Take One Extra Step To Make Quick Pickled Red Onions In A Flash

Pickled red onions are the kind of tangy, pungent accessory to a variety of dishes, from hamburgers to barbecue-smoked meats. They even serve as a great upgrade to classic nachos. However, one drawback of this colorful accompaniment is that the pickling process can take time, especially if your goal is to have pickled red onions that are both thoroughly vinegary and have also lost their inherent crispiness when compared to their raw counterparts. Conveniently, though, you can achieve perfect homemade pickled red onions in a jiffy with just one additional step.

It might sound counterintuitive that adding a step makes the pickling process quicker, but that's exactly what you should do. Instead of tossing your onion slices into a jar of brine and simply waiting, putting your onions into a heated brine on the stovetop will make your onions pickle much faster. See, the sugar and salt that you add to your onions help to macerate the slices, especially once it's all dissolved in the brine solution. But heating your brine will speed up this standard part of the process, allowing more potent vinegar to seep into your onions faster. This heating process will also soften your onions — a win-win! In just a few minutes, some properly pickled onions can be yours with the help of a little heat.

A real bonus about this extra step is that it doesn't take very long at all — in fact, you only need to keep your briny onions on the stove for around five minutes before they're ready to be cooled, jarred, and served. But, of course, this is not the only factor that will make or break your pickled red onions, so it's imperative that you set yourself up for success before you even think about brining your piquant to-be pickles.

First of all, it's wise to slice your onions as thinly as you can, since this will ease the process of completely incorporating vinegar and any spices into each piece. Thankfully, there are ways in which you can easily cut an onion into ultra-thin slices — and while you're at the slicing stage, don't throw out those onion skins, the peels have a number of really handy uses. Additionally, you should ideally take a few minutes to macerate your onions with some sugar and salt prior to putting them in the hot brine. This helps to soften your onions and expose them to be soaked in the brine, kickstarting the process and allowing for even better pickling. Perhaps the best news of all of this, though, is that all of these steps are super simple and quick, so you should have no trouble preparing some delicious pickled onions in a flash. However, don't be surprised if they're gone just as quickly.