Want to jazz up your next salad or bowl? Add pickled red onions! Tangy & sweet, they're the best way to give almost any dish a bright pop of flavor!
Pickled red onions have been an indispensable ingredient in my kitchen for years. Not only are they a gorgeous, vibrant pink, but they’re tangy, sweet, and a little crunchy. I like to say that they give sandwiches, salads, bowls, and more a “bright pop of flavor,” and though Jack makes fun of me for how often I use that phrase, I can’t think of a better way to describe them.
Try making a batch of quick pickled red onions, and you’ll see what I mean. Top a few onto an otherwise good sandwich or salad, and it’ll become great. Their vinegary, zippy taste adds an irresistible extra dimension of flavor, brightening and sharpening the other elements of the dish. You only need a few minutes and 5 ingredients to make this pickled onion recipe, so give them a try – you’ll add them to everything!
How to Make Pickled Onions
To make pickled red onions, you’ll need 5 basic ingredients: red onions, white vinegar, water, cane sugar, and sea salt.Â
First, thinly slice the onions (I recommend using a mandoline for quick, uniform slicing!) and divide them between two jars. Then, heat the vinegar, water, cane sugar, and salt over medium heat, and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. This will only take a minute or so!
Let the brine cool slightly, and pour it over the sliced onions. Allow the jars to cool to room temperature before covering them and transferring them to the fridge. Your onions will be ready to eat when they are bright pink and tender. This could take anywhere from 1 hour to overnight, depending on the thickness of your onions. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Sometimes, I’ll add a few peppercorns or garlic cloves to the jar along with the onions to make their flavor a little more complex. I like to change up the vinegar too! I particularly like a mix of white wine and rice vinegar, and apple cider vinegar and white vinegar are a fun tangy combination. These variations are great, but they’re totally optional; your quick pickled onions will be delicious even if you stick to the basic recipe!
What to Do with Pickled Red Onions
As I said above, pickled onions are my favorite way to add a bright pop of flavor to almost any dish. Most simply, they’re excellent on avocado toast, but your options don’t end there. Here are a few of my favorite ways to use them:
- Add them to a salad! This roasted cauliflower salad and this grilled potato salad show them off well.
- Stuff them in a sandwich! Pair them with any bright sandwich filling like egg salad, chickpea shawarma, or onto avocado toast.
- Pile them on a burger! I like them with my favorite veggie burger, these falafel burgers, and my classic black bean burger.
- Top them onto any Mexican dish! They’d be delicious with these sweet potato tacos, these many-veggie tacos, or even breakfast tacos or a breakfast burrito!
- Add them to a bowl! Try them in this grain bowl or this buddha bowl, or top them onto a DIY-burrito bowl with cauliflower rice or cilantro lime rice, black beans, pico de gallo, mango or tomatillo salsa, guacamole, and your favorite veggies!
Do you have a favorite way to use pickled onions? Let me know in the comments!
If you love these quick pickled red onions…
Try my roasted red peppers, roasted tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, or pickled chard stems next!
![](https://cdn.loveandlemons.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pickled-red-onions-150x150.jpg)
Pickled Red Onions
Equipment
- Mandoline (makes it super easy to make thin slices!)
Ingredients
- 2 small red onions
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 2 cups water
- â…“ cup cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons sea salt
optional
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon mixed peppercorns
Instructions
- Thinly slice the onions (it's helpful to use a mandoline), and divide the onions between 2 (16-ounce) jars or 3 (10-ounce) jars. Place the garlic and peppercorns in each jar, if using
- Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 1 minute. Let cool and pour over the onions. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then store the onions in the fridge.
- Your pickled onions will be ready to eat once they're bright pink and tender - about 1 hour for very thinly sliced onions, or overnight for thicker sliced onions. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
I’ve just dug up some lovely multi coloured beetroot from my garden, would the same liquid quantities work for this veg too?
Hi Elaine, yep! You could use this brine to make pickled beets.
Hey recipe looks nice and simple. But I am wondering how a recipe with so much vinegar and salt will only last two weeks in the fridge? Isn’t this recipe basically fermenting onions to last for long time? Months? I’m sure I won’t use up a jar of onions in that amount of time, but would like it on-hand to consider for salads and such through-out this hot summer! Thanks for your answer in advance!
I don’t have any red onions at the moment, but I’ve got some lovely fresh brown ones. Will they work just as well?
Do you just heat the brine for 1 min only to dissolve the sugar and salt, or do you heat it a bit longer?
yep – just to dissolve the sugar.
This is my second time making this recipe. I like to add a bit more sugar (I love when the onions are a little sweet). We’ve added these tasty morsels to so many things! Thanks for the easy recipe.
Hi Lara, I’m so glad you’ve loved it!
Hi, what is one cup in ml in this recipe?
240 ml
1 cup is roughly 250mL
This recipe is so easy! The onions taste great! I use this for a quick refrigerator pickle as well and add my own mix of dried hot pepper flakes for that spicy kick!
Hi Steve, I’m so glad you love the recipe! Great idea to add pepper flakes to the brine to make it spicy. Sounds delicious!
What can you use in a pinch if you don’t have mason jars?
On no after slicing the onions so this I forgot to cool the brine! Are my onions ruined!
Hi Theresa, they should still be fine!
Hi Val, any airtight container will work! Just make sure that the onions are fully submerged in the brine.
What ratio of white wine to rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar to white vinegar do you use when you like to change it up? Do you heat up the brine as you do with the original recipe?
Hi Christina, I typically do a 1:1 ratio of each type of vinegar in those combos, though you can experiment with different ratios and see what you like! And yep, I’d still heat the brine.
Hi there, can these pickled onions last for a month in the fridge and would it be possible to reuse the pickling liquid, if so how many times can I reuse it and do I have to reheat for every reuse?
Hi Chantel, they start to lose their flavor after about 2-3 weeks. I generally reuse the brine once, I don’t heat it again, I just put the onions in and let them sit overnight or so.
There’s really no need for the sugar, but if you must, cut it down to a TBS or two
Love how these came out. Can I add more onions to the liquid?
Hi Kelly, you can! I would make fresh brine after 3 weeks-a month.