Pickled Onions – Quick & Easy

My pickled onions recipe is very easy to make, and it uses simple ingredients. You’ll most likely already have them on hand.

I love the gorgeous color, don’t you? And the taste is absolutely amazing! Another plus is they are raw, so no cooking.

After you slice and stir, your refrigerator does the rest the work for you. Yah!

They make beautiful and very welcomed gifts. These pickled onions are also inexpensive to make, so you can churn out a batch of them this holiday season.

Ok, let’s get started making pickled onions.

You can change up the color and taste however you like, and that’s done just by the type of vinegar you choose.

It’s best to steer clear of certain vinegars that could overpower the onions. (I don’t like raw onions, but love these, so know that it doesn’t have a strong, raw aftertaste.)

Here’s a good list of different vinegar varieties and their flavor.

These are some brands that I use in my pickled onions:

Napa Valley Naturals Organic Red Wine Vinegar

And I mix it up with a different, more mellow, zinginess by adding Nakono Natural Rice Vinegar

Doesn’t this looks delicious? It is!

Pickled onions are a perfect accompaniment for vegan bagels and lox. This is carrot lox, and it is very tasty. The texture isn’t quite right, in my opinion, though.

Next up for me is making it from scratch. That way I can play around with the texture. This recipe caught my eye, so I’m going to try it later this month if I get a breather. lol

Yummalicious! I actually made this BBQ Vegan Meatloaf last night, and this is what I’m eating for lunch today. So good!!

I like adding some peppercorns, garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, etc to the pickled onions mix.

You can split the onions up into different small jars, and then add in different flavorings, spices, and herbs to concoct some magical tastes.

Pickled onions add soo much… hmmm, not kick, but oomph to blander foods- like this vegan egg salad (recipe coming soon).

They lend flavor to your dishes, without overpowering them. Perfect, right? Yep.

Ok, all this food is making me hungry. Ugh I really need to eat lunch now, or it will soon be dinner. haha I also need to make some more holiday gifts.

Here are a few suggestions that might interest you. I’m going to use all clear vinegars, and then add a bit of beet juice- just enough to turn the onions red.

Then I’m going to make up a batch of my Spicy Green Sauce, and pack each into pretty bottles. That will make festive and very delicious homemade Christmas gifts. Enjoy!

Refrigerator Pickled Onions

Print Recipe

Serves: 10 Cooking Time: Prep only: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 large red onion
3/4 cup boiling water
1 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar or maple syrup
1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 cup red wine vinegar or white distilled vinegar
1/3 cup rice vinegar or red rice vinegar*

Instructions

Peel the onion of the outer layer. Cut in half in the middle. Very thinly slice the onions, and pack into a jar.

Stir the sugar and salt into the boiling water until they are completely absorbed into the water and no longer visible. Stir the rest of the ingredients in.

Note: Start with the lower amounts of sugar and salt, and add more to taste until it's to your preference.

Carefully pour over the onions in a heatproof jar that has a lid. Mason jars work very well. Press down to submerge them in the liquid.

Cover and place in fridge for at least 2 hours, stirring every so often, before serving. Store in the refrigerate for up to 2 weeks

Note: The flavors taste even better when they have had a chance to marinate at least overnight.