Quick Pickled Onions: Bold And Zesty And Fast

Pickled onions are a surprising touch of bright and bold flavor to sandwiches, burgers, salads, and so much more

This recipe is for when you need something to give a dish a jolt and have it ready in 15 minutes. Pickled onions make a great topping for banh mi sandwiches and other sammies, and for salads.

The recipe calls for onions, but it works just fine for pickling scallions, ramps, leeks, cucumbers, sweet peppers, green beans, cauliflower, shredded cabbage, carrots, corn kernels, garlic, and more. The more dense the vegetables, like carrots and cauliflower, the longer they take to be ready to serve, so slice them thin and taste after 15 minutes.

After you get the hang of it you can add more vinegar, sugar, or salt, if you wish. You can add dill and herbs, even hot peppers, but they don’t add much to the flavor in just 15 minutes. They will take a week or so for them to flavor the onions.

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Pickled Red Onions Recipe

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Add a zesty bite to sandwiches, burgers, salads, and more with this simple recipe for crisp and flavorful pickled onions. The recipe, which can be made in only 30 minutes, also serves as a great base for countless other types of pickles including cucumbers, scallions, ramps, leeks, sweet peppers, and green beans. I used red onions but any old onions will do. This method even works on cucumbers!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Cooling Time 15 minutes mins

Servings: 8 1-oz (28.4 g) servings in a pint jar

Course: Appetizer, Sauces and Condiments, Side Dish, Snack, Vegetable

Cuisine: American

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients Method Approximate Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

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• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup distilled white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
• ½ pound sliced onions, cucumbers, or other ingredients

Method

 

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1. Prep. Pour everything except the onions and/or other vegetables into a non-reactive pan.
2. Cook. Bring to a boil. Stir until all the sugar and salt are dissolved. Turn off the heat and add the onions.
3. Let it cool and you can start using them in about 15 minutes. Or pour everything into a pint jar and chill.
4. Serve. Refrigerate the pickled red onions until ready to add to sandwiches, burgers, salads, or other dishes. They last for months.

Notes

About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works. 

Approximate Nutrition

Calories: 30kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 74mgPotassium: 42mgFiber: 1gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 1IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 7mgIron: 1mg

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