I’m just going to say it – red onion pickles are sexy! No, I’m serious the camera lens loves them. Better yet, these pickles are easy but in the right way. It’s probably for both these reasons they feature in countless Instagram Reels.
But there’s a serious side to the red onion pickle that merits a permanent place in your fridge. They are super easy, delicious and can brighten up almost any dish.
My quick red onion pickle recipe is one you can fit into a mid-week meal prep. There is no such thing as a boring salad when there are homemade red onion pickles in the fridge.
Pickle Ingredients
I use red wine vinegar in my quick pickled red onion recipe as it helps the onions keep their lovely pink blush. If you don’t have red wine vinegar in your pantry, feel free to swap in apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar. Certainly white vinegar would do in a pinch but it’s going to make a sharper pickle.
There is also no hard and fast rule for what pickling spices you use. But salt is definitely a non-negotiable ingredient with flexibility over the type of salt you use. Just remember that sea salt is not as strong as normal table salt. I keep tasting before I add the onions to ensure that salty sweet balance is too my liking. If you need to you can heat up the vinegar mix again to ensure the extra salt/sugar dissolves. But it’s no drama if some remains undissolved as it will take care of itself once its in the fridge.
Preparing the onions
There is a bit of a ‘Goldilocks’ rule when it comes to cutting your onions for a quick pickle. It is a matter of slicing them not too thin and not too thick when but there is a lot of wriggle room with ‘just right.’
I find if you slice the onions too thin (less then 5 mm) the onions start to dissolve into nothing in the pickling brine. And, as you are not cooking these onions, if you cut the into thick wedges or slices (more than 1.5 cm wide) the brine has a hard time getting all the way through the onion.
With my red onion pickles I find the ‘just right’ spot is between 7 mm and 10 mm thick.
There are no rules about how to cut up your onions. If I want to go a bit fancy I will do full circles but these can be challenging to cut and you do need to watch your fingers! If I am about just getting the job done I cut half circles. Thin wedges are easy too and look great on salads. I would probably say roughly chopped is maybe a bit of a cop out but go for it if that’s your preference.
A quick pickle
I am serious about a prep time of 15 minutes for this quick pickled red onion recipe. And that time can be while you are multitasking during dinner prep.
The pickles are ready to eat within about 15 minutes of hitting the vinegar. They won’t be fully pickled and will be really crunchy. But I am happy with that result on day one and then go on to enjoy them over the next seven days as they soften up and finish pickling in the fridge. I generally don’t keep them for more than about 10 days as I find they tend to become bitter by that stage and lose their pretty pink colour.
Choose your container
A short fridge life is part and parcel of any quick pickled red onion recipe. So the container you use is not as important than if you were planning to leave them on the pantry shelf for a few months.
The recipe produces 650 ml of fluid but you may have some leftover at the end. You need to start with a container that is a minimum of 1 litre in volume. Avoid metal containers. It’s perfectly fine just to use a clean glass or plastic container and lid. If I am not in a rush I usually sterilise the container in my steamer.
It’s going to be a fridge staple!
Once you build this quick red onion pickle recipe into your repertoire, I guarantee it will be a fridge staple in your home.
I’ve used this recipe to add a nice pickily punch to my Pumpkin ‘Kitchen Sink’ Salad recipe.
Quick Red Onion Pickle
Equipment
- One litre sealable glass or plastic container
Ingredients
- 3 large red onions
- 325 ml water
- 325 ml red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons raw sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
Instructions
- Using a microwave, heat 250ml of water to the boil in 1 litre measuring jug.
- Add the salt and sugar as well as half the mustard seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns, stirring to dissolve the crystals. Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, peel and slice onions into desired shapes.
- Add the remaining water and red wine vinegar to the measuring jug.
- Fill the 1 litre sealable container with the sliced onions, packing them together and leaving as little unfilled space as possible.
- Add the remaining mustard seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns as you pack in the onions.
- Slowly fill the container with the vinegar mixture, leaving about one centimetre at the top (you may have some vinegar mixture leftover).
- Seal the container and store in the fridge.
- Turn the container over occasionally to ensure all the onions are evenly pickled.
- The pickles can be used straight away and last 10-14 days in the fridge.
2 Responses
This is such a beautiful pickle and I have the recipe just in time for red onion harvest. I made it for a crowd on the weekend and have had many requests for the recipe. Everyone who tried it commented on how tasty it was. I love the fact it can be used almost immediately without waiting for pickling time.
Made this on the weekend, superb and so quick!