AmazingRibs.com is supported by our Pitmaster Club. Also, when you buy with links on our site we may earn a finder’s fee. Click to see how we test and review products.

Quick Pickled Onions: Bold And Zesty And Fast

Share on:
peeling red onion

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.

Up your game: Join our Pitmaster Club. Try it out for free for 30 days. No credit card is needed. No spam. Join now and Be Amazing!

Pickled Red Onions Recipe


pickled red onions
Tried this recipe?Tell others what you thought of it and give it a star rating below.
3.65 from 56 votes
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!

Course:
Appetizer
,
Sauces and Condiments
,
Side Dish
,
Snack
,
Vegetable
Cuisine:
American
difficulty scale

Makes:

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

Takes:

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Cooling Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

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. 
Metric conversion:

These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page

Method

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

Nutrition per Serving

Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 74mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg

Related articles

Published On: 5/11/2013 Last Modified: 2/13/2024

Share on:
  • Meathead, BBQ Hall of Famer - Founder and publisher of AmazingRibs.com, Meathead is known as the site's Hedonism Evangelist and BBQ Whisperer. He is also the author of the New York Times Best Seller "Meathead, The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", named one of the "100 Best Cookbooks of All Time" by Southern Living.

 

High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!

Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.

Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.


Post comments and questions below

grouchy?

1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.

2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.

3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.

4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.

5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.

Moderators

  Max

Click to comment or ask a question...

Spotlight

These are not paid ads, they are a curated selection of products we love.

All of the products below have been tested and are highly recommended. Click here to read more about our review process.

Use Our Links To Help Keep Us Alive

Many merchants pay us a small referral fee when you click our “buy now” links. This has zero impact on the price you pay but helps support the site.