Kitchen Basics: Pickled Onions

The onions are at it again. And this time they don’t even require cooking. Complete and utter show offs I tell you.  Slice them, throw them in a bowl with a bit of vinegar, a soupçon of salt and sugar and what you have is the heavenly pickled onion.

I hate to be without these in my fridge these days. They taste amazing in so many things. Sprinkled on top of avocado toast? Uhhmm, yes please. Or how about in tacos? Or thrown into salads? Fabulous with pulled pork to cut the richness. Or how about this…eaten straight out of the jar. Yep, I can’t help myself they are that good.

This is how I’ve been making mine. Combine 1/2 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and 2T. sugar. Mix together in a bowl a little to dissolve the sugar and salt and then add the sliced onion and let sit. If you’re really short on time just 30 minutes will get you there, but they’re even better if you let them sit for a few hours.

At which point they turn a delightful shade of pink. Should you like your pink a little brighter, you can turn up the heat – quite literally. Bring the vinegar and water mixture to a boil and pour over the onions, let sit and   the onions will become a lovely translucent, slightly brighter version of their original self.

I generally use apple cider vinegar but I’ve also used plain white distilled and I’m sure red/white wine vinegar would work as well. Not so sure about balsamic, haven’t tried that.

I also will throw in a couple of peeled garlic cloves or peppercorns if they’re handy. Recently I threw in some cumin seeds. Delicious. Next time maybe a sprig of rosemary or thyme?

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