The Top Tip For Preserving The Vibrant Color Of Your Pickled Red Onions
If you haven't heard, pickling is back in fashion. From kimchi and sauerkraut to jalapeños and green tomatoes, you really can pickle anything for a fun home project that is a treat for both your taste buds and your microbiome. By far, one of the easiest and fastest ways to enhance the flavor of a dish is by adding some tangy and vibrant pickled onions.
There are a few different varieties of onions that can be pickled. If you want the vibrant pink onions that you may have seen on restaurant tacos, you should use red onions. This is because red is the only variety of onions that contain a special color molecule that turns bright pink when in an acidic (pickled) environment.
Pickled large red onions have a soft texture and tangy flavor. For a pickled onion that has a sweeter taste and crunchier bite, try pickling whole red shallots. But, for the famous deep pink color, it's best to use thinly sliced large red onions. There are also other measures you can take to ensure that your pickled onions are their absolute brightest and most vivid.
How to keep your pickled red onions vibrant
The vibrancy of pickled red onions is definitely one of the wow factors that makes this topping so exciting. So, how do you make your onions as colorful as possible? Firstly, you can choose to do an overnight pickle instead of a quick pickle. Quick-pickled onions are crunchier and are a great option if you are on a deadline, but beware that your onions may not fully turn pink if you don't give them enough time to rest in the brine.
Besides giving your onions time to develop their color, there are also a few other ways you can enhance them. If you like spicy food, try adding chile flakes like Joe Martinez from Smokin' Joe's Pit BBQ. The dried chile will make your brine and onions a slightly deeper red. In the same vein, you can experiment with adding other high-pigment foods, like beetroot or red cabbage, to your pickling jar to enhance the color. This is useful for when you only have white onions to pickle but still want that pop.
How to use your pickled red onions
So, you have delicious and vibrant pickled onions, but now, besides adding them to tacos, what else can you do with them? Plenty! The best thing about a jar of pickled red onions is its versatility. Just like regular onions, the pickled version really adds an extra dimension to most foods. Gordon Ramsay recommends adding them to burgers, salads, and even cheese boards, whereas Brad Leone from "It's Alive" used his pickled onions on an Italian sub.
There are also lots of great ways to use the pink pickling brine after you've eaten the onions. The brine has a sour vinegary flavor so adding it to a vinaigrette, drizzling it on a salad, or even putting some in a Bloody Mary are all great options. You can also try using your red onion brine in situations where you would normally add leftover pickle juice like marinating fish or pork chops.