that keep you healthy too.
It’s one of those recipes that feels like cheating because the effort-to-payoff ratio is absurd. You slice, you pour, you wait a few minutes, and suddenly you have this restaurant quality condiment that makes Mexican dishes, grain bowls, pulled pork taco, sandwiches, and scrambled eggs taste like you actually tried.
Ingredients for Pickled Red Onions
Most of you will have the ingredients in your pantry cupboard already, there are only 4. These are red or white vinegar or white wine vinegar, salt, brown sugar (can be any sugar or maple syrup), lemon juice. Oh, and a large red onion.
How to Make Pickled Onions
This is such an easy quick pickling recipe, with all the ingredients at room temperature, finely slice your red onion (any way you like, I prefer to cut in half first and then slice thinly).
Place it in a mason jar or a bowl, whatever tickles your fancy. Then add a good pinch of salt and good pinch of brown sugar, no hard and fast rules here just sweeten them up enough to your liking.
Pour over the juice of 1 lemon (or a lime works well too) and around a 1/4 cup of your red or white wine vinegar. Give the red onions a quick mix through using a fork and sit aside for half an hour before mixing through again.
After about 1 hour you can use the pickled red onions on whatever you like.
Optional Spices
If you like a little more spice in your quick pickled red onions, this is as easy as adding some whole black pepper corns,1 or 2 whole cloves, a bay leaf, even a few coriander seeds or a pinch of red pepper flakes. It’s a great way to spice up the pickle brine to your liking.
What to Eat with Pickled Red Onions
These things go with pretty much anything. You can add to a salad to give it a tangy crunch, slap them on your favourite Mexican dish and they are amazing with my Pulled Pork tacos.
Pork carnitas, fish tacos where their acidity cuts through rich, fatty protein. Layer them into banh mi or favourite sandwiches where they add crunch and brightness against pickles and mayo.
Toss them onto poke bowls with roasted vegetables, feta, and tahini dressing for a pop of colour and acid. They’re incredible on beef and veggie burgers, where they replace the need for pickles and raw onion in one move.
They also shine in less obvious places. Stir them into scrambled eggs or fold them into an omelette with goat cheese and herbs. Scatter them over avocado toast with a runny egg.
Add them to a cheese board for a tangy contrast to creamy brie or sharp cheddar. Use them as a garnish for grain salads, lentil soups, or roasted sweet potatoes.
In fact, your new absolute favourite red onion pickle dish will provide a sharp contrast to any dish you like.
Easy Pickled Red Onions Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 med Red Onion Red onions are sweeter and milder than white onion and turn vibrant pink in pickle brine.
- 1/3 tsp Sea Salt or Kosher salt seasons the brine and helps to draw moisture from the onions.
- 1 tsp Brown Sugar sugar helps to balance the acidity of the pickling liquid, you can also use white sugar or maple syrup.
- 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar can use white wine vinegar or pretty much any type of vinegar.
- 1/4 cup Lemon Juice or lime juice - it gives it a slightly smoother flavor than using a full vinegar solution.
Instructions
- Slice your red onion finely and place in a mason jar or bowl.1 med Red Onion
- Sprinkle with the sea salt and sugar.1/3 tsp Sea Salt, 1 tsp Brown Sugar
- Pour the lemon juice and red wine vinegar over the top.1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar, 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
- Mix the onions through the brine and sit for half an hour. Re-mix the onions and leave for another half hour before eating.
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