Quick pickled red onions are a versatile kitchen hack to add a bold, tangy, and zesty flavor to your dishes.
Make them in 30 minutes without cooking and with four ingredients. We are sure you’ll want to put them on everything. They enhance the presentation and taste of most dishes.
Table of Contents
Our quick pickled red onions are so simple and quick that you can make them last minute while you prepare your dinner, as they are ready in about 30 minutes and don’t require cooking.
The quick pickling with vinegar and lemon juice mellows the onion’s sharp, pungent flavor, transforming it into a pleasant, tangy, and zesty taste.
You’ll love them on tacos, burritos, spreads, pizza, salads, bowls, and more. They are the perfect topping to add a wow effect and boost the taste of most dishes.
Ingredients & Substitution
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
Red onions
Substitute white or yellow onions for red onions. However, with their pretty pink hue, red onions look gorgeous as a topping.
Vinegar
You can use white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, and red wine vinegar.
Lemon juice
We like to squeeze in the juice of a lemon to add mild fruitiness and complexity to the pickled red onions.
Salt
A pinch of sea salt or kosher salt helps soften the onions and adds flavor.
Sugar
Sugar is optional; we generally don’t add it to our quick pickled red onions. You can add a teaspoon or two if you like yours with some sweetness. White sugar or brown sugar both work.
Substitute maple syrup, agave syrup, honey, or another sweetener for sugar.
Spices
Spices allow you to customize your pickled red onions based on the food you serve.
We like to add a pinch of sumac (a Middle-Eastern spice that enhances the red of the onions and adds a pleasant citrusy flavor) and red pepper flakes for a hint of heat.
You can also add peppercorns, a bay leaf, fresh herbs, mustard seeds, thyme, oregano, cumin seeds, rosemary, coriander seeds, and crushed garlic cloves to the brine mixture.
How to make quick pickled red onions
Peel and chop the red onions in half, then cut them into thin slices. You can use a sharp knife or a mandoline slicer.
Pinch the sliced onions with your fingers to separate the layers.
Add the onions to a bowl or a mason jar and cover with vinegar, lemon juice, salt, optional spices, sugar, and red pepper flakes.
Tip: There’s no need to boil the ingredients in a saucepan and pour the liquids over the onions when making our quick pickled red onions recipe.
Stir, mix, and press down the onions in the liquid.
Set them aside at room temperature for 30 minutes or until they have softened up, lost their sharpness, and acquired a bright fuchsia color and tangy taste.
Variations
- Diced pickled red onions: Cut the onions into small dice before pickling.
- Chunky pickled red onions: Cut the onions into thicker slices before pickling.
- Garlicky pickled red onions: Thinly slice and add a clove of garlic to the onions.
- Herby pickled red onions: Add half a teaspoon of your favorite dried herb.
Serving suggestions
Quick pickled onions are the perfect topping and condiment to add a tangy flavor to your dishes.
They work wonderfully on black bean salad, black bean soup, tacos, burritos, scrambled tofu or eggs, burgers, nachos, avocado toast, enchiladas, quesadillas, fajitas, hummus, fatteh, grain bowls, most salads, soups, curries, and in sandwiches.
Some delicious dishes to pair them with are:
- Asian cucumber salad.
- Flatbread pizza.
- Buddha bowl.
- Mediterranean bowl.
- Sliced avocado on toast with chipotle sauce.
- Vegan breakfast burrito.
- Sweet potato hash in a wrap.
- Roasted carrots with yogurt sauce and pesto drizzle.
Questions
When making quick pickled red onions, you can substitute apple cider vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice for white vinegar.
To mellow the onions flavor, you can soak the sliced onions in cold water before pickling them.
We don’t do that; we love how the pickling transforms the sharp onion taste into a tangy flavor.
Storage
Make ahead: Quick pickled red onions are excellent for meal prep as they stay in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Refrigerator: Store them in the pickling liquid in an airtight container, jar, or bowl covered with foil. They keep for about two weeks.
Freezer: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
More recipes with onions
Get more onion inspiration with these tasty and wholesome dishes:
For many more side dish ideas, check out our sides category page.
Pickled Red Onions
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion
- ½ cup white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 lemon the juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar optional
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Peel and chop 1 large red onion in half, then cut it into thin slices.Pinch it with your fingers to separate its layers.
- Add to a bowl or jar and cover with ½ cup white vinegar, the juice of 1 lemon, and 1 teaspoon salt.Optionally you can add 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 pinch red pepper flakes, and a spice of choice (we suggest sumac).
- Stir, mix, and press down the onions in the liquid.Set them aside at room temperature for 30 minutes or until they have softened up, lost their sharpness, and acquired a bright fuchsia color and tangy taste.
Notes
Nutrition
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