Quick Pickled Onions

When someone who is not normally a pickle eater or an onion eater tells you they have started liking pickled onions… you make some for them. I love it when people start liking or trying to like foods they previously did not like. Maybe I’m a food nerd, but I find it fun and exciting to like new things myself or watch other people enjoy new things!

I love Budget Bytes, I found my recipe for pickled onions there. I made a few tweaks to the original recipe. Increasing the vinegar mixture to totally fill the jar I used, keeping sugar the same and slightly increasing the peppercorns and salt. I’ve added my modified 1 1/2X version below. Otherwise, check out the original recipe here.

Similar to making quick pickled green beans, we won’t be canning these. One thing we will be doing differently is pouring the vinegar over the onions when hot. It helps soften the onions a little. They will still be crisp, but not too crunchy and stiff.

I think these are much better after a 24 hour soak in the fridge, so make them a day ahead of when you plan to use them. They are great on sandwiches, tacos, and hot dogs. Probably a lot more things too!

QUICK PICKLED ONIONS

1 ½ cups sliced red onion

1 ½ cups white vinegar

1 clove garlic, sliced

3 Tbsp white sugar

2 Tbsp salt

1 tsp peppercorns

You won't need a whole red onion for this, just a few slices. 

The first time I made these I left the circles whole, but they were too long and stringy. I recommend halving the slice.

Sliced garlic. No need to mince or press it.

About 1 1/2 cup onions, not packed.

I used a pint jar so the onions could move around a bit. You can pop the garlic in the jar at this stage.

You can use apple cider vinegar, I chose white vinegar. It's not just for cleaning!

Salt, sugar, pepper and vinegar. Heat it until simmering, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar.

Hot vinegar poured over.

Once the vinegar cools you can add your lid and pop it in the fridge. You can see they are still pretty stiff and crispy now.

One day later, totally different. All the red has leached out of the onion into the brine. They are just the right amount of crunchy at this stage.

These store in the fridge for a few weeks. It's a small amount so hopefully they don't even last that long!