Pickled Red Onions should be in your fridge for all of your summer grilling adventures. Use them on top of burgers, chopped up fine in potato salad or as a crunchy side to almost anything.
Why I Love this Recipe
In the hustle and bustle of life, sometimes it’s all you can do to toss a bottle of ketchup on the table when you’re making burgers, let alone slicing and dicing a bunch of toppings. This recipe is quick and the onions come out sweet and only have heat from the arbol chile pods and the black peppercorns and not from a raw onion. Use them to top a burger, grilled chicken, or dice them up to garnish your hot dogs.
Start out with the quick pickling mixture. To a clean jar add in the apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, salt and aromatics. Here are some options to choose from, pick one or many:
- Black Peppercorns
- Arbol Chile Pods
- Smashed Fresh Garlic
- Juniper Berries
- Chili Flakes
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fennel Seed
Like other aromatics like thyme, sage, jalapeño? Go crazy and add whatever flips your skirt! Just keep the first 4 ingredients the same and you will have delicious pickled red onions no matter what you do.
Now that it’s loaded with flavors, add in one peeled and sliced red onion and let the spices, cider and onions get to know each other. The acid in the vinegar will mellow the heat of the onion and give them a sweet and spiced flavor that’s amazing on top of a burger or pulled pork sammie.
Pickled Red Onions
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 20 black peppercorns
- 1 arbol chile pod
- 1 garlic clove peeled and crushed
- 1 red onion peeled and sliced
Instructions
- To a 16 ounce jar, or medium bowl, add the water, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, chile and garlic. Stir to dissolve sugar and salt. Add the red onion slices and set aside for 15-20 minutes. Longer, if desired. Serve on your favorite burger.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week if not using right away.
Nutrition
Mention @farmgirlgourmet or tag #farmgirlgourmet!
Recipe By:
Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
Mercy! You know I don’t generally love chomping on big slices of onion however those photos are tempting me, stunning! I will be trying this recipe and putting a jar in my dads stocking this year, he adores anything onion 😀 xoxo