Slice the onions as thinly as possible so they soften evenly in the warm pickling liquid.
They are ready to try after about an hour, with more developed flavour the following day.
Condiments / Pickles / Vegetables
Pickled Red Onions
Tangy pickled red onions with a little sweetness. Spoon them over tacos, salads, burgers or a grilled cheese sandwich.
TOTAL TIME10 minutes, plus some waiting!
MAKES1 mason jar
EST. CALORIES≈ 106 kcal / servingIncludes the full brine
FROM OUR KITCHEN TO YOURS
Pickled Red Onions
Prep: 5 minutesCook: 5 minutesYield: 1 mason jar
ESTIMATED CALORIES≈ 106 kcal per serving
Based on 8 equal servings.
Includes the full brine; drained portions contain less.
Nutrition details
Calorie estimate: The original jar is divided into 8 servings, each representing about 35 g onion before pickling. Calculated with 280 g peeled red onions and the metric quantities in the recipe: 300 ml water, 200 ml caster sugar (about 180 g) and 100 ml vinegar. All the sugar and vinegar in the full brine are included and divided equally between servings. This is an estimate including all the brine, not a measured value for drained onions; draining will reduce the calories consumed. The bay leaf is excluded because it is not eaten.
Sources: ANSES Ciqual 2025 (France) and USDA FoodData Central. Ingredient choices and actual amounts may vary.
Not included: 1 bay leaf.
Ingredients
Tick as you goInstructions
- Chop up your onions as thin as possible, and put them in a mason jar. Make sure you use one that can take boiling water, for instance this one.
- Put the water, sugar, vinegar, pepper corns and the bay leaf in a pot, and let it boil up.
- When the liquid boils up and the sugar has dissolved, take it off the stove, and pour it over the onions in the mason jar.
- Let it cool down on, when it is cool, store it in your fridge. You don’t want to put something hot in your fridge, or it will increase the temperature in there, and potentially ruin both your food and fridge, and you don’t want that!
- The red onions will be perfect the day after, but if you can’t wait that long, they are delicious after an hour or so too!
A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA
Notes from our kitchen
Make sure you use a mason jar that can take boiling liquid. If you don’t have this, or are unsure if you do, just put the onions in the pot instead, and let it cool down on your kitchen counter. Then pour it into a clean container for storage. We recommend something made of glass, as plastic could give off some taste. We use these mason jars from Fido.
If you want more taste to your pickled red onions, experiment with the spices you put into the pickling liquid. Chili flakes, garlic, ginger… The options are endless! Let us know in the comments below what you like to use!
For the pickling liquid, the measurements are 3 parts water, 2 parts sugar and 1 part vinegar. So for instance:
KEEP THE GOOD FOOD COMING
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