Pickled Red Onions
Your Sammie’s Best Friend, Pickled Red Onions
Pickled red onions are my latest food addiction. It is interesting how your tastes changes as we age and change diets. Since I’ve gone plant-based and eliminated most processed sugars and foods, my taste buds have went crazy. My body craves crunchy and strong flavored foods like pickled foods. I never was a pickled kind of person outside of a Kosher pickle and sauerkraut and they were to be paired with certain foods. A very rigid way of looking at food, but that’s how many of us were brought up.
Condiments Rule
Eating plant-based I find is all about the condiments. Flavor, color, and texture is encouraged. Condiments play a huge role in layering the flavors of your sandwich. My taste buds rejoice in this new way.
That’s where pickled red onions come into play. Don’t ask me why I started craving them then decided to make them out of the blue. But I’m glad I did. They make sandwiches and salads so much better. I put them on veggies burgers, hash browns, and hummus pitas. They add a crunch with sweet, and sour flavors. My guys enjoy them, too.
Red onion pickles are addictive. And it is a good thing they are so easy to make. In fact, I’m just wondering if you can even buy them in the store. I’ve never seen them. Outside of the pickled pearl onions and olives… hmm… something to think about. Any way as my mind wanders to filling jars of pickled red onions to sell as the farmer’s market, let’s get back to making them.
Making Red Pickled Onions
The idea of pickling things made me nervous. The only person I knew who pickled and fermented was my friend Eric and he is a master of the craft. As a going away present form North Carolina, he presented me with a wonderful jar of Moroccan preserved lemons. While I tried to pickle green beans a couple years ago and it was disaster, Eric encouraged me to keep trying. Through his positive vibes, I decided to make the pickled onions.
This recipe came from Gimme Some Oven. What drew me to it was two things: it was quick and a sweetener option was maple syrup. Only five ingredients and 35 minutes you can have red pickled onions for your sammies or burgers. All you need is a clean glass jar, large red onion, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, water, and maple syrup. That’s it. I use Newport Sea Salt; because it is a locally made product by a veteran-founded, family-run small business. I use my mortar and pestle to grind the salt finely for this recipe and my vegan hazelnut spread.
While you could eat it after 30 minutes of chilling in the fridge, I recommend you wait a day. The wait will be worth it.
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1–2 tablespoons maple syrup
Preparation
- 1. Peel and thinly slice a large red onion.
- 2. Stir together the vinegar, water, salt and maple syrup cooking over medium-high heat until the mixture reaches a simmer.
- 3. Fill the jar with the thinly-sliced onions then pour the hot vinegar mixture over the onions, screw on the lid, and shake the onions briefly until they are evenly coated with the vinegar mixture.
- 4. Let the onions marinate for 30 minutes. (You may need to press the onions down with a spoon so that they are all submerged under the vinegar mixture.)
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate the onions in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.
Hello! I'm Ann Marie and I wear the well-worn apron. Join me as explore plant-based eating while I live on an island off the U.S. state of Rhode Island.