Tasty RV Eats -> Super Easy Pickled Onions
For today’s RV Eats post I thought I would tackle something super easy, especially since most folks just spent days cooking for the big Thanksgiving holiday. This recipe is perfect as a crunchy/fancy topping for a turkey sandwich, for example, or a tasty condiment to whatever non-meat meal you might have made instead. Consider it onions with a twist…and a bit of tang & bite to go with it.
It’s not a new thing either. The pickling of veggies has been around for thousands of years. Traditionally it was a way of preserving veggies that might otherwise spoil as well as creating a tasty treat. There are lots of different types of pickling, but most of them basically involve combining a veggie with a liquid that will either preserve or ferment it. Some types of pickling take time (e.g. sauerkraut, kimchi), while others take almost no time at all. Pickled onions are one of the easy ones. With only 3 ingredients it takes a mere 10 minutes to make a restaurant-quality treat that will add both flavor & texture to fowl, burgers, sausages, fish, tacos, salads etc.
We’ve tried several different pickled onion recipes over the years. They all involve onion, vinegar and some kind of sugar. Our preference is this recipe from Bobby Flay since it uses honey instead of white sugar. We don’t always add the cilantro, but it’s a nice touch when we have it on hand. This same recipe can also be made with shallots for a slightly sweeter crunch.
Super Easy Pickled Onions (makes 1 jar)
Total time ~10 minutes prep, ~1 hour pickling
Ingredients
1 large red onion
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey (buy it local!)
2 tablespoons olive oil (our preference is this fabulous olive oil from Sicily
Salt and pepper
Equipment Needed
- Chopping board
- Glass canning jar or small Mason Jar
- Mixing bowl or measuring cup
For glass jar we just re-use an old jam jar very much like these online ones
Instructions
- Chop up the onion into thin slices.
- Press the onion pieces into a clean, sterile glass jar.
- Mix together vinegar, honey and olive oil. Salt & pepper to taste.
- Pour mixture over onions. Close jar & let the magic happen.The liquid will not initially cover the onions which is perfectly OK. The vinegar will pull out moisture from the onions and you’ll get the right amount of liquid as the pickling magic happens (~30 mins to 1 hour).
- Enjoy!!!
4 Easy Steps To Pickled Onions
Looks easy enough. But how long does it need to sit?
Darn good question and one I didn’t cover properly! In Bobby Flay’s recipe he recommends that you let it sit for an hour, but we’ve found it pickles very quickly especially if the onion is cut nice & thin. I think we let it sit for ~20 mins before we use it, but folks who are less impatient could extend that. Once made it can keep in the fridge for weeks.
Nina
Thank you for the response. I thought you would say days or weeks. That’s even easier then. 🙂
I’ve updated the recipe to add-in the pickling time. A rather important miss on my part!
Nina
Speaking of the healing properties of honey, last winter my lips were so terribly chapped, they were killing me! I tried everything but nothing was helping. I knew honey was a wonderful home remedy for a lot of problems, so in desperation I applied it to my chapped lips and with 24hr. my lips were 100% better. Now I’m really a believer in honey.
Great tip! I’ve never tried honey on the lips, but I can totally see how it would work. I’ve used honey on cuts before and it’s worked wonderfully.
Nina
Nice recipe…will have to try it…never knew about honey being so good for so many things…you say use raw honey…what is the difference and I assume if it is raw it will say so…
Some honey is pasteurized and/or has stuff added to it. Raw honey is just that -> no pasteurization and nothing added to it. The beneficial bacteria in honey are killed by pasteurization, so I always prefer it raw.
Nina
thanks…looks like raw is what I have 🙂
Mmmmmmmm…haven’t made pickled onions in ages, you’ve whetted my appetite! Love that they don’t even need any cooking!
I always buy red onion to go in my guacamole, but never use more than a quarter of it, since I am “cooking for one” and can only seem to find large red onions! I am going to try this with my left over red onion in my fridge. Thanks!
Great idea. Beware though…these pickled onions are addictive 🙂
Nina
Yummy! Love pickled red onions! I’ve been on a canning/pickling binge while in Ashland — we’re staying with friends on their farm and had to do something with the avalanche of produce. Do you ever make lacto-fermented veggies? They’re my favorite because they’re so rich in probiotics. One of these days I’ll manage to post a couple of simple recipes. Hopefully. 🙂 (Uh-oh, that reminds me that I owe you the brownie recipe made with coconut flour!)
Yes we do. I’ve made sauerkraut a few times (super easy), but I want to try kimchi. We love fermented stuff.
Nina
I like pickles, and I love onions. But I see no reason to combine the two. 🙂
Thank you, Nina; this recipe looks delicious! My Gramma had a cup of hot water every morning with a bit of honey & a bit of apple cider vinegar with a lot of mother in it. She was rarely sick. The onions would be delicious in our Asian rice bowls alongside our homemade baked marinated tofu. Bon appetit!
I sometimes have water with Apple cider vinegar in the morning too. Hadn’t thought of adding honey, but I like that idea. Enjoy the pickles!
Nina
Sounds like a good addition to a tasty sandwich.
I’ll have to try this one sometime.
I did notice that the ‘l’ in ‘pickled’ has been forgotten in the title.
HA! Thanks! Dyslexia hits again. Didn’t see that one at all. I’ve corrected it now.
Nina
Bill will love these – will have to add them to the Christmas buffet!
Happy Belated Birthday Nina!
Thank you! Enjoy the recipe!
Nina
I will certainly try this! Sounds delicious and the perfect condiment to many meals.
I love these. I make them with lime juice instead of vinegar, and the onions turn bright pink! Not sure if you get this same effect with vinegar, but they’re perfect with Mexican dishes and so yummy!
Nice. I like the twist of making them with lemon.
Nina
Have you or anyone come across a pickled egg recipe?
I had a very simple one about 40 years ago that used beet juice, vinegar {that’s all I remember). I use to make them in a one gallon pickle jar and by the time we were down to the last few eggs the red color (beet juice) was into the yellow part of the eggs (I guess the yolk). If not I guess the “yolks on me”.
First time I’m not looking for a Mexico dentist….
You know I’ve never made pickled eggs, although I’ve eaten quite a few in my time (especially living in Asia). This recipe is very well-rated and looks like it would fit the ticket:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pickled-eggs/
Nina
Hi !!
What type of cilantro would U add, green cilantro or cilantro seeds ??
It seems like an easy to do & great recipe.
Thanks ! Lucy.
Fresh cilantro, typically, although I’ve never tried cilantro seeds. That might taste good!
Nina
Hello,
I’ve recently started reading your blog. Thank you for the many helpful articles on RV’ing how-to’s and places to camp. You are a wonderful resource.
This recipe sounds yummy and I will have to try it very soon. I have made my own lacto fermented kraut and kimchi and have found that the fastest, easiest, and most foolproof way to ferment so far is to use water kefir as a starter culture. Would the onions work that way, do you think, by replacing the vinegar with a fermenting medium that will generate its own lactic acid?
I’ve never tried lacto-fermentation of onions, but I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work. In fact there’s a recipe here that does exactly that:
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/lacto-fermented-pickled-onion-recipe
Nina
thank you for the link, it does look like it will work, and further research shows that one can pickle any number of vegetables in the same manner also. Time to experiment!
Yup, the main caveat with fermentation-type stuff is that it takes time. The simple pickling recipe I posted here is a 1-hour wait, whereas a traditional fermentation-style approach would take 5 days or more. Of course you get all the wonderful probiotics with the fermentation approach, so the wait makes it worthwhile. We do both in the RV. I also make a gluten-free sourdough that is a 7-day labor of love. Food experimentation is fun 🙂
Nina
wow, I want to camp near you some day! Sounds yummy!
What I have found is that by using the water kefir starter, I shave about 3-4 days off the fermentation process. The “bubbling” starts the very next day and is quite vigorous. And I am trying to get more probiotics in my diet so that is why I am asking about it, but I totally understand how nice it is to get a tasty result in 20 minutes.
It’s good to hear that you do a lot of experimenting in the RV. I want to travel more, but the rig I am contemplating is very small, so I don’t know how to keep cooking as I do at home when on the road. Your Beast’s size is certainly an advantage there!
Totally! Actually we’re all about those great probiotics. I was mentioning it mostly so that others who are reading the recipe and comments don’t get confused. Not everyone understands the difference between basic pickling and fermentation style pickling 🙂
I like the idea of using water kefir as a starter. I’ll sometimes add some to my sourdough if it’s having trouble (sometimes all our travel thro different altitudes and temps confuses it and it needs a re-boot). Never tired it with veggies, but since we’re always brewing Kefir we pretty much always have some on hand. Good tip!
Nina
Have you seen the Home Complete Spiral Slicer that makes spaghetti out of veggies? I just tried it and it’s sooo much fun; on Amazon of course, about $7.
Yes I have…and I’ve been eyeing it. I really, really like the idea of making spaghetti out of different veggies. Nice to know you like it. Think I’ll add it to my “wish list”.
Nina
Is that a 1/2 pint jar? I used a 1 pint jar and I think it’s too large. I’m not sure it will pull enough liquid out of the onions to cover most of the onions.
Sorry. I used a 2 pint jar because that’s what would hold a “large” red onion. Is yours, then, a 1 pint jar?
Good question! We used a 16 oz jar and really squeezed the onion slices in. So, 1 pint jar size for 1 large onion.
Nina