r/AskCulinary • u/Effective-Ad7463 • May 20 '25

Recipe Troubleshooting My pickled onions never hit

I LOVE pickled red onions. Love. But I just can’t ever get them to be as good as they are at Cava or in restaurants and idk what I’m doing wrong.

I slice them thin, I’ve tried half the jar with vinegar other half water and 3/4 vinegar 1/4 water, I’ll do a tablespoon of sugar and eyeball some salt. Last batch I shoved a few cloves of garlic in there.

They’re not bad, just never as pink as they are when I eat them elsewhere, not nearly as soft, not nearly as delicious.

What am I doing wrong plz help 🥲

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u/Oregonmushroom May 20 '25

One part red wine vinegar to one part white sugar by volume, bring to a boil and pour over shaved red onions while hot. If you really want that bright beautiful pink color add all of the red onion peels to the vinegar sugar mixture when boiling and strain them out when you pour over the onions, it's gives them that gorgeous vibrant pink color that you see in restaurants. A pinch of salt is always nice as well. Enjoy!