Quick Pickled Red Onions (No Cook)

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Do you want to make easy quick pickled red onions really fast? Just 2 ingredients, one dirty dish, no cooking, and 30 minutes for this version.

Sliced, pink, pickled red onion pieces resting in a small mason jar with a fork in it.

Do you look for ways to add weeknight sauces, condiments, or garnishes to elevate your meals?

Are you thinking about this around the same time you are starting to make dinner and wonder "What can you make right now"?

Try these easy and quick pickled red onions.

They need just enough time to convert a hot, pungent red onion to a new level of tangy, slightly sweet, and still crisp pickled onion slices.

You can make your meals more exciting by using pickled red onions on your tacos, crispy pulled pork tacos, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and more!

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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Substitutions
How To Make Quick Pickled Red Onions (No Cook)
Storage Instructions
FAQ
What to serve with this recipe
📖 Recipe
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Why You'll Love This Recipe

Two ingredients!
No cooking with a saucepan.
Only one dirty dish!
Just 30 minutes of wait time.
You can make as much or as little as you want.

Ingredients

Here are the two ingredients needed to make quick pickled red onions.

Red Onion: Red onions are preferred because pickling will change their color from red and white striped slices to pretty pickled pink onions.
Unseasoned Rice Vinegar: Made from fermented rice. Rice vinegar has a mildly acidic, tangy flavor and neutral acidity compared to other kinds of vinegar. It is sold in most grocery stores in the Asian section. Look for unseasoned versions because the seasoned varieties have added sugar and salt to the vinegar.

See the recipe card below for ingredient measurements.

Substitutions

Red Onion - Substitute white or yellow onions. Shallots may be used, however, their small nature will not provide substantial-sized onion slices which can get lost as a topping.
Unseasoned Rice Vinegar - Substitute 50% apple cider vinegar and 50% room temperature water.

This recipe has not been tested with additional variations. If you replace or add any no-cook ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!

How To Make Quick Pickled Red Onions (No Cook)

One half of a red onion peeled and ready to slice on the cutting board next to other half of the onion that has not been peeled.

Step 1: Peel the red onion and cut it in half.

Half of a red onion, thinly sliced and cut wide down on a cutting board next to a chefs knife.

Step 2: Thinly slice the red onion. The thinner they are, the faster they will soak up the rice vinegar. Remove the root.

Sliced onions inside a clear, covered container submerged in rice vinegar next to chefs knife and red onion scraps.

Step 3: Place in the smallest bowl or container that will hold the slices of onion. Pour enough rice vinegar to 90% submerge the red onions. Let rest on the counter for 30 minutes and up to 2 hours until ready to serve.

Storage Instructions

Countertop

You can keep them at room temperature for up to 2 hours. If it's longer, store them in the fridge.

Refrigerator

You can make quick pickled red onions up to 1 day before consuming them. We prefer to eat these pickled red onions within a couple of hours of making them because they start to lose their crispiness the next day.

These are not meant to be stored for many days in your fridge. If we have any leftover pickled red onions after 2 days, I dispose of them as they are quite limp.

Freezing

I do not recommend freezing pickled red onions because the texture will suffer once defrosted.

Pickled red onions on top of taco meat with chopped cilantro inside a flour tortilla.

FAQ

Can you make this ahead of time?

Yes! You can make these quick pickled red onions up to 24 hours in advance. Check out the storage information above.

How long do pickled red onions last?

This no-cook, quick pickled red onion recipe is meant to be consumed after 30-60 minutes of pickling and will last up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

What do you use pickled red onions for?

I use pickled red onions as a garnish. They help make your everyday dinner more fancy. A quick pickling of red onions helps tame their hot and pungent flavor. The most popular dishes we add them to are tacos and crispy pulled pork tacos, hamburgers, barbecue sandwiches, and chopped salads.