Easy Pickled Onions
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
A little bit sweet, a little bit savory, and a whole lot tangy, my easy and quick pickled onions recipe is a Southern gem that’s going to change your life (yes, really).
Pickled onions and cornbread is a meal fit for the hardcore Southerner. I’m going to start this post out with a disclaimer: half of you will hate even the thought of this pickled onion recipe, but the other half will take one bite and set about doing paperwork to rename all of your children after me. Pickled onions are not for the novice who is new to Southern food. These are hardcore, for old-school Southern tastebuds – but oh will they make those buds sing!
The life-changing moment
Would you believe that I had them for the FIRST TIME this past weekend? We went to a restaurant in Nashville with the kids and they brought out a bowl of pickled onions and hot cornbread, still in the cast iron skillet it was cooked in. I reached for a wedge of cornbread and put it on my plate where I topped it with a spoonful of pickled onions. Not knowing what to expect but trusting the instinct of my Alabama roots, I dug my fork in to get a bite full of hot bread and onion and tasted all that was reverent and good in the world of old-fashioned soul food.
As soon as we left the restaurant I called Mama and Grandmama and by the time I was home, I had a recipe. I ended up serving mine with a bowl of pinto beans and ham and a side of cornbread and the rest is history! These heavenly pickled onions are now on heavy rotation in my home… and my family’s. I sent a pint jar of them to my 81-year-old grandmother yesterday along with a quart jar of pintos. She called at 5 this morning. “Did you try it yet, Grandmama?” “LORD Yes! Done had me two bowls! That was the best stuff. Lord oh that was so good.”
Fortunately, my quick pickled onions recipe is so quick and easy to make. We’re just going to boil the ingredients together to make the pickle. This includes a delicious combination of sugar for sweetness, salt, pepper, and garlic powder for seasoning and flavor, and apple cider vinegar for that quintessential pickled tang. Then we toss the onions into the pickled mixture and let them marinate in the fridge. That’s it! They’re ready to serve in no time at all and the serving options are endless… but I’ve included plenty of ideas below. So let’s get pickling, hey?
Recipe Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Sweet onions (preferably Vidalia)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Sugar
How to Make Pickled Onions
In a medium saucepot, place the apple cider vinegar…
Sugar…
Salt…
Black pepper…
And garlic powder.
Stir that up well and put over medium-high heat to bring it just to a boil while you cut up your onions.
Keep a watch on this and stir it often.
Peel your onions and slice them into rings.
I cut my rings in half, too, to make them easier to eat.
You can even do diced onions if you want.
Oh, look! Our pickling liquid is boiling!
Now, if you or anyone you know has their sinuses stuffed up, all ya gotta do is invite them into your kitchen and have them stir this pot! Actually, cider vinegar is an old folk remedy for many an affliction.
Remove pot from heat.
Dump your sliced onion in and stir them to coat.
At first, it will seem like there are way too many slices, but just let them sit for about five minutes and they will wilt a bit.
Until they look kinda like this. Now place all of these ( and included) in a container and cover it to put in your fridge.
If you do not cover it, your sinuses will clear each and every time you open your fridge, which is good or bad depending on how stuffed up you are! Come to think of it, maybe this is a good springtime recipe in the south when our world is coated in that lovely yellow dust.
Voila! My refrigerated pickled onions are all ready to make my stomach happy!
Here I’m serving them with a big bowl of pinto beans and ham and a side of cornbread, of course.
But however you serve it, just git ya some!
Storage
When stored in an airtight container or a in the fridge, pickled onions will last up to 3 weeks.
Recipe Notes
- These can well. For canning instructions, check out this blog post.
- If you want to add some heat, add a 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes.
- You only need to let the homemade pickled onions marinate and cool down for about 30 minutes before serving. However, the longer you leave them in the fridge, the more pickled they become.
- I prefer to use Vidalia onions, but many pickled onion recipes use red onion instead, which you can totally do as well.
- Some easy substitutions include cane sugar for granulated sugar, , sea salt for kosher salt, and black pepper for about 10 whole peppercorns.
- For added , you can also purchase in stores like Walmart, which is usually some combination of these spices: cinnamon, allspice, , coriander, bay leaves, ginger, , cardamon, black , and dill seed.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar?
You can definitely use white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. Personally, I just love the extra little tang and flavor the cider vinegar gives my pickled onions. For English , is actually the traditional choice, but other options include .
How do you serve pickled onions?
There are so many ways to serve homemade pickled onions:
- are a popular topping on tacos, burritos, nachos, and fajitas.
- They also work as a topping for burgers, sandwiches, and salads.
- English pickled onions are often served on baked potatoes, alongside fish and chips, on a Ploughman’s Lunch, with cream cheese dip, and as a hot dog relish.
- Enjoy them as a side dish with barbecue meat like beef brisket or pulled pork, Southern fried catfish, salmon patties, or steak.
- Add them to a bagel with lox and cream cheese or as a topping on avocado toast for a different kind of breakfast.
You may also enjoy these other onion-based dishes:
Delicious Hamburger Steak Recipe With Fried Onions
Keto Chaffle Recipe With Onion Rings
Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Salad
French Onion Soup Restaurant-Style
Ingredients
- 4 medium-sized sweet onions like Vidalia
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Place all ingredients except the onions into a saucepot over medium-high heat. Bring just to a boil while stirring often.2 cups apple cider vinegar, 1 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- While the pickling liquid is coming to a boil, peel onions and slice them into rings. Separate each ring.4 medium-sized sweet onions like Vidalia
- When the vinegar mixture comes to a boil, remove it from the heat and add sliced onion. Stir and allow to sit for five minutes, or until the onions have wilted down into the vinegar slightly. Stir again and let sit for another five minutes.
- Place in a container, cover, and refrigerate until well chilled and ready to serve. Serve as a side relish or as a topping on pinto beans.
Video
Nutrition
It requires less character to discover the faults of others
than it does to tolerate them.
~J. Petit Senn
Sourdough bread, 2 slices lightly buttered.
Cheddar cheese – I like a couple of thick slabs, but thin slices work, just so you cover all of one slice of bread.
Top the cheese with pickled onions.
Put other slice of bread on top of that.
Enjoy with your favorite beverage (beer, sweet tea, Coke).
Sounds wonderful Joe!!
Hi Christy , Mmmm , these onions sound so good. I am going to try these real soon. I love onions raw, pickled, fried.. you name it. I was just wondering , alot of the comments were mentioning eating beans , pinto or other kinds. I never have and have no idea how to cook them. The only way I have had them is canned red kidney beans in my chilli. Can you please send me a recipe for your Pinto beans you are talking about with your Corn Bread? Thanks again…
Hi Lydia!! I actually have two ways of cooking beans on Southern Plate. Here are the links:
https://www.southernplate.com/2008/10/how-to-cook-dried-beans-using-our.html
https://www.southernplate.com/2013/03/make-beans-without-soaking-and-live-without-being-offended.html
Christy:
When I was little, we had steak, pintos, or pink beans, and mashed potatoes about 5 days a week. One brother doesn’t believe me when I said I was 9 before we had chicken and I had to ask her what fried chicken was, and she said she didn’t think I’d like it. Boy, was she wrong on that one! He said they had it all the time. Not by the time I came along.
Pops was a cattleman, so we always had plenty of beef, and NO liver, except for him, once in a while. Ma didn’t like it and said she couldn’t try to force me to eat something she couldn’t eat. How lucky can you get?
He liked his steak broiled, and well done. I like mine rare and cooked over charcoal, or in a cast iron skillet. He always looked at my steak and said something like “I could have given that a shot of penicillin and it would have LIVED;” or, “it’s still moving on the plate.” That’s when I managed to get a properly rare piece and not a cremated one like his.
I never got tired of the beans, or mashed potatoes-which I can’t have anymore, but I got tired of the steak. I’d eat something else, and he’d get mad, saying someday, you’ll want a steak and can’t have it. “Yeah, but that doesn’t help me now.”
One brother would eat all the meat, then all the beans, then all the potatoes. He would never put any combination of the three on his fork, and heaven help us if they touched on his plate!
He loved cornbread, so do I, but not with “stuff” in it, just plain. The others were sort of neutral on it so we always had store bought bread. My mother skipped any recipe that said “yeast” or “knead” and didn’t teach me, and Home Ec did not help-not enough instructions. It bugged me that I didn’t know how, so I taught myself from bread books.
I am going to try your pickled onion recipe for sure. I agree with you about the food PR on the ‘net. I have started eating Bok Choy because I like it and I can have it, and I keep running into “why you should never eat Bok Choy” articles on the ‘net-which I am totally ignoring. 8)
Hi Kathy!! I think we all get tired of what we have all the time, no matter what it is. Isn’t it great that as adults we get to choose what we want?!
He was right. We only had steak once a week, on Saturday night, in college, and it (or the fish), were the only things you couldn’t get seconds of-unless you paid for it. They gave you a ticket when you came in the door, and collected it when you made your dinner choice. Nobody missed supper on Saturday night, AKA “steak night.” I still don’t regret eating the cheese sandwiches instead of the overdone broiled steak though. 8)
Girl, onions are one food that I eat every day! When Vidalia Onions are in season, I can eat a whole one with a meal! Our local fish camp serves pickled onions that are wonderful with hush puppies while you wait for your fish to be ready. Give me a pot of pintos, fried cabbage, cornbread, and onions and I am in hog heaven!
Oh my goodness, I love them too Cindy!!!
It does my heart good to read that mine is not the only family who is too picky to eat Mommy’s good cookin’. They’re food preferences are soooo boring and limited. Likes yours, no beans, onions, peppers, canned or cooked tomatoes, etc. I love the pickled onions and am the only one who’ll eat them. Oh well! 🙂
More for us Josey!!!
what is shelf life, how long do they keep
OH Christy, Christy!! Just made these and they are fabulous!! I just keep munchin every time I pass by the bowl they are cooling in.. lol.. I have never had them before . I always cut up fresh onion on my beans or had old fashioned chow chow on them. But these are far less expensive to prepare than chow chow and so much better tasting! But I believe next time, I will use much less black pepper.. I dont care for hot and these have a zing to them. I used cider vinegar, which I think gives a much better flavor to them. Thanks for the recipe! Now I am anxious to see how dear hubby likes them..,. 🙂
OH and another thing I like is that it is so easy to make more, I can just re-boil the vinegar solution and add more onions (and maybe add some chopped cucumber) to it! 😀
I am so glad you like them Joyce!!