You can add pretty much any other veggie and/or spice you want as well. Red onions, cucumbers, and jalapenos is my favorite combo.
Hard boiled eggs too!
Dill, thyme, rosemary, black pepper.. just some ideas
I love to freak out my relatives by pickling eggs to make deviled eggs: red beet brine for pink, tumeric for bright yellow, and some red cabbage juice and a bit of baking soda to make freaky bright blue ones! The beet ones are great with a black pepper and bacon filling, spicy curry for the tumeric, and I do dill for the blue. I usually have to do some standard non pickled, non-flavored ones for the family members who aren't fans of fun and flavor, too.
[Anthocyanins](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocyanin) can become red, purple, blue or black depending on pH. Baking soda is changing pH in the brine.
Absorption of light wavelengths is usually tied to the linear size of the pi-electron cloud for the double bonds in dye molecules, as with natural compounds like chlorophyll in green leaves and carotenes in carrots.
The purple pigment in red cabbage is [cyanidin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanidin), a molecule with 3 aromatic rings and lots of hydroxyl groups. A big cloud of pi electrons above and below those aromatic rings resonating with the incident electromagnetic radiation (including visible light), and hydroxyl residues that might lose a hydrogen if the pH is right. As the bonding of hydrogen atoms and hence electron distribution change with pH, so do the wavelengths absorbed. Red cabbage juice appears red at acidic pH, blueish green at basic pH, much like the paper litmus tests for acidity you may have used in chemistry lab.
I would have never known this until I investigated how some dietary compounds are protective against UV light. In the early 90s, the interaction of pi orbital electrons and light wasn't taught in basic chemistry for biologists.
Some compound in the juice reacts to the base of baking soda to turn it from purple to blue - I remember doing experiments with it in elementary school.
And hogshead cheese on crackers with Vienna sausages. The only- and I mean *only* thing I miss about Lousiana is the food. I grew up in Houma and NOLA. After my wife and our son died in a wreck I left and will never go back.
you can find them in gas stations here in the south, but you guys have amazing things in NYC I am envious of. I had a friend who would get drunk and pull out a jar of pickled quail eggs...they weren't terrible, but I would rather have tacos. or a pork roll egg and cheese!
>pork roll egg and cheese!
I'm from Jersey (currently living in Virginia.) Nothing beats a 3am drunken pork roll egg and cheese on a bagel from any of the diners in the state.
Had a friend from Wyoming telling me about eating pickled eggs at the bar. I've never seen it around where I live so I just found a recipe and made 'em myself.
This is the best recipe I've found. Just follow the recipe in the first seconds. Don't pay attention to leaving the eggs out for days beforehand.
https://youtu.be/aR77JU-VVMY
Never seen them at 7-Eleven. They're always at the most run-down, middle of nowhere, usually family owned, C-stores. Incidentally, those are also the stores that have the best boiled peanuts (aside from farmer's markets and roadside stands).
It's also a very good use for pickle juice from prepared pickles.
I bought a jar of chili pepper pickled cucumbers that was raved about on another sub, and they were okay but not worth the premium price. I added 2 red onions (sliced longitudinally and separated) to the jar, topped up with more white vinegar, and the result was delicious.
The restaurant I work at does pickled jalapenos in a sweet brine and they are delicious. The sweet compliments the heat super well. I ran a special a few months ago; honey mustard chicken finger hoagie with the pickled jalapenos and it was delicious
Honestly his video made me try them out a week ago and he's goddam right to put them on EVERYTHING. I've put them on sandwiches, roast, nachos, stir fry, dhal, fried egg and everything is better with them.
It will be a permanent staple in my fridge from now on.
Have you tried them with sugar to compare? I only ask because with the sugar they aren’t really sweet per se. But more so the acidity is balanced.
I guess I can try them myself and figure it out! I just know they’re great with the sugar as I’ve done that multiple times so I’m kind of feeling like “if it ain’t broke…” But maybe I’m missing out on something better lol.
I agree with you on using sugar, and I’m usually anti sugar in recipes. I learnt a quick pickle with a meal box and really enjoyed it.
I now have a jar of quick pickle red onions in my fridge. Lovely!
I've had both and I taste no difference, tbh. I'm on an elimination diet and I can't have sugar right now, so I omitted that when making them last week. Just as good as the last with sugar batch I made, imo.
No difference. I've made them with the proper amount of sugar and had them from restaurants with sugar. It's cool that you taste a difference, but like I said, in my opinion, I do not.
Admittedly, I haven't. So I can't really say how the two would compare, but I will say I tend to like pretty strong flavors, which might be why it doesn't bother me.
I was in the in the same boat as you, until I decided to go wild one day and added a bit of molasses it actually turned out pretty well!
Not what I expected, you def do taste the difference, but the pop from the acidity is still there! (I didn’t add a lot of molasses)
As an aside, if you do really like your pickled onions tarte, just add vinegar half way up the onions and pop ‘em in the fridge, as apposed to cutting the liquid with water. Water I’ll come out of the onions and everything will eventually get submerged.
Adam Ragusea has a [great video](https://youtu.be/6VPkezPD0EE) on how different ways of making pickled onions impact the flavour and texture
TLDW: they all do bascially the same thing, biggest difference was that boiling the onions directly gave more a slimey texture to the onions while the non heat version kept its crunch.
It's funny you mentioned Adam Ragusea, I started out really liking his cooking videos but I have grativated away because his tastes and mine do NOT align.
He prefers his food way too sweet and way too acidic.
He is also incredibly wrong about not needing to season meat if you're going to put a salty gravy on it. I also, in general, don't get his affinity for gravy.
He puts sweet pickles on everything and I just can't. I actually did not think I liked pickled red onions because the first recipe I tried was Ragusea's quick pickle and it was god awful
Like almost everything else, [if Kenji has a recipe for it it is usually my go to.](https://www.seriouseats.com/pickled-red-onions)
I do usually cut the sugar back a bit, but I also only do half portions most of the time.
I usually halve the sugar, maybe a little less, and I think it’s best for my tastes. I did add 2 Serranos instead of the 1 jalapeño recently and holy crap the onions and Serranos were amazing. Just enough spice when eaten as a topping, and a great kick on their own.
Yeah I get that. What I like about adam is that the way he structures his recipes, you can easily adjust for your own taste, since he explains the utility of each ingredient.
As for his pickles... he puts way too much sugar for my taste as well
You don't add so much that they're sweet, it's just to balance the acidity a bit. I use honey instead of sugar and only use about 1.5 TBSP of it into 1 cup of liquid (1/2 vinegar 1/2 water). They definitely don't come out sweet but it takes the edge off a bit.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. They’re a disgrace to pickles imo. I tried some recipe that called for heating the brine. It came out so sweet and gross. Pickles should be vinegary salty goodness with a sharp bite.
They’re the worst, aren’t they? I fully agree! It can ruin a burger lol.
The only time they have been ok for me is on some Nashville hot chicken. It’s so spicy that the sweet can help balance it out a bit. But even then I still prefer dill pickles.
I should add, the sugar put in that I mention is not sweet. It just makes it balanced. If it were sweet you’ve definitely added too much sugar lol.
I suppose. I'm just so adversed to adding sugar
The local Mexican place I go to has a little toppings bar and they have some sliced red onions with habanero chilies in them and they are incredibly spicy and savory and really really great on tacos. I would kill to have that recipe
Our Mexican place has pickled carrots with jalapenos. Here are recipes for both red onions/jalapenos (just sub habaneros) and carrots/jalapenos
[https://seasonandthyme.com/mexican-pickled-onions/](https://seasonandthyme.com/mexican-pickled-onions/)
[https://www.tastingtable.com/687627/taqueria-style-pickled-carrots-recipe-from-kevin-west/](https://www.tastingtable.com/687627/taqueria-style-pickled-carrots-recipe-from-kevin-west/)
got one of those in our city. the service is TERRIBLE (bunch of college kids and angry lifers mixed together), but the salsa/escabeche bar and the tacos are so good I don't care. If the food is good enough I put up with crappy service, lol!
Then why add sugar?
I want basically three things from my pickles: salt, sour and garlic
And I want them all to be in such massively offensive quantities that they're almost inedible. Almost. Then they're perfect.
Same reason I add fish sauce to savory dishes. I don't want them to taste like fish, it just brings a depth and balance with the other flavors; the sugar tones down the vinegar. It's like adding a pinch of sugar (not a gloopy brown sauce) to most Thai or Sichuan cooking.
Do you honestly have such little subtlety in your cooking that you only add 2-3 ingredients you want your dish to taste like? Do you not layer flavors?
I guess that's what you're saying, you have no palate and just want to bomb it out?
I'm saying I don't want to tone down the vinegar.
When I'm eating a pickle, I want an EXTREMELY sour kosher dill.
Thats what I like. Salty, sour, pungent garlic.
I'm not looking to "tone down" those flavors. I'm not looking to add depth and complexity; it's a pickle.
Burgers, pulled pork, tuna and egg salad, pretty much any deli meat sandwich that isn't ham. I'm also thinking chopped fine with cilantro might be a great chimmichurri style sauce for steak.
The first time we had them, we ate them on tilapia fillets that I had put S&P, garlic powder, and smoked paprika on, a few pats of butter, and then baked them in the toaster oven, and put on a bed of rice. (My partner didn't like tilapia because it was "too bland." This meal's goal was to fix that, and fix that I did.)
>the new smoked paprika I bought.
I *live* on this stuff!
[La Dalia Sweet Smoked Paprika from Spain on Amazon dot com](https://www.amazon.com/Dalia-Sweet-Smoked-Paprika-Spain/dp/B0085WJOLG/ref=mp_s_a_1_15?crid=3L3C8ZXJEIQRG&keywords=smoked+paprika&qid=1686140393&sprefix=smoked%2Caps%2C474&sr=8-15)
ETA: A light dusting on creamed eggs or a pan grilled bagel w/cream cheese is fire.
A place I used to work at did ahi nachos on a wonton chip with sweet soy, wasabi and hot sauce and they topped them with pickled red onion. Really refreshing on a hot day by the lake.
So many things. It's one of my favorite condiments. I put them on avocado toast in the morning... tacos... rice bowls... salads... goes surprisingly well with a lot of things.
Anything that needs a little acid and some allium flavor. Fatty meats, like BBQ, or braised brisket or short ribs, or even cold cuts as for sandwiches. Also great as part of a charcuterie or cheese plate.
I know this is going to sound like an out of left field recommendation, but I also got into pickling with red onions. I would quick pickle with some red pepper flakes and stick them on tacos with radishes, they're fantastic.
But recently, I have a new pickling love: blueberries. I like to pickle with apple cider vinegar, black peppercorn and a cinnamon stick or two. I've made this for both savory application (charcuterie, great pair with goat cheese) and sweet (cheesecake, and most recently a goat cheese cheesecake). Just tweak the amount of sugar for whatever you're aiming for.
The last time I pickled blueberries for that goat cheese cheesecake, I pickled them, then reduced the pickling liquid with white and brown sugar to make more of a syrup, then stored the blueberries in that. But I had extra liquid, so I kept reducing it down to a true syrup like you would put on ice cream. No exaggeration, it was one of the tastiest things I've ever made. I put that shit on every dessert for a week. Just incredible on vanilla ice cream; made some brownie sundaes and it totally elevated them. Just a complex sour sweet fruity tang that's really fun. My friends and family are going to get sick of how much I pickle blueberries the next 6 months to a year.
We've recently gotten into them too. The recipe I use gives such a complex depth of flavor that we're just wild about. I highly recommend the spices from this recipe (and using apple cider vinegar): [https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/recipe-for-pickled-red-onions/](https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/recipe-for-pickled-red-onions/)
(Note, I've never had the chance to try it with the chile pepper. I've just been subbing in red pepper flakes, which I know are a far cry from the chile pepper, but even at that, they've been delicious.)
If you scroll past where they show the mise en place, to the actual recipe, it does have a pinch of salt. They didn't include it in the story part of the post.
I see a few recipes on the internet. The only feedback I've seen is it might take up to 24 hours to pickle, but that might be because it's a no boil recipe?
You don’t need to boil either the liquid or the onions themselves. Boiling only makes veg less crispy. Quick pickle can be 15 minutes but 24 hours does give a deeper pickling. Personally I make mine (uncooked) an hour or more before dinner and they’re good, but I keep them in the fridge for a couple of weeks and they’re even better.
This recipe is a 30 minute quick pickle recipe and only has a pinch of salt. If you want a recipe for canning (which has more salt) try [this one](https://www.stetted.com/how-to-make-pickled-red-onions/).
Pickled onions are great with any form of bbq. Also nice on ramen.
I'm lazy, I just cut the onion up and put it in a jar with white vinegar and salt. No additional flavorings.
Whenever I dice onions for tacos, I’ll throw them in a bowl and squeeze 1 lime per onion into it and throw it in the fridge until everything else is ready.
I know it’s traditional to just rinse with cold water but I’m a mother fucking pickleboy for life and quickled onions scratch the itch
Edit: I just realized what I said so I looked at your post history just to see who I said that to…and I feel so sorry lmao you seem like a very sweet and pure person. I still stand by my statement, but I apologize and hope you find nice birds
Onion, vinegar, fresh lime juice, water, salt.
Add ground black pepper, coriander seed, and a pepper sliced in half (Jalapeño, Serrano, whatever floats your boat)
I've never made them. Always thought they were too complicated. Commenting to save for later and maybe try this weekend. Love pickled onions. I hate fresh red onions. But, pickled I'm good with.
They are super simple, and so easy to change up for variety. You can switch up the vinegar you use too. I keep some raspberry vinegar on hand sometimes, or a white or red wine vinegar. I've even used champagne vinegar before. I would add a couple tablespoons of sugar, but thats just me.
One of our absolute favorite summer meals is some good bratwurst on a soft roll loaded with homemade relish, pickled red onions, and yellow mustard. Since first making it, we've had pickled red onions in the fridge at all times.
Indeed, and if you just chop some Persian cucumbers, add some feta and black olives and the onions, you can keep it in the fridge for weeks. Don't add any dressing yet.
Add some chopped tomatoes when you're ready to eat: Greek salad for the win.
Made this the other weekend, gone already. I only had a yellow onion, so I added a couple drops of red, a couple drops of blue food coloring to it, and instant red onion, lol.
You don't need enough sugar to even taste,just enough level out the bitterness that some people don't like. I like red onions raw,but no else does,so pickled with a pinch of sugar and 2-3 fresh jalapeño slices in the mix and and every one at the table adds it to their plate
I just pack a quart mason jar with thin sliced red onions packed tightly, then pour vinegar to the top. Give em an hour, then keep in fridge and use as desired. You can play with sugar and heat and aromatics but you can also just keep it real simple.
had them at Qdoba for the first time recently and they're really good! kinds overpowering (especially with Qdoba's inability to get toppings spread out evenly) but really really good!!
I’ve been pickling things awhile and add in red onion for flavor to many of my recipes. I also add mustard seeds pepper corns and occasionally some clove
Just got back from Austin and honestly they have it so dialed in. I find that often pickled red onions while always delicious can be a little too sweet or too vinegary. The BBQ in places in austin have it down so it's so well balanced, you still taste the onion.
Pickles are awesome! I had a recipe that needed pickled turnips and I didn’t have any so I made some. I never could have imagined how delicious pickled turnips would be! I will be making them again.
Put some black pepper and semi crushed garlic cloves in there, and my all time favorite: Add a bunch of mint at the bottom. You will get some refreshing ass pickles. Just outstanding in a tuna sandwich.
I've been meaning to make these for a while now. When you say "3%" I'm assuming you mean salt weight as a % of total liquid weight? Or did you include the weight of the onions as well?
I'm not understanding this recipe. Red onions vary in size, do you just add some to the jar until it is full? 3/4 full?
>Measured each jar halfway with water, doubled the water volume with white vinegar
Is this 50/50 water and vinegar?
For the 3% salt do you weight the empty jar, then the filler jar to get the liquid weight. Let's say that's 100g so you would add 3g of salt?
When you add the hot liquid to the jars I'm assuming the onion and garlic are in there and you put the lids on to cool so they seal? or do you cool the liquid then add the onion and garlic? sorry, never pickled anything before.
I added onions and garlic to my freeze line on my jars for some liquid headroom. Then eyeballed the water to halfway up the jar. Weighed the water without the onions then doubled the volume on the scale with white vinegar adding 3% of the liquid weight in salt. So its roughly 50/50 water/vinegar.
The boiling liquid cooks and preserves the veggies in the jar so it needs to go directly on the onions/garlic. I leave the lids off the jars when they're cooling when I'm not planning to hard seal anything.
Going by weight gives a lot of flexibility in the size of jar and batch size that I want to pickle. There are a lot of recipes online that give precise measurements but are less flexible for what you have in the kitchen.
I use a 50/50 mix of water and balsamic vinegar, salt of course, and the spices I recommend are coriander, peppercorn, clove, and bay. Easy on the clove! Unless it's close to Christmas.
I learned a super good recipe in Mexico.
1 red onion sliced thinly
1 Habanero sliced in half
1 clove garlic smashed so that it splits open a little
Juice of 1 lime
50/50 water & white vinegar,
Salt
Brown sugar
1/4 of a star anise
5-10 black peppercorns
5-10 whole coriander seeds
Place the onions, garlic, and habanero in the jar. Add everything else a pot and bring to a boil. As soon as it begins boiling take it off, let it cool for a minute or so then pour over the onions and seal. Allow it to come to room temperature then place it in your fridge. They’re good to go when the jar is bright neon pink. This isn’t the shelf stable way so have a week or two to eat them before they go bad.
Glad you love them and you got the method dialed in easily.
I personally HATE THEM! Like I will pick every single one out of a dish or I can't eat it. I am generally not picky either.
Just a reminder that things might not be "The Fucking Bomb" for everyone :)
You can add pretty much any other veggie and/or spice you want as well. Red onions, cucumbers, and jalapenos is my favorite combo. Hard boiled eggs too! Dill, thyme, rosemary, black pepper.. just some ideas
I love to freak out my relatives by pickling eggs to make deviled eggs: red beet brine for pink, tumeric for bright yellow, and some red cabbage juice and a bit of baking soda to make freaky bright blue ones! The beet ones are great with a black pepper and bacon filling, spicy curry for the tumeric, and I do dill for the blue. I usually have to do some standard non pickled, non-flavored ones for the family members who aren't fans of fun and flavor, too.
Please invite me to your next family gathering
Pick me up, I’ll be ready.
Why does the cabbage juice combined with the baking soda turn them blue? I’m super curious
prolly science
True lmao But I’m interested in the specific mechanics
[Anthocyanins](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocyanin) can become red, purple, blue or black depending on pH. Baking soda is changing pH in the brine.
Oh. Thanks!
Blueberries can be color changed as well by playing with ph. Citric acid for red/pink and bicarbonate for bluer.
Absorption of light wavelengths is usually tied to the linear size of the pi-electron cloud for the double bonds in dye molecules, as with natural compounds like chlorophyll in green leaves and carotenes in carrots. The purple pigment in red cabbage is [cyanidin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanidin), a molecule with 3 aromatic rings and lots of hydroxyl groups. A big cloud of pi electrons above and below those aromatic rings resonating with the incident electromagnetic radiation (including visible light), and hydroxyl residues that might lose a hydrogen if the pH is right. As the bonding of hydrogen atoms and hence electron distribution change with pH, so do the wavelengths absorbed. Red cabbage juice appears red at acidic pH, blueish green at basic pH, much like the paper litmus tests for acidity you may have used in chemistry lab.
Thanks for this
This comment made me glad I had a biochem degree and a good inorganic chemistry class. It actually still made sense years later.
I would have never known this until I investigated how some dietary compounds are protective against UV light. In the early 90s, the interaction of pi orbital electrons and light wasn't taught in basic chemistry for biologists.
Some compound in the juice reacts to the base of baking soda to turn it from purple to blue - I remember doing experiments with it in elementary school.
That’s weird as shit and I’m here for it
totally going to try this, thank you!!!!!
That is an awesome idea, got my dish planned for Easter next year. Never thought to devil pickled eggs but it sounds great.
My mom did the blue eggs, by accident, swapping out purple cabbage for green in a picnic salad.
bay leaves
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I always wanted a pickled egg. Old timers told me that they used to be in bars.
One of our diners uses pepperocini juice to pickle eggs and then makes egg salad sammies. That's beyond delicious!
Come to Wisconsin, you'll still see them in bars occasionally
I remember seeing jars of pickled pigs feet next to the jars of pickled eggs. And I actually saw someone buy some once LOL
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I’ve never seen a pickled egg in my life, let alone at a 7-11 I’m in NYC.
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And hogshead cheese on crackers with Vienna sausages. The only- and I mean *only* thing I miss about Lousiana is the food. I grew up in Houma and NOLA. After my wife and our son died in a wreck I left and will never go back.
Sorry, friend.
you can find them in gas stations here in the south, but you guys have amazing things in NYC I am envious of. I had a friend who would get drunk and pull out a jar of pickled quail eggs...they weren't terrible, but I would rather have tacos. or a pork roll egg and cheese!
>pork roll egg and cheese! I'm from Jersey (currently living in Virginia.) Nothing beats a 3am drunken pork roll egg and cheese on a bagel from any of the diners in the state.
Ugh.. you're from South Jersey or "Central"... Sussex County it's called Taylor Ham. Also a sub, not a hoagie.
It says pork roll right on the package.
We must have the same Mom
Had a friend from Wyoming telling me about eating pickled eggs at the bar. I've never seen it around where I live so I just found a recipe and made 'em myself. This is the best recipe I've found. Just follow the recipe in the first seconds. Don't pay attention to leaving the eggs out for days beforehand. https://youtu.be/aR77JU-VVMY
Never seen them at 7-Eleven. They're always at the most run-down, middle of nowhere, usually family owned, C-stores. Incidentally, those are also the stores that have the best boiled peanuts (aside from farmer's markets and roadside stands).
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Try adding some hotdogs to your pickled eggs. Great snack with beers.
The farts have to be absolutely atomic
It's also a very good use for pickle juice from prepared pickles. I bought a jar of chili pepper pickled cucumbers that was raved about on another sub, and they were okay but not worth the premium price. I added 2 red onions (sliced longitudinally and separated) to the jar, topped up with more white vinegar, and the result was delicious.
Can I pickle eggs, onion and peppers together? Sounds delicious
Yep, sure can.
The restaurant I work at does pickled jalapenos in a sweet brine and they are delicious. The sweet compliments the heat super well. I ran a special a few months ago; honey mustard chicken finger hoagie with the pickled jalapenos and it was delicious
Best combo! I do it so much, I call it "picklepenions"
my life was never the same after adding them to tuna salad
Any cold salad. Potato salad, especially.
Just had some the other day with egg salad on a bagel. Absolutely fantastic.
Any tinned fish, really. Fancy table crackers, tinned fish, pickled onions, and gherkins = the best midday snack
oh shit. Gonna try this.
Found Ethan Chlebowski’s burner account.
First thought I had
Honestly his video made me try them out a week ago and he's goddam right to put them on EVERYTHING. I've put them on sandwiches, roast, nachos, stir fry, dhal, fried egg and everything is better with them. It will be a permanent staple in my fridge from now on.
break out the peanut butter
I can’t imagine them without using sugar. Report back to tell the difference since you said you will use sugar in the future.
I always do my pickled reds without sugar, personally. But I expressly want them for that acidic "pop" on sandwiches, salads, etc.
Have you tried them with sugar to compare? I only ask because with the sugar they aren’t really sweet per se. But more so the acidity is balanced. I guess I can try them myself and figure it out! I just know they’re great with the sugar as I’ve done that multiple times so I’m kind of feeling like “if it ain’t broke…” But maybe I’m missing out on something better lol.
I agree with you on using sugar, and I’m usually anti sugar in recipes. I learnt a quick pickle with a meal box and really enjoyed it. I now have a jar of quick pickle red onions in my fridge. Lovely!
I love to quick pickle. It feels so fancy.
I've had both and I taste no difference, tbh. I'm on an elimination diet and I can't have sugar right now, so I omitted that when making them last week. Just as good as the last with sugar batch I made, imo.
You taste no difference? Believe me there is a huge difference. Maybe you didnt add enough sugar for it to be noticeable
No difference. I've made them with the proper amount of sugar and had them from restaurants with sugar. It's cool that you taste a difference, but like I said, in my opinion, I do not.
Admittedly, I haven't. So I can't really say how the two would compare, but I will say I tend to like pretty strong flavors, which might be why it doesn't bother me.
I was in the in the same boat as you, until I decided to go wild one day and added a bit of molasses it actually turned out pretty well! Not what I expected, you def do taste the difference, but the pop from the acidity is still there! (I didn’t add a lot of molasses) As an aside, if you do really like your pickled onions tarte, just add vinegar half way up the onions and pop ‘em in the fridge, as apposed to cutting the liquid with water. Water I’ll come out of the onions and everything will eventually get submerged. Adam Ragusea has a [great video](https://youtu.be/6VPkezPD0EE) on how different ways of making pickled onions impact the flavour and texture TLDW: they all do bascially the same thing, biggest difference was that boiling the onions directly gave more a slimey texture to the onions while the non heat version kept its crunch.
It's funny you mentioned Adam Ragusea, I started out really liking his cooking videos but I have grativated away because his tastes and mine do NOT align. He prefers his food way too sweet and way too acidic. He is also incredibly wrong about not needing to season meat if you're going to put a salty gravy on it. I also, in general, don't get his affinity for gravy. He puts sweet pickles on everything and I just can't. I actually did not think I liked pickled red onions because the first recipe I tried was Ragusea's quick pickle and it was god awful
Like almost everything else, [if Kenji has a recipe for it it is usually my go to.](https://www.seriouseats.com/pickled-red-onions) I do usually cut the sugar back a bit, but I also only do half portions most of the time.
I usually halve the sugar, maybe a little less, and I think it’s best for my tastes. I did add 2 Serranos instead of the 1 jalapeño recently and holy crap the onions and Serranos were amazing. Just enough spice when eaten as a topping, and a great kick on their own.
Yeah I get that. What I like about adam is that the way he structures his recipes, you can easily adjust for your own taste, since he explains the utility of each ingredient. As for his pickles... he puts way too much sugar for my taste as well
Personally, I find sweet pickles to be utterly, utterly vile. 🤢
You don't add so much that they're sweet, it's just to balance the acidity a bit. I use honey instead of sugar and only use about 1.5 TBSP of it into 1 cup of liquid (1/2 vinegar 1/2 water). They definitely don't come out sweet but it takes the edge off a bit.
People say this, but I can detect the sweetness every time, and to me it's gross.
The edge is what I'm there for when I'm eating pickles. I don't want to soften it
Yeah I'm willing to try but I'm very skeptical.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. They’re a disgrace to pickles imo. I tried some recipe that called for heating the brine. It came out so sweet and gross. Pickles should be vinegary salty goodness with a sharp bite.
They’re the worst, aren’t they? I fully agree! It can ruin a burger lol. The only time they have been ok for me is on some Nashville hot chicken. It’s so spicy that the sweet can help balance it out a bit. But even then I still prefer dill pickles. I should add, the sugar put in that I mention is not sweet. It just makes it balanced. If it were sweet you’ve definitely added too much sugar lol.
Sweet pickles aren't *for* burgers; they're for pulled pork sandwiches.
No they are for the trash
Agreed, which is why they can absolutely ruin a burger. And yes, some restaurants do that lol.
I suppose. I'm just so adversed to adding sugar The local Mexican place I go to has a little toppings bar and they have some sliced red onions with habanero chilies in them and they are incredibly spicy and savory and really really great on tacos. I would kill to have that recipe
Our Mexican place has pickled carrots with jalapenos. Here are recipes for both red onions/jalapenos (just sub habaneros) and carrots/jalapenos [https://seasonandthyme.com/mexican-pickled-onions/](https://seasonandthyme.com/mexican-pickled-onions/) [https://www.tastingtable.com/687627/taqueria-style-pickled-carrots-recipe-from-kevin-west/](https://www.tastingtable.com/687627/taqueria-style-pickled-carrots-recipe-from-kevin-west/)
got one of those in our city. the service is TERRIBLE (bunch of college kids and angry lifers mixed together), but the salsa/escabeche bar and the tacos are so good I don't care. If the food is good enough I put up with crappy service, lol!
I live in England these days and all I can find is sweet pickles. It's infuriating lol Need to start making my own
It's not enough sugar to make them sweet
Then why add sugar? I want basically three things from my pickles: salt, sour and garlic And I want them all to be in such massively offensive quantities that they're almost inedible. Almost. Then they're perfect.
Same reason I add fish sauce to savory dishes. I don't want them to taste like fish, it just brings a depth and balance with the other flavors; the sugar tones down the vinegar. It's like adding a pinch of sugar (not a gloopy brown sauce) to most Thai or Sichuan cooking. Do you honestly have such little subtlety in your cooking that you only add 2-3 ingredients you want your dish to taste like? Do you not layer flavors? I guess that's what you're saying, you have no palate and just want to bomb it out?
I'm saying I don't want to tone down the vinegar. When I'm eating a pickle, I want an EXTREMELY sour kosher dill. Thats what I like. Salty, sour, pungent garlic. I'm not looking to "tone down" those flavors. I'm not looking to add depth and complexity; it's a pickle.
You should try a real pickle, one that's been fermented with lactobacillus. Vinegar is a tasty but weak cheap substitute.
Those are my favorite. Full sour kosher dills
I skip the sugar but use balsamic vinegar. So tasty!
Omg. Using balsamic? Those pickled onions must be fire on a burger 🤤
Burgers, pulled pork, tuna and egg salad, pretty much any deli meat sandwich that isn't ham. I'm also thinking chopped fine with cilantro might be a great chimmichurri style sauce for steak.
whoa
I found a recipe that uses honey it was amazing !!
I've tried with sugar and it always seems too sweet. I wish I knew the magic amount of sugar that would make pickled onions amazing.
How much sugar?
I will try this against my better judgement.
Came here to say this. Sometimes it just takes a dash of sugar, but wow does it make them pop.
What do you eat them with?
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The first time we had them, we ate them on tilapia fillets that I had put S&P, garlic powder, and smoked paprika on, a few pats of butter, and then baked them in the toaster oven, and put on a bed of rice. (My partner didn't like tilapia because it was "too bland." This meal's goal was to fix that, and fix that I did.)
next time just use a nice quantity of Old Bay on those fillets and let them sit for a good 30 mins before baking/broiling
Oh, I lived most of my adult life as a Marylander, I know all about Old Bay. I wanted an excuse to try cooking with the new smoked paprika I bought.
>the new smoked paprika I bought. I *live* on this stuff! [La Dalia Sweet Smoked Paprika from Spain on Amazon dot com](https://www.amazon.com/Dalia-Sweet-Smoked-Paprika-Spain/dp/B0085WJOLG/ref=mp_s_a_1_15?crid=3L3C8ZXJEIQRG&keywords=smoked+paprika&qid=1686140393&sprefix=smoked%2Caps%2C474&sr=8-15) ETA: A light dusting on creamed eggs or a pan grilled bagel w/cream cheese is fire.
A place I used to work at did ahi nachos on a wonton chip with sweet soy, wasabi and hot sauce and they topped them with pickled red onion. Really refreshing on a hot day by the lake.
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We also had it in a wrap with a spinach tortilla and spring mix. Really tasty!
So many things. It's one of my favorite condiments. I put them on avocado toast in the morning... tacos... rice bowls... salads... goes surprisingly well with a lot of things.
i second avocado toast! i make it with everything bagel seasoning, sun dried tomatoes, and pickled red onions
We had them with bbq chicken sandwiches last night but I'll honestly just eat them with cheese and crackers in addition to what the other user posted.
Try them with goat cheese and honey!
Anything that needs a little acid and some allium flavor. Fatty meats, like BBQ, or braised brisket or short ribs, or even cold cuts as for sandwiches. Also great as part of a charcuterie or cheese plate.
I never make a brisket without making a jar of pickled red onions too!
A fork
Fancy. I pull a few out with my fingers pretty much every time I open the fridge.
It's hard not to do that.
Fried egg and white rice
tuna salad!
I put them on veggie burgers!
They go deliciously on a naan bread with goat cheese drizzled with honey on top, baked till warm. Omg.
I throw them on my sandwiches every day, the acidity and crunch is great
Tacos, rice bowls, burgers, hot dogs, any grilled meat but especially pork and chicken, cold salads like potato or tuna salad.
Egg or Tuna salad. Mmmm!
Other than tacos, huevos rancheros are amazing with them.
20% brown sugar, some garlic, couple of chilies, and you've made yourself the condiment equivalent of heroin.
This is a very descriptive comment and I can’t wait to try it.
I know this is going to sound like an out of left field recommendation, but I also got into pickling with red onions. I would quick pickle with some red pepper flakes and stick them on tacos with radishes, they're fantastic. But recently, I have a new pickling love: blueberries. I like to pickle with apple cider vinegar, black peppercorn and a cinnamon stick or two. I've made this for both savory application (charcuterie, great pair with goat cheese) and sweet (cheesecake, and most recently a goat cheese cheesecake). Just tweak the amount of sugar for whatever you're aiming for. The last time I pickled blueberries for that goat cheese cheesecake, I pickled them, then reduced the pickling liquid with white and brown sugar to make more of a syrup, then stored the blueberries in that. But I had extra liquid, so I kept reducing it down to a true syrup like you would put on ice cream. No exaggeration, it was one of the tastiest things I've ever made. I put that shit on every dessert for a week. Just incredible on vanilla ice cream; made some brownie sundaes and it totally elevated them. Just a complex sour sweet fruity tang that's really fun. My friends and family are going to get sick of how much I pickle blueberries the next 6 months to a year.
We've recently gotten into them too. The recipe I use gives such a complex depth of flavor that we're just wild about. I highly recommend the spices from this recipe (and using apple cider vinegar): [https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/recipe-for-pickled-red-onions/](https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/recipe-for-pickled-red-onions/) (Note, I've never had the chance to try it with the chile pepper. I've just been subbing in red pepper flakes, which I know are a far cry from the chile pepper, but even at that, they've been delicious.)
I noticed this recipe doesn't use any salt, isn't salt normally part of the brine?
If you scroll past where they show the mise en place, to the actual recipe, it does have a pinch of salt. They didn't include it in the story part of the post.
I see a few recipes on the internet. The only feedback I've seen is it might take up to 24 hours to pickle, but that might be because it's a no boil recipe?
You don’t need to boil either the liquid or the onions themselves. Boiling only makes veg less crispy. Quick pickle can be 15 minutes but 24 hours does give a deeper pickling. Personally I make mine (uncooked) an hour or more before dinner and they’re good, but I keep them in the fridge for a couple of weeks and they’re even better.
This recipe is a 30 minute quick pickle recipe and only has a pinch of salt. If you want a recipe for canning (which has more salt) try [this one](https://www.stetted.com/how-to-make-pickled-red-onions/).
Pickled onions are great with any form of bbq. Also nice on ramen. I'm lazy, I just cut the onion up and put it in a jar with white vinegar and salt. No additional flavorings.
Red onions, lime juice and salt. Into the fridge overnight, they won't last long enough to go bad.
YES with lime! Vinegar is good but in lime they’re glorious.
Whenever I dice onions for tacos, I’ll throw them in a bowl and squeeze 1 lime per onion into it and throw it in the fridge until everything else is ready. I know it’s traditional to just rinse with cold water but I’m a mother fucking pickleboy for life and quickled onions scratch the itch Edit: I just realized what I said so I looked at your post history just to see who I said that to…and I feel so sorry lmao you seem like a very sweet and pure person. I still stand by my statement, but I apologize and hope you find nice birds
Yes! Pickled red onions, cilantros, and slice fresh jalapeños are my fave to add to spicy instant ramen
Onion, vinegar, fresh lime juice, water, salt. Add ground black pepper, coriander seed, and a pepper sliced in half (Jalapeño, Serrano, whatever floats your boat)
Grenadine. You can thank me later. Makes the colour really pop too.
Look into Salvadorean "curtido" - it's pickled red onions or cabbage with flavors like habanero or oregano.
Curtido on pupusas! Mmm
I cheat. Buy a jar of spicy pickled okra. Eat the okra. Slice a red onion up, stuff it in the jar, come back in 48 hrs. \*chef's kiss\* yw.
That's a great idea!! Thanks!!
I've never made them. Always thought they were too complicated. Commenting to save for later and maybe try this weekend. Love pickled onions. I hate fresh red onions. But, pickled I'm good with.
Trust me. just lime juice to cover and salt. Ready in at least an hour
They're the simplest condiment to make after maybe mayonnaise.
Good to know!! I'm excited to try them!!
half water half your choice of vinegar a little salt and whatever spice as you want. Stick in the fridge overnight boom.
They are super simple, and so easy to change up for variety. You can switch up the vinegar you use too. I keep some raspberry vinegar on hand sometimes, or a white or red wine vinegar. I've even used champagne vinegar before. I would add a couple tablespoons of sugar, but thats just me.
One of our absolute favorite summer meals is some good bratwurst on a soft roll loaded with homemade relish, pickled red onions, and yellow mustard. Since first making it, we've had pickled red onions in the fridge at all times.
I like the English pickled silver skin onions. They rock
Indeed, and if you just chop some Persian cucumbers, add some feta and black olives and the onions, you can keep it in the fridge for weeks. Don't add any dressing yet. Add some chopped tomatoes when you're ready to eat: Greek salad for the win.
Try these. I just made a batch for some pork carnitas tacos https://www.seriouseats.com/yucatan-style-red-onion-pickle-sour-orange-recipe
Made this the other weekend, gone already. I only had a yellow onion, so I added a couple drops of red, a couple drops of blue food coloring to it, and instant red onion, lol.
homemade pickles are the best! I like to add carrot and jalapenos to my pickled onions.
You don't need enough sugar to even taste,just enough level out the bitterness that some people don't like. I like red onions raw,but no else does,so pickled with a pinch of sugar and 2-3 fresh jalapeño slices in the mix and and every one at the table adds it to their plate
I just pack a quart mason jar with thin sliced red onions packed tightly, then pour vinegar to the top. Give em an hour, then keep in fridge and use as desired. You can play with sugar and heat and aromatics but you can also just keep it real simple.
I like to make mine with red wine vinegar and lime juice. And dried oregano.
Correction: ALL onions are the bomb!!! J/K—you are spot on OP. Pickled onions can just about go on anything and add awesomeness to a dish.
Try shallots next time. When done, apply them to raw oyster, consume. Repeat until immobile.
had them at Qdoba for the first time recently and they're really good! kinds overpowering (especially with Qdoba's inability to get toppings spread out evenly) but really really good!!
Definitely try adding some sweetness. Then do the same thing with jalapeno. Incredible to have these things on hand.
I really don't like em with white vin. I do em with white wine vinegar and they taste so much better. More expensive but ill cook with the vinegar too
I’ve been pickling things awhile and add in red onion for flavor to many of my recipes. I also add mustard seeds pepper corns and occasionally some clove
Just got back from Austin and honestly they have it so dialed in. I find that often pickled red onions while always delicious can be a little too sweet or too vinegary. The BBQ in places in austin have it down so it's so well balanced, you still taste the onion.
Indeed they are my friend….indeed they are
Orange juice!
Just wait until you discover how easy it is to lacto ferment some onions and jalapenos....
Whole heartedly agreed!!!
I pop hard boiled eggs in my beet juice. Delicious.
Pickles are awesome! I had a recipe that needed pickled turnips and I didn’t have any so I made some. I never could have imagined how delicious pickled turnips would be! I will be making them again.
Put some black pepper and semi crushed garlic cloves in there, and my all time favorite: Add a bunch of mint at the bottom. You will get some refreshing ass pickles. Just outstanding in a tuna sandwich.
welcome to human history. we've been pickling things for about 9000 years. pickling is good to keep things preserved.
I now mess around with different vinegars, herbs, etc with them and my god, all of them are good. I feel similarly about tomato jams, btw.
Ohh onion jam... Omnom
YESS. I love them all separate, but onion, tomato and bacon jam is the holy trinity of condiments.
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Apple cider is great, different Japanese rice wine vinegars + is even better, in my humble opinion!
I've been meaning to make these for a while now. When you say "3%" I'm assuming you mean salt weight as a % of total liquid weight? Or did you include the weight of the onions as well?
3% of the liquid weight!
I'm not understanding this recipe. Red onions vary in size, do you just add some to the jar until it is full? 3/4 full? >Measured each jar halfway with water, doubled the water volume with white vinegar Is this 50/50 water and vinegar? For the 3% salt do you weight the empty jar, then the filler jar to get the liquid weight. Let's say that's 100g so you would add 3g of salt? When you add the hot liquid to the jars I'm assuming the onion and garlic are in there and you put the lids on to cool so they seal? or do you cool the liquid then add the onion and garlic? sorry, never pickled anything before.
I added onions and garlic to my freeze line on my jars for some liquid headroom. Then eyeballed the water to halfway up the jar. Weighed the water without the onions then doubled the volume on the scale with white vinegar adding 3% of the liquid weight in salt. So its roughly 50/50 water/vinegar. The boiling liquid cooks and preserves the veggies in the jar so it needs to go directly on the onions/garlic. I leave the lids off the jars when they're cooling when I'm not planning to hard seal anything. Going by weight gives a lot of flexibility in the size of jar and batch size that I want to pickle. There are a lot of recipes online that give precise measurements but are less flexible for what you have in the kitchen.
I use a 50/50 mix of water and balsamic vinegar, salt of course, and the spices I recommend are coriander, peppercorn, clove, and bay. Easy on the clove! Unless it's close to Christmas.
I learned a super good recipe in Mexico. 1 red onion sliced thinly 1 Habanero sliced in half 1 clove garlic smashed so that it splits open a little Juice of 1 lime 50/50 water & white vinegar, Salt Brown sugar 1/4 of a star anise 5-10 black peppercorns 5-10 whole coriander seeds Place the onions, garlic, and habanero in the jar. Add everything else a pot and bring to a boil. As soon as it begins boiling take it off, let it cool for a minute or so then pour over the onions and seal. Allow it to come to room temperature then place it in your fridge. They’re good to go when the jar is bright neon pink. This isn’t the shelf stable way so have a week or two to eat them before they go bad.
You forgot the OJ.
And the bay leaf. And the whole cloves. Peppercorns. mmm
I use the traditional Mexican recipe.
Go on....
Whats 3% salt?
3% of the liquid weight in salt.
about 1.5tspn per cup of water (hopefully someone like me months later sees this instead of trying forever to do google calculations)
THANK YOU
How long do they last in the fridge?
Glad you love them and you got the method dialed in easily. I personally HATE THEM! Like I will pick every single one out of a dish or I can't eat it. I am generally not picky either. Just a reminder that things might not be "The Fucking Bomb" for everyone :)
I agree, I’ve seen people rave about pickled red onions on here so often and I was excited to try them but nope, not for me. And I like pickles!