Quick Pickled Onions
Ten minutes of work and thirty of waiting. They turn bright pink on their own and improve almost anything savoury.
- Prep
- 10m
- Cook
- 3m
- Waiting
- 30m
- Total
- 43m
- Serves
- one jar
- Effort
- Easy
Scale
Units
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 2 | Pack tightly into a jar 5m | Pour over the onions and leave 30 minutes 30m Edible at 30 minutes, better at 2 hours, best the next day. | |
| 1 cup | Warm until the sugar and salt dissolve 3m Warm, not boiling. You are dissolving, not cooking. | ||
| 1/2 cup | |||
| 2 tbsp | |||
| 2 tsp | |||
| 1 tsp | |||
| 1 |
-
Pack tightly into a jar
5m- red onions 2
-
Warm until the sugar and salt dissolve
3m- cider or red wine vinegar 1 cup
- water 1/2 cup
- caster sugar 2 tbsp
- fine salt 2 tsp
- black peppercorns (optional) 1 tsp
- bay leaf (optional) 1
Warm, not boiling. You are dissolving, not cooking.
-
Pour over the onions and leave 30 minutes
30m- from 1 Pack tightly into a jar
- from 2 Warm until the sugar and salt dissolve
Edible at 30 minutes, better at 2 hours, best the next day.
Why they go pink
Red onions contain anthocyanins, pigments that shift colour with pH. In the onion’s neutral cells they read purple; drop the pH with vinegar and they turn a vivid magenta. It is a genuine chemical indicator, not a cosmetic additive, and it is why white onions pickle beige.
Notes
- Slice thin. Thick slices stay harsh in the middle for days.
- The 2:1 vinegar-to-water ratio is a starting point — more water is milder, and it keeps a little less long.
- Three weeks in the fridge. The liquid afterwards is excellent in a vinaigrette.