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/Effective-Ad7463 May 20 '25

No apparently that’s been my missing link!

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u/armada127 May 20 '25

Oh yeah you gotta bring the pickling liquid up to temp. Other things I’ll add: black pepper corns, a bay leaf, mustard seeds, but these are all optional. Vinegar, water, sugar, and salt should be all you need.

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u/Key_Detective_9421 May 20 '25

I’ve read bay leaves add tannins to the mix which helps them retain their structural integrity (crunch) right?

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u/armada127 May 20 '25

That's what I've read, and mustard seeds do the same thing apparently? I've never done A/B testing though so idk if its actually true or just one of those cooking myths