Quick Pickled Red Onions

Mel's Cookin'

Word based person lost in a video world!
Moderator
Brass Subscriber
#1
Sometimes the difference between dinner and :love:Dinner:love: is in the little things that accompany the main dish.

Quick pickled onions are one of those garnishes that can elevate a meal into yum in a hurry. Whether you use them on pulled pork sandwiches, tacos, on a hamburger, as a condiment for roast beef, with a salad - green or potato, or just munch them, pickled onions are delicious.

The advantages to this recipe are they are fast to make and inexpensive, two of my favorite traits for a garnish. Boiling water is the only cooking required.

This is not a dish to can 21 jars of and save for 2 years, this is a use them within a couple of weeks recipe. You can serve them 30 minutes after you make them. The flavors have developed more if you can wait three or four hours at least. You can also use yellow or white onions, but the bright pink color of the red onion after it is pickled, is attractive on a plate.

To make about a pint jar:

1 large red onion, sliced about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick in rings
3 cups of water
1 pint jar with a lid - (doesn't have to be a canning jar, got a clean peanut butter jar or pickle jar? Use it.)
3/4 cup vinegar - rice, white wine, or apple cider. (Don't use distilled vinegar with this, it is too sharp a flavor and doesn't mix well with the onions)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove
5 black peppercorns

Optional flavor profiles - this is a choose from list, not an add them all list...
5 allspice berries - whole, not powdered for a bit of a bread and butter taste. If you go for that flavor, use 1 teaspoon of sugar instead of 1/2.

1/4 teaspoon whole yellow or brown mustard seeds and 1 whole clove - a somewhat bread and butter taste without buying allspice berries.

Small dried chile or 1 inch of a larger dried chile. More than that will overwhelm the onion flavor.

about 4 inches of thyme if fresh or 1/2 tsp. if dried.

Method:
Put the vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and peppercorns in your jar, along with any additional spices you have selected, if any.

Put the water in a pan and bring it to a boil.

While the water is heating, peel and slice the onions. Place them in a strainer or colander and stand or support it in your sink.

Pour the boiling water slowly over the onions drenching all the onion slices. They do not need to be submerged, just wet down well with the boiling water. (This step stops the development of the sulfur compounds that form in cut onions as they sit. That is what makes onions get bitter.)

Shake the colander a few times to shake off most of the water.

Put the onions into the jar with the pickling mixture. Stir them in to get them below the liquid.

Leave them on the counter and in about 15 minutes, shake the jar (a few times, not to death) to redistribute the ingredients. Refrigerate until you are ready to use them.

Enjoy!
 

GOBLIN X

PUKUTSI
Brass Subscriber
#5
Sometimes the difference between dinner and :love:Dinner:love: is in the little things that accompany the main dish.

Quick pickled onions are one of those garnishes that can elevate a meal into yum in a hurry. Whether you use them on pulled pork sandwiches, tacos, on a hamburger, as a condiment for roast beef, with a salad - green or potato, or just munch them, pickled onions are delicious.

The advantages to this recipe are they are fast to make and inexpensive, two of my favorite traits for a garnish. Boiling water is the only cooking required.

This is not a dish to can 21 jars of and save for 2 years, this is a use them within a couple of weeks recipe. You can serve them 30 minutes after you make them. The flavors have developed more if you can wait three or four hours at least. You can also use yellow or white onions, but the bright pink color of the red onion after it is pickled, is attractive on a plate.

To make about a pint jar:

1 large red onion, sliced about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick in rings
3 cups of water
1 pint jar with a lid - (doesn't have to be a canning jar, got a clean peanut butter jar or pickle jar? Use it.)
3/4 cup vinegar - rice, white wine, or apple cider. (Don't use distilled vinegar with this, it is too sharp a flavor and doesn't mix well with the onions)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove
5 black peppercorns

Optional flavor profiles - this is a choose from list, not an add them all list...
5 allspice berries - whole, not powdered for a bit of a bread and butter taste. If you go for that flavor, use 1 teaspoon of sugar instead of 1/2.

1/4 teaspoon whole yellow or brown mustard seeds and 1 whole clove - a somewhat bread and butter taste without buying allspice berries.

Small dried chile or 1 inch of a larger dried chile. More than that will overwhelm the onion flavor.

about 4 inches of thyme if fresh or 1/2 tsp. if dried.

Method:
Put the vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and peppercorns in your jar, along with any additional spices you have selected, if any.

Put the water in a pan and bring it to a boil.

While the water is heating, peel and slice the onions. Place them in a strainer or colander and stand or support it in your sink.

Pour the boiling water slowly over the onions drenching all the onion slices. They do not need to be submerged, just wet down well with the boiling water. (This step stops the development of the sulfur compounds that form in cut onions as they sit. That is what makes onions get bitter.)

Shake the colander a few times to shake off most of the water.

Put the onions into the jar with the pickling mixture. Stir them in to get them below the liquid.

Leave them on the counter and in about 15 minutes, shake the jar (a few times, not to death) to redistribute the ingredients. Refrigerate until you are ready to use them.

Enjoy!
excellent recipe! do sommit similiar, but i use malt vinegar