Easy Red Onion Pickle

I love to have a jar of Easy Red Onion Pickle in the fridge to add extra colour and flavour to meals. They are delicious alongside veggies, grilled or roasted meat, as an addition to wraps, burgers, sandwiches, salads or just a milder way to enjoy onion in salads.

Health benefits

This Easy Red Onion Pickle recipe offers several health benefits. Red onions are packed with antioxidants, particularly quercetin, which helps combat inflammation and supports heart health. Apple cider vinegar is known to improve digestion, which can enhance nutrient absorption. It has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity supporting stable blood sugar levels. While this recipe doesn’t ferment long enough to create probiotics, apple cider vinegar itself can support a healthy gut by balancing pH levels.

These quick pickled red onions make for a tasty and healthful addition to various dishes, enhancing flavour while offering nutritional benefits.

Ingredients

All you need for these quick pickled onions are a few basic ingredients, including finely sliced red onion, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar or rapadura, and sea salt.

How to make easy red onion pickle

Warm the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan until everything dissolves. Pop your sliced onions into a jar or mason jar, then pour the hot pickling liquid over the top and press them down so they’re mostly submerged. They soften quite quickly, so just give them a stir over the first hour to help them settle under the liquid.

Serving suggestions and how to store

They’re ready after about fifteen minutes, but the flavour develops beautifully if you chill them. Keep them in a sealed container or jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. Use them anywhere you want a bright pop of flavour: piled onto salads, with grilled meat or fish, slices added into wraps, stirred through bowls or added to burgers. I love this a lot on Smashed Avocado Toast. My whole family adore the taste of these pickled onions and request them weekly.

Vary this easy red onion pickle to suit your dietary needs

You can use any natural sweetener you like (honey, maple syrup, rice malt syrup). Add chilli flakes for heat, mustard seeds or peppercorns for a more traditional vibe, or swap the vinegar for red wine vinegar or white vinegar or white wine vinegar if that’s what you have on hand.

Easy Red Onion Pickle

Prep 10 minutes minutes

Cook 2 minutes minutes

Rest 15 minutes minutes

Total 27 minutes minutes

Serves: 10 serves

I love to have a jar of Easy Red Onion Pickle in the fridge to add extra colour and flavour to meals. They are delicious alongside grilled or roasted meat, as an addition to wraps or a milder way to enjoy onion in salads.

MetricUS Customary

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Ingredients

• 1 red onion/s (large) halved and finely sliced
• 120 ml apple cider vinegar (½ cup)
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar or rapadura – or sweetener of your choice
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method

• Place the apple cider vinegar, sweetener and salt in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve all ingredients.
• Place the onions into a mason jar or airtight jar.
• As the pickling liquid comes to the boil, pour it over the onions, making sure you press the onions down to be mostly covered by the liquid. They do collapse as they pickle so for the first hour or so give them a stir until they are below the vinegar.
• Set the onions aside for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, then they are ready to used or store in the fridge for up to a week.

Serve

• Delicious alongside grilled or roasted meat, as an addition to wraps or a milder way to enjoy onion in salads.
• Serve with one of our fabulous Dhal recipes or any of the curries.

Store

• In an airtight container for up to a week.

Variations

Add to….

• Eggs cooked anyway
• Salads
• Steak (or any fish or meat)
• In sandwiches (my son loves it with nitrate free ham in his roll at school)
• With a curry or dhal
• On a hamburger

 

 

 

 

Did you love this easy red onion pickle?  Let me know how you used them in recipes in the comments below…

Course: Side Dish

Author: Well Nourished Team

Recipe by Kristin Cosgrove

Hi, I’m Kristin Cosgrove. I’m a mum, student of psychology and passionate whole foods cook. I love to share my love for simple, seasonal recipes and my modern approach to cooking for my family. I live on the Surf Coast with my husband and three children.

You can find me on Instagram at @kristinjcosgrove

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