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I really enjoy red onions, but I absolutely love pickled red onions. If you’ve never had the pleasure of this delicious condiment’s acquaintance, you owe it to yourself to remedy that asap! Ketchup has nothing on this delicious condiment! 🙂
Why Pickled Red Onions?
Glad you asked:
Pickled red onions provide all the flavor of fresh red onions, but have extra depth from their pickling and will keep fresh in the fridge for weeks! Even better — you can make them in only five minutes, or let your 5-year-old make them… it is that easy!
I keep these guys in the fridge at all times… you know, for pickled onion emergencies.
I know there are whole nursery rhymes dedicated to Peter Piper and his pickled peppers, but pickled onions are so much more versatile (and taste better too, in my opinion)!
Ways to Use Pickled Red Onions
On everything.
Want a little more direction? Try these:
- Beef Barbacoa– Pickled red onions are amazing on one of our favorite budget-friendly and time saving recipes: Beef Barbacoa. I cook this in a pressure cooker (I use this Instant Pot) in less than an hour for a delicious restaurant-quality dinner on a busy day.
- Salads– These spice up almost every salad.
- Breakfast– Great on almost any breakfast foods, but especially on quiche, eggs, or other savory foods.
- Tacos or Taco Meat– These are especially great on any kind of tacos or taco salad you can come up with!
- Burgers– Pickled red onions are a great addition to any burger.
- Charcuterie plate– Feeling really fancy? Add these to a charcuterie plate along with your favorite cured meats and cheeses.
Ready to give them a try?
While they taste fancy and sophisticated, they are one of the easiest recipes to make. You’ll only need a handful of ingredients and 5 minutes of free time.
Simple Pickled Red Onion Recipe (In Less Than 5 Minutes)
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chili powder (or garlic powder, for flavor, optional)
- ½ cup white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
- Thinly slice the onions, leaving them in rings.
- Carefully place the rings into a pint size mason jar and sprinkle with the salt and other seasonings.
- Pour the vinegar over the rings to fill the jar and put the lid on.
- Leave at room temperature for two hours so flavors can meld.
- Transfer to the refrigerator for up to two weeks (though ours are usually gone in a couple of days!).
Notes
Nutrition
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What is your favorite pickled condiment? Share below!
So, I made these the other week for my hubby, who LoVES onions (I don’t). I thinly sliced red onion, put it in a jar, threw in some peppercorns (no salt), and topped with Apple cider vinegar. I served them the next day and he said they were awful – tasted only of vinegar. I’ve made them before with white vinegar & he liked them… Do I need the salt? We aren’t avoiding it, I just didn’t think to add any. Does the white vinegar have less kick? Should I dilute the vinegar with something else? Thanks! 🙂
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the salt may be necessary to kill bacteria since we are leaving it out on the counter.
If lacto fermenting, you would not do any vinegar. You would do a salt brine of 3 tbsp of salt to 1 qt of water, and leave it on the counter for 7-10 days at least. Then it becomes chalk full of probiotics, and it tastes great! I cover mine with a coffee filter with just the jar ring holding it on ( no lid).
Thanks for the input, Heather! p.s. I hope you mean “chock” full, rather than “chalk” full. Otherwise I may not be too keen to give lacto-fermenting a try. 🙂
Ha! Thats what i get for using talk to text 😉 just fyi, you can do this with any veggie. Try to make sure all your veggies are under the brine. If you get a bit of white scum on the top, just skim it off. Its harmless.
Is it possible to make this traditionally fermented, rather than with vinegar?
Is this going to have probiotics growing in there?
Are these considered fermented? If not can they be?
I don’t think so because there’s no sugar or source for fermentation to take place, but I could be wrong. And I don’t see why they couldn’t be fermented by adding the necessary ingredients for that process to take place. But all this is just my take on things. Hopefully someone else will add more info.
Some red onions can be quite strong flavored. I found that increasing the vinegar to three-fourths of a cup and adding one-half teaspoon of sugar and a few black peppercorns to the salt and vinegar mixture tames the “bite” rather nicely.
Thanks for idea and recipe, Wellness Mama. I have all the ingredients and love using red onions on a variety of things, so this will be a nice variation to try. Also love how it keeps them “usable” for up to 2 wks!
We use red onion “cooked” in lemon overnight with a pinch of oregano as a garnish for mole (a Mexican dish). This quick pickled red onion recipe may taste good with a pinch of oregano as another seasoning option.
Like your idea of the “cooked” in lemon and oregano.
So you think you could make them fermented and they would taste the same? Thank you
I would love to know this too, as im about to start GAPS, and would love another fermented option!
hmm I will have to try this and give them aways as gifts during this fall season!
Good idea, Ashleigh!
For some reason I can not pin this. Help?
Not sure why you’re having that issue, it’s working correctly for me…