Go Back
Bright pink pickled red onions in a blue glass bowl standing in front of a jar of pickled red onions and a fresh uncut red onion.

Pickled Red Onion Recipe

Once you realize how easy and how quick it is to make pickled red onions, you will never go without again! They are so delicious on a burger, tacos, in a salad...so many options!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes

Equipment

  • cutting board
  • sharp kitchen knife
  • jar with lid for storing (1 liter)
  • bowl or measuring jug to mix the pickling juice
  • measuring cups and spoons
  • kitchen scale
  • larke mixing bowl
  • whisk
  • saucepan
  • sieve

Ingredients
  

  • 1 large red onions
  • 400 ml apple cider vinegar
  • 200 ml water
  • 100 grams honey
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 10 black pepper corns, crushed (ommit on AIP)

Instructions
 

  • Remove the outer layer of the onion. With a sharp kitchen knife, or a mandolin set to very thin slices, slice the onion. Slice them as evenly as possible. Thinner slices allow for quicker pickling, thicker slices will stay crunchier.
  • Fill a large bowl with fresh cold water and add the onions to the bowl. Swirl them around and let them sit while you prepare the pickling juice. This step helps remove a lot of the strong raw onion flavor.
  • Measure out your water, apple cider vinegar, salt and honey into a saucepan. Over medium heat, warm up the pickling juice and stir until the honey and salt have dissolved.
  • Add the bay leaf. Once dissolved. Turn the heat off.
  • Drain the onions, and make sure that most of the water has dripped off.
  • Place the onions into your jar.
  • You can now pour the pickling juice over the onions. If you want softer onions, add the pickling juice while still hot. If you like your onions crunchier, let the juice cool down.
  • Hotter liquid will pickle the onions quicker and they could be ready in a few hours. Coldpickling juice will take longer and the onions will be ready the next day.
  • Make sure all the onions are covered with pickling juice and seal the jar. Once it has cooled down, place in the refrigerator.
  • OPTIONAL: If you are on Paleo or have reintroduced and can tolerate black bepper, then you can add some black pepper to the pickling juice.
    Crush them with the side of your knife, and add them at the same time you add the bay leaf.

Notes

This recipe works in ratios and it is easy to scale it to whatever volume you need. 
The ratio is 4 parts apple cider vinegar, 2 parts water and 1 part honey. Feel free to adjust the ratio. If you like your onions a bit sweeter, just add some more honey. Play around and make it your own.