Quick Pickled Red Onion

Pickled red onions are great when you have a dish that just needs a little extra oomph. They add brightness, bite, and crunch without the full-blown punch of straight up raw onion. Better yet, they require very little planning ahead. In the course of making a meal, you can start your prep by throwing together some pickled red onion, continue to the rest of the meal prep, and add your newly pickled red onion to your finished dish 30 minutes later.

The recipe below is very basic to keep the flavor profile more versatile. If you wanted to play around, you could add some whole peppercorns, garlic clove(s), fresh herbs, or the like.

Quick Pickled Red Onion

From Sprouted Kitchen

Yield: about 1 cup (the photos above show a single batch in a pint sized mason jar)

Ingredients

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 small red onion or 1/2 a medium one, sliced vertically 

Splash of water, if needed

Directions

Add vinegar, salt, and sugar to a jar or other microwave safe glass dish. Warm it in the microwave for just a bit (30-60 seconds ought to do it) to help the sugar and salt dissolve. Stir. Add your red onion slices and press down into the liquid. If needed, add a splash of water and/or a bit more vinegar so the onion is mostly covered. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before eating. I find it helps to put the lid on the jar and turn the jar a couple times during those 30 minutes.

Store in the fridge. I like to eat mine within 2 weeks or so, but I've seen nearly identical recipes that say they'll last for over a month. 

Tip

To vertically slice an onion, you basically are slicing from pole to pole instead of around the hemisphere. Slice off the root end and stem end (the poles), then cut the onion in half from pole to pole. With an onion half flat side down on the cutting board, make thin slices, again from pole to pole. Here's a video from Cooking Light.