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Home » Recipes » Side Dish

Quick Pickled Red Onions

December 26, 2019 Updated May 8, 2020 by Lisa Goldfinger 1 Comment This post may contain affiliate links

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glass jar filled with pink pickled red onions.
glass jar filled with bright pink pickled red onions

These quick pickled red onions add sublime vinegary crunch to burgers, sandwiches or whatever else you're serving. They're super easy to make and they keep for weeks in the fridge. You probably already have everything you need to make them so let's get cooking!

glass jar of filled with pickled red onions sitting on a white marble countertop with a striped dish towel and a whole red onion in the background

How to make pickled red onions

The recipe is as easy as can be. Just soak sliced red onions in a heated mixture of vinegar, salt and sugar, let them cool and enjoy!

  1. Slice two red onions thinly and put them in a large bowl.
  2. Mix white vinegar with a little water, sugar and salt and bring it to a boil in a small saucepan.
  3. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the onions and let them soak. When they're cool, they're ready!
  4. Pickled onions can be stored in the fridge for two weeks.

how to make pickled red onions: sliced red onions on a cutting board, vinegar, sugar, salt and a small saucepan

how to make pickled red onions: small saucepan over a flame, hot vinegar mixture pouring out of a saucepan into a bowl of sliced red onions

Quick pickles like this, often called refrigerator pickles, can be made with all sorts of veggies: carrots, cucumbers, radishes...  Onions are my favorite - when you've got a jar of bright pink pickled red onions in the fridge, there are so many delicious possibilities:

  • Put them on a bagel with cream cheese and salmon (instead of capers)
  • Add them to a cheese platter
  • Stuff them into chicken enchiladas verdes or use them as a topping.

Whatever you're eating, whether it's burgers, burritos, sandwiches or salads, these crunchy pink pickles are great to have on hand to jazz things up!

Here are a few Panning The Globe dishes where pickled red onions feature prominently: Vegetarian Enchiladas Verdes,  Korean BBQ Burgers, roasted vegetable quinoa salad and Korean beef lettuce wraps appetizer.

They add amazing acidity and texture to Mexican food and they're really great in curried chicken salad sandwiches too!

In this Korean beef lettuce wrap recipe, I pickled radishes and onions together. Pickled radishes are delicious and when you soak them in hot vinegar, they release their red color and deepen the pinkness of the onions.

close up of a peeled red onion and 4 red radishes, close up of a Korean lettuce wrap with beef, scallions and pickled red onions and radishes

When you think of your favorite condiments, you probably have ketchup and mustard on your list or perhaps mayonnaise? Try making these pickled onions once and, if you're like me, you'll add them to you list!

glass jar filled with pickled red onions, tongs lifting out a bunch of the onions

Here's the recipe for quick pickled red onions. If you try this recipe I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!

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Recipe

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glass jar filled with pink pickled red onions.

Quick Pickled Red Onions


5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

  • Author: Lisa
  • Total Time: 8 minutes
  • Yield: 3 cups 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Crunchy vinegary pickled red onions, great to have on hand for jazzing up everything from burgers to sandwiches to salads.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2  medium red onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 ½ cups distilled white vinegar
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Put sliced onions into a bowl. Combine vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook just until salt and sugar dissolve. Pour hot vinegar mixture over onions and stir.
  2. Let the onions cool for 30 minutes or so. Cover and store in the fridge for at least 45 minutes and up to 2 weeks.
  • Prep Time: 5 min
  • Cook Time: 3 min
  • Category: condiment
  • Method: simmer
  • Cuisine: American

Did you make this recipe?

If you make this recipe, please let me know how it turns out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on instagram with the hashtag #panningtheglobe

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Filed Under: All Recipes, Quick and Easy, Side Dish, vegan, Vegetarian

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    Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

  1. Paul

    December 30, 2019 at 2:25 pm

    These pickles are perfect on top of a burger! thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

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glass jar filled with pink pickled red onions.
glass jar filled with bright pink pickled red onions

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