Quick Easy Pickled Red Onions

I love this quick pickled red onions recipe! These pickled onions make just about anything better and are ready to eat in under an hour. You can also store them in the fridge for weeks.

Our pickled red onions are crisp, tangy, and slightly sweet. I add them to tacos, salads, grain bowls, burgers, and more!

These pretty pickled onions are a fridge staple in our house. If you’ve never pickled before, onions are a fantastic place to start. You may also enjoy these pickled beets with onions (so pretty).

Key Ingredients

• Red onion: Pickling red onions makes them turn bright pink. I love the beautiful color, but you can use other onion varieties in our pickled onions recipe without any changes.
• Spices: I use cinnamon sticks, cloves, and red pepper flakes in my pickle brine. I love the extra spice these add.
• Apple cider vinegar: Adds a little extra flavor and sweetness. You can substitute it with other vinegar if needed. White vinegar is popular and tastes cleaner, while rice wine vinegar offers a little sweetness and flavor.
• Lime juice: I love this recipe’s bright, citrusy tang from fresh lime juice. These pickled onions are my go-to topping for tacos, burritos, and rice bowls, and the lime pickle truly complements them.
• Sugar: I add a bit of sugar to my brine. I like these slightly sweet, but I have included tips in the recipe for reducing or increasing the sugar to your taste.
• Salt: I love using fine sea salt in my pickle brine, but kosher or pickling salt is also great.

How to Make Pickled Red Onions

Pickled red onions are incredibly simple to make at home. My recipe is perfect for a large red onion (or 2 smaller ones). I peel and slice it thin. If you have one, use a mandoline slicer (I use one in our video).

Add your sliced onions to a bowl, cover them with boiling water, count to 5, and drain. This simple step briefly blanches them, slightly softening them and speeding up the pickling process.

Now, you’ll make your pickle brine. It’s tangy, spiced, and a little sweet. I love it with the onions! Combine the spices with apple cider vinegar, lime juice, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. When the sugar and salt have dissolved, you can pickle your onions.

Add your onions to a glass jar or container, then pour over the brine. Set the onions aside to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate. You can enjoy homemade pickled red onions within an hour of refrigerating them, but they get better the longer they sit in the fridge.

Storing Pickled Onions

Quick pickled red onions last for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. The color may change slightly, but they will be delicious. I store pickled onions in an airtight glass container, like a mason jar. I do not recommend freezing them, as they will lose their crisp texture.

While you can use a pressure canner for pickled onions, this quick pickled onions recipe is intended to be a refrigerator pickle, so I do not have instructions for canning them. The same is true for all of the pickle recipes on Inspired Taste.

Ways to Use Pickled Red Onions

Pickled onions are perfect for topping burgers and sandwiches. I especially love them with veggie burgers and black bean burgers since they add a bit of color and crunch. They are also amazing for topping avocado toast.

Anytime you are enjoying Tex-Mex or Mexican dishes, bring out your pickled red onions. I love them with tacos, and I always add them to ground pork tacos and these roasted cauliflower tacos.

Pickled onions also brighten stews and dishes that cook for a long time, like this beef stew or our Texas red chili.

Finally, I highly recommend adding pickled red onions to salads. They add a pop of color and flavor. I use these in our cauliflower salad with chickpeas.