Pickled Red Onions – Recipe for pickled refrigerator onions – the perfect topping for hamburgers, salads, tacos, eggs and more!
How beautiful are these? A sweet and salty vinegar brine, peppercorns and bay leaves are really all you need to turn sliced red onions into crave-worthy refrigerator pickles. I’ve never been a fan of raw onions… I know, I’m sorry, it’s just one of those things… but these tender sweet-and-tart pickles are totally my speed. They’re a lovely and tasty topping for salads. I also love them on sandwiches, on burgers and sliders, in pitas and tacos, or cooked in omelets and other egg dishes. Really, you can add them to pretty much any savory dish for a pickled burst of flavor. They are super easy to make. As time passes the onions take on a pretty purplish-pink hue in the jar. These pickles would make a fun and unique homemade gift for the gourmand in your circle of friends. Or you can keep them all to yourself, if you’re feeling indulgent. It’s all good!
Want to learn more about pickling, home canning, and other adventurous old-timey methods of food preservation? Check out these links:
How to Ferment Cabbage and Make Sauerkraut
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Pickled Red Onions
Ingredients
Brine Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
Pickle Ingredients
- 2 pounds red onions
- 1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
NOTES
Instructions
- To make brine: Combine water, vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepot and simmer over low heat, stirring often, until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Set aside until ready to use.
- Trim the onions and slice into thin strips.
- Toss onions with 1 ¾ tsp kosher salt and allow to sit for about 30 minutes, then rinse.
- Evenly distribute the peppercorns and bay leaves between the pint jars.
- Add about 1/2 lb of sliced onions to each jar. Gently press down with tongs to make sure everything is loosely packed.
- Cover with brine, leaving about ½ inch of headspace. Make sure your brine is hot when you pour it over the onions.
- Let the jars return to room temperature, put the lids on, and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. The longer they sit the more they’ll pickle.
Nutrition
This looks like a great recipe! Would you use red wine vinegar? And/or picking salt. Some other recipes I’ve seen use those instead – wondering the pro/cons? Also, curious on why you let the onions sit in salt – what is the purpose of that? Removes moisture? Also, some recipes include putting the onions in the brine mixture to cook for a short time. Does that matter? Thanks!!
The salting helps to remove moisture so the pickling solution soaks in more effectively. Pickling salt will work great here, if you want to purchase some. I use kosher salt because we always have it on hand and it’s more common to stock in family pantries, but they are really interchangeable for my pickle recipes. I haven’t tried red wine vinegar here, but I really prefer the flavor of regular vinegar in this particular recipe, so not sure I would veer away from it. Hope that helps!
Great recipe! I added some balsamic vinegar to the onions just before serving for a taste treat.
Into the leftover pickling vinegar in the jar, after the onions were removed, I soaked a couple of hard boiled eggs. Very pretty pink eggs and tasty too!
Found you just st in time. Pulled 10 lbs of red onions out of the garden. This weekend, I’m going to pickle for the first time!
The recipe calls for red onions. Would regular cooking onions work as well?
Yes, but they won’t look quite as pretty in the jar. 🙂
Hi Tori
This will be my first time making pickled red onions . Do I need distilled white vinegar.. or can I use apple cider vinegar? Will it change the taste
Apple cider vinegar will work well, but the color won’t be quite as bright pink/pretty due to the amber color of the vinegar. Flavor will be fantastic though.
My family loves your recipe… I have had to make the pickled red onion 3 times this summer. 25 jars so far. Thank you !!!
are you able to add slices of Jalapenos to this without having to change the brine ??
Hi Marilyn, I’ve never tried that so I’m not sure what the resulting flavor would be.
A typical 3 – 2 – 1 brine will pickle anything and if used in conjunction with a water bath your product should last a year or two! For dill pickles 3 Water, 2 Vinegar and 1/4 to 1/2 Pickling Salt and a Sweet Brine more in line with doing these onions with Jalapeno’s added I would do 3 Vinegar, 2 Water and 1 Sugar. Happy canning!
Marilyn,
I put pickled peppers all the time. Yes, you can add jalapeno’s to your mix, but it will change your
flavor a bit, and of course will bring up the “heat” level just a bit.
Jalapeno’s rock the house! They are great in a sweet jam. The complexity between the
jalapeno, the sugar, and the tart vinegar..is really nice.
Hi Torey,
Great blog! I’ve come across your recipe for Pickled Red Onions. What is the purpose of the brine solution? I’m hoping to start a food business pickling and fermenting. Your recipe is the first one I’ve seen including a brine along with a pickling solution. Can you tell me the reason for that? I’ve been using apple cider vinegar in all of my pickles. Would you recommend it to distilled? I’ve also discovered the Maldon Sea Salt Flakes leave a really bad bitter taste. Is table salt ok to use?
Many thanks,
Fiona
Hi Fiona, these are not fermented pickles as they are made with a vinegar brine. They are what I like to call “quick pickles.” The pickle ingredients are simply the onions with spices added to enhance the flavor. Apple cider vinegar will work just fine here. I usually use kosher salt. I hope that helps!
Yum! Why does the brine need to be boiling if you use it straight away?
Also, does the onion ferment in there at all or just soften? I love fermenting but miss the vinegar of pickles. Hoping I can combine the two somehow!
Hi T’lia– the brine is boiled to dissolve the salt and sugar and to kill any bad bacteria that might be present when bottling. Vinegar pickles and fermented pickles are two separate things; vinegar generally takes the place of lactic acid fermentation, and vice versa. This is a vinegar pickle recipe, not a fermented one. However, if you like the flavor of vinegar and want to add it to a fermented pickle recipe, you can add a little pasteurized vinegar at the end of fermentation to capture the vinegar flavor without affecting the fermentation process.
Hi Tory. Found you over a year ago and really enjoy your blog. I am so excited about these pickled onions. Going to check out how you make sauerkraut. Thanks
Thanks Theresa, so happy you’re here!
Just made these. I’ve been on a homemade condiment kick these days and these fit right in. Also did some Romanian Pickled Peppers today. Question…. What is in the jar with the red filling? Thanks
Joan, it’s actually orange not red. It’s Apricot Saffron preserves. 🙂
Do you have a recipe for pickling lemons?
Hi Rabbi– yes, I do. I will post it soon!
I have made something similar in the past by just putting the red onions in a jar and covering with Italian dressing they taste great on a rueben
THANK YOU! IT TASTES AMAZING!
Such pretty colors, Tori! I love keeping pickled onions on hand to put on tacos, sandwiches, eggs, anything!
Id put it on roast lamb, or beef, friends think Im strange cause I love drk mustard on roast beef!
they’d have to go on top of a pot of dried pinto beans or navy beans!! I love to add relish-type things to cooked dried beans
i would use as a side with hummus and pita and tabulley
Pretty! I’d put them on salad, maybe. Or top devilled eggs with them!
My aunt and mom would pickle a gardenia w onions, carrots , cauliflower and a hot pepper gosh that was good in winter time!