Upgrade taste and flavor of your tacos, burgers, salads, and toast with easy to make refrigerator pickled red onion. Add a few slices of pickled red onion for bright, tangy, zippy flavor to any sort of Mexican dish.
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🥘Ingredients needed
Quick pickled red onions dish will need 5 basic pantry ingredients. You can add extra seasoning as per your preference.
Here’s what you’ll need-
- 2 medium sized red onion
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 1.5 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoon sugar (or maple syrup or honey), adjust amount of sweetener according to taste preference
- 3 cloves garlic (optional)
- ½ teaspoon peppercorn (optional)
Ingredients additions & substitutions
Onion – red onions are great choice for pickling. You can use regular white or yellow onion or pearl onions too. Pickling white onion will result in less sweet pickled onion, it will also not be as bright pink as red onion.
Vinegar – pickled onion taste depends on the quality of ingredients including the quality of vinegar. Highly recommend you use premium quality white wine vinegar.
Don’t have white wine vinegar in hand? Just substitute it with good quality distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar.
Sugar – to balance out the zippy tang flavor sweetener is needed in your pickling liquid. Use any sweetener of your choice – granulated white sugar, maple syrup or honey.
Salt – don’t forget salt.
Seasoning – Feel free to add any seasoning to your pickling liquid to suit your taste buds. Easily customize the pickling liquid by adding your favorite seasoning like garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, hot peppers, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary.
How to pickle red onions
It’s real simple and very easy to make pickled onions.
- Peel, cut onions into even thin slices.
- Place sliced onions in a clean dry glass jar.
- You can add extra seasoning ingredients like garlic cloves, peppercorns, sliced hot peppers like jalapenos or habanero peppers, fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary. This step is optional.
- Add water, white wine vinegar, salt and sugar to a small sauce pan. Heat on medium heat until liquids comes to boil.
- Pour boiling pickling liquid into the jar of onions.
- Press down onions to ensure it’s completely immersed in pickling liquid.
- Let onions marinade for 30 minutes to 2 hours at room temperature.
- Serve immediately with any Mexican dish or add it to salads, stews, chilies, toasts and beyond.
- Refrigerate pickled red onions in air tight jar for 2 to 4 weeks.
What do you eat with pickled red onions
Make any Mexican meal AWESOME with bright snappy flavors from pickled red onions.
A jar of pickled red onion store in refrigerator always comes handy.
There are so many ways to use pickled onions, these are especially AMAZING with
💭Top tips to make quick pickled red onions
- Slice red onions evenly and thin. If you have mandolin slicer, put it to best use to slice onions.
- To mellow out astringent flavor of onion you can soak sliced onions in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds. Resulting in par boiled sliced onions, thus softens it and tame it’s bite. This step is optional, choose this step if you can’t handle strong pungent flavors of onion and like to have it mellowed down.
- Easily customize the pickling liquid by adding your favorite seasoning like garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, hot peppers, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary.
- Use premium quality vinegar for pickling liquid. You can use white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar with the mother or distilled vinegar.
FAQS
Yes. Red onion is great choice for pickling, but you can use regular white or yellow onion or pearl onions too. Yellow onion may not be turn as pretty as red onion pickle and will be slightly less sweet, but still delicious!
To mellow out astringent flavor of onion you first soak sliced onions in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds. This step will result in par boiling sliced onions first hence softens the onions and tame it’s bite. Follow this step if you can’t handle strong pungent flavors of onion and like to have it mellowed down.
Drain blanched onion into colander then add to a jar and pour pickling liquid. This will result in sweeter and less pungent pickled onion.
Yes. You can add other ingredients to pickled onions. Add extra seasoning ingredients to pickling liquid like
Fresh spice – garlic cloves or ginger
Whole spices – peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves or cinnamon stick
Herbs – bay leaves, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary
Extra kick – sliced jalapeno, sliced habanero, red chili flakes
Other vegetables – you can also add other vegetables like sliced radish, sliced carrots or sliced beets.
Make any Mexican meal AWESOME with bright snappy flavors from pickled red onions.
A jar of pickled red onion store in refrigerator always comes handy. There are so many ways to use pickled onions, these are especially AMAZING with tacos, enchiladas, burritos, salads, pizza, stews, chilies and much more.
Refrigerate pickled red onions in air tight jar for 2 to 4 weeks. Longer onions marinate in pickling liquids, it’s flavor gets better.
FEW SUGGESTIONS TO USE PICKLED RED ONIONS:
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📋 RECIPE
Ingredients
- 2 medium sized red onion
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1.5 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup or honey, adjust amount of sweetener according to taste preference
- 3 cloves garlic optional
- ½ teaspoon peppercorn optional
Instructions
- Peel and thinly slice red onions. Cut onions evenly so it pickles evenly.
- Place sliced onions in a clean dry glass jar.
- You can add extra seasoning ingredients like garlic cloves, peppercorns, sliced hot peppers like jalapenos or habanero peppers, fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary. This step is optional.
- Add water, white wine vinegar, salt and sugar to a small sauce pan. Heat it on medium flame until sugar is completely dissolved and pickling liquid comes to boil.
- Pour boiling pickling liquid into the jar of onions.
- Press down onions to ensure it’s completely immersed in pickling liquid.
- Let onions marinade for 30 minutes to 2 hours at room temperature.
- Serve immediately with any Mexican dish or add it to salads, stews, chilies, toasts and beyond.
- Refrigerate pickled red onions in air tight jar for 2 to 4 weeks.
Video
Notes
- Slice red onions evenly and thin. If you have mandolin slicer, put it to best use to slice onions.
- To mellow out astringent flavor of onion you can soak sliced onions in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds. This step will result in par boiling sliced onions first hence softens the onions and tame it’s bite. Follow this step if you can’t handle strong pungent flavors of onion and like to have it mellowed down.
- Easily customize the pickling liquid by adding your favorite seasoning like garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, hot peppers, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary.
- Use premium quality vinegar for pickling liquid. You can use white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar with the mother or distilled vinegar.
Comments & Reviews
Brenda Bee says
The smell that is coming from my kitchen is amazing. I will most defiantly make it again, especially when going to the park this summer
Jyothi Rajesh says
I’m so glad you liked it Brenda! Thank you!