Quick & Tasty Pickled Onions Recipe (Under 30 Minutes) (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to soak onions in salt before pickling? ›

Now roll your bald onions in salt and leave in a bowl overnight, rinsing the salt away in the morning before patting dry. Although this stage is optional, the salt-and-rinse method will extract moisture from within the onion and you will be rewarded with a crisper, crunchier, firmer pickle in the long run.

Let the pickled onions cool to room temperature (about 20 to 30 minutes), at which point they should be sufficiently pickled for serving. Cover and refrigerate leftover pickled onions for later. Quick-pickled onions are best consumed within three days, but they keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Since this is a quick pickle, boiling isn't necessary. The hot water will dissolve the sugar and salt. Adding boiling liquid to the onions softens them, making them less crispy.

Sourness comes from acidic ingredients (including tomatoes, wine and vinegar). If your dish tastes too sour try to add sweetness—think sugar, honey (it's healthy!), cream or even caramelized onions. You can also dilute the dish (same as you would with a dish with too much salt).

Pack the onions into clean, sterilized jars. Pour over the hot vinegar mixture to fill the jars, and check there are no air pockets. Seal the jars and leave to cool. The onions will be ready to eat after about 1 month or better if kept for 2.

Once peeled, layer in a bowl and sprinkle each layer with salt. Cover and leave overnight or up to 24hrs. Meanwhile pour the vinegar and sugar into a large saucepan with the peppercorns, mustard seeds and bay leaves.

Most pickle recipes call for distilled white vinegar. This is the clear, colorless vinegar made by fermenting grains. It has a mellow aroma, tart acid flavor and does not affect the color of light-colored vegetables or fruits.

No, there are other methods for pickling, including quick pickling and refrigerator pickling. But this pickling method does call for boiling the brine. This process helps bloom the flavors of the ingredients and help speed up the pickling process when it's added to the fresh vegetables or fruit.

Temperature, light, and humidity can all affect how long your home-canned pickled onions last, so be sure to store them somewhere that is dark and dry with a cool, even temperature. Fluctuations that can lead to freezing or overheating will cause them to go bad prematurely, so choose your storage location carefully.

Place the vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, sugar, peppercorns and thyme in a large noncorrosive saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the onions to the hot liquid and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the onions to steep for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Why do you put baking soda on onions? ›

Baking soda makes the onions more alkaline, which speeds up the browning reactions necessary for properly caramelized onions. But it also weakens the pectin that holds the onion's cells together, turning what should be soft but distinct pieces of browned onion into a nauseating stew of pea-green mush.

It may be a normal reaction during fermentation caused by bacteria. If the pickles are soft, they are spoiled from the yeast fermentation. Don't use them. Using too weak a salt brine or vinegar solution may cause soft or slippery pickles, as can using moldy garlic or storing the pickles at too warm a temperature.

Overpowering flavor: Vinegar has a strong, tangy taste, and adding too much can overpower the other flavors in the dish. This can result in an unbalanced and excessively sour or acidic taste.

For condiment uses, vinegar can be aromatized with herbs and spices like tarragon, basil, garlic, shallot, and elder. They are steeped in the vinegar when acetification is complete; in certain types of vinegar sugars are added as well. These vinegars add special and unusual tastes to food.

Mixing in a sprinkle of common alkaline ingredients, like baking soda or baking powder, can often salvage a dish. If this still hasn't done the trick, adding neutral flavors, like sour cream or yogurt, can also help balance out the flavors.

When salt is applied to onions, it draws out moisture from the onions, which helps to break down some of the compounds that contribute to their strong smell and taste. This can make them more palatable and easier to work with, especially if you are sensitive to the strong flavor of onions.

Salt them generously with kosher salt and massage them with your fingers for a minute. Wait 10 minutes, then serve. The salt softens the onion's fibrous texture and mellows the sharpness of their flavor.

Any fresh-pack pickle recipe that calls for as much or more vinegar than water and provides a finished product with at least 1/4 cup of 5 percent acid vinegar per pint jar of pickled products can be safely made without salt. Sweet pickles generally taste better without salt than dill pickles.

As its name implies, pickling salt is used for pickling and canning. Salt is essential for pickling when you will be storing your pickles at room temperature for an extended period. The salt brings flavor but more importantly it prevents bacteria from growing in the brine.