Pickled Red Onions should be in your fridge for all of your summer grilling adventures. They take minutes to prepare and are great to have on hand to top burgers, or use them chopped up in potato salad or as a crunchy side dish for tacos or almost anything.
You will reach for these onions often. Spoon them onto tacos, burgers, grain bowls, salads, or grilled meats. They sharpen rich food and wake up simple dishes.
Heather’s Notes
- You prep this recipe in under 10 minutes.
- The onions soften while staying crisp.
- The brine balances sweet, salty, and acidic flavors with a hint of spice from the arbol chile pods.
- The color turns vivid pink fast and looks great on the plate.
- You use pantry staples you likely keep on hand.
Pickled Red Onions Ingredient List
Start out with the quick pickling mixture. 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? Flavor them as you see fit, 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
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Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 20 black peppercorns
- 1 arbol chile pod
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced
Instructions
- Bring water, apple cider vinegar, sugar, kosher salt, peppercorns, chile de arbol, and garlic to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Stir until sugar and salt dissolve.
- Place sliced red onions in a heat safe jar. Pour brine over onions until submerged. Press onions down.
- Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then use or cover and refrigerate.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week if not using right away.
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Notes
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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Hi! I’m Heather
I’m Heather, a recipe developer and content creator based in Vancouver, Washington. I started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006 because I believed weeknight dinners shouldn’t be boring and gourmet shouldn’t mean complicated. I’m also the co-founder of Spiceology, so safe to say I think about food for a living. Stick around for recipes that actually make it into your regular rotation.
I really love this recipe and hope you will too!
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