Vegan (when made with agave nectar or sugar)
This trick will alter and augment your cooking: Pour boiling water over sliced or diced red onions, then transfer them to a solution of vinegar, sweetener, and salt. The onions will brighten into a gaudy shade of purplish-pink and will keep indefinitely, mysteriously retaining their bright color and crisp texture. rather than slice, the onions, if they are headed for one of the cold soups.)
You can vary the cut of the onions—and also the amounts of sweet and salt. Use as a dramatically colorful and refreshing tiara atop dinner plates, open-faced sandwiches, salads, cheeses, grilled tofu, or fish—anything savory. I use these often as an ingredient in cold soups and saladitas. (Mince, rather than slice, the onions, if they are headed for one of the cold soups.)
• Use a very sharp knife or a food processor with a thin slicing attachment to cut the onions most easily.
Ingredients
Makes 1 1/2 cups
Step 1
1. Put on a kettle of water to boil. Cut the onion into very thin slices or a mince and place it in a colander in the sink.
Step 2
2. In a bowl large enough to comfortably fit all the onion, combine the vinegar, sweetener, and salt and whisk until blended.
Step 3
3. Pour the boiling water over the onion and shake to drain. (It's fine if a little water still clings.)
Step 4
4. Add the onion to the vinegar solution and stir to coat. Let it sit for at least an hour or up to several days, covered and refrigerated, occasionally stirring and/or shaking to allow maximum exposure to the liquid. Store in a jar with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator.
Optional Enhancements
Step 5
For beautiful, exotic pickled fruit, add fresh or frozen cherries, blueberries, or raspberries—or some small watermelon chunks—to the onion after the first hour of sitting time * Add any of the following to the pickle mixture: Raw broccoli stems, peeled and cut into slender matchsticks * Raw fennel, cut into thin slices * Lightly steamed carrot slices * Lightly steamed cauliflower, cut into 1-inch florets
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Reviews (6)
Back to TopDefinitely something missing in this recipe. I even weighed the onion to make sure I had the right amount, and the liquid barely covered a quarter of them.
sweetamylei
NOLA
12/23/2016
I was surprised that this recipe had so little liquid. 3 TBS for a whole onion??? The pictures shows a submerged onion, which makes no sense with this recipe. Sure enough, after an hour of partial soaking, my onion was barely pickled and still very onioney. I added more vinegar and sugar to the batch and removed some of the onion to at least cover what remained in the jar, but after a whole day of soaking it, it still tasted to onioney and not very sweet. This recipe was a fail for me.
sara95
Los Angeles, CA
12/21/2016
if you add radish or beet the onions will turn a shocking pink w time
fabromitis
la
10/16/2016
This is so easy and amazingly delicious! I added carrots and served with fish tacos - what a hit! We couldn't stop eating these easy pickled onions! I already have requests to make them again.
JenLisi
Philadelphia, PA
8/20/2014
Quick, easy and delicious. The trifecta.
vinorosso
Pound Ridge, NY
10/21/2013
I used 3 small red onions, 1 cup of vinegar, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 6 peppercorns and a dried cayenne pepper, seeded, and put it all in a pint canning jar. The tip about putting boiling water over the onions in a colander was the best takeaway from this recipe, followed by the proportions for the marinade. The original recipe just didn’t make enough brine.
LKRICHARDSON
Sacramento, CA
6/30/2023
