Description
Quick pickled red onions made without boiling vinegar, so there’s no lingering vinegar smell in your kitchen! Crisp, tangy, and lightly sweet, they’re an easy way to add brightness to salads, grain bowls, tacos, sandwiches, and more. Ready in minutes and great to keep in the fridge for an instant flavor boost.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 cup water
- 1 medium-large red onion, peeled, halved, and sliced thinly
- 2 teaspoons organic cane sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (pickling salt, or salt without anti-caking agents & iodine)
- 1 cup white vinegar (or pickling vinegar)
Instructions
- Boil water. Start the water boiling in a small pot on the stove or in an electric tea kettle. (see notes!)
- Pack jar. While water comes to a boil, pack a 16-ounce jar (widemouth is great here) with the thin slices of red onion. Top with the sugar and salt.
- Pour & shake. Once the water has boiled, remove it from the stove and immediately fill the jar halfway full (you might not use all the water). Fill the remaining half of the jar with the vinegar until a little space remains at the top. Gently shake and/or turn the jar a few times to mix everything together.
- Pickle. Remove the lid to let the red onions cool. Once cooled, replace the lid and let them pickle on the countertop or in the fridge for about an hour. Top something immediately or store in the fridge for tomorrow!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
- Water & vinegar. You may not need all of the water and vinegar, but better to have slightly more than enough ready to go! I like to pour the vinegar directly from the bottle so I don't measure out too much and end up having to pour some back.
- Boiling. Boiling the water helps break down the onions a bit faster, but you can skip this too. Just add all the ingredients to the jar, cover, and gently shake to combine. Then wait for the onions to pickle!
- Salt. When it comes to pickling, I do prefer a pickling salt or salt without iodine & anti-caking agents because it takes away that metallic taste when pickling.
- Using a mandoline. You want thin slices here, and some people like to use a mandoline for that. Personally, I like the onion texture with a little more crunch and thickness, so I use a chef's knife to slice thinly, but not paper thin (as a mandoline would). Both are great!
- Storage. These can be stored in the jar that you made them in, in a fridge, for up to a week.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Pickle
Nutrition
- Serving Size: About 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 8
- Sugar: 0.8 g
- Sodium: 73.8 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.2 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
