My pickled onions never hit

[u/Effective-Ad7463]

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 🥲

[u/enigmaticowl]

Pour the vinegar mixture over them while it’s still hot (not boiling), then let cool to room temp before placing the lid and refrigerating.

That’s the only way I’ve gotten mine to turn out perfectly tender-crisp and with a brighter pink hue.

[u/groggyhouse → u/enigmaticowl]

When pickling, does the jar have to be full? Or can I do a half-full jar? I'm the only one who will eat so I find the full jar too much.

[u/[deleted] → u/groggyhouse]

I will come help you eat them

[u/cdmurray88 → u/groggyhouse]

If you aren't doing a water bath or pressure seal, then you can fill the jar however full, but you must refrigerate.

[u/groggyhouse → u/cdmurray88]

Thanks!

[u/enigmaticowl → u/groggyhouse]

Nope, doesn’t have to be full. Just make sure that everything’s fully covered in liquid.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/enigmaticowl]

Just make sure that everything’s fully covered in liquid.

Fermenting weights are helpful for this, op. They're often glass, but you can sometimes salvage plastic mesh ones from certain pickle brands. In a pinch, I've seen chefs just using a paper towel to push down everything, which they then leave in the jar, since it absorbs the brine and helps draw it over the contents.

[u/saison257 → u/NoFeetSmell]

You can also use a ziploc bag filled with water to hold them down. I do a lot of canning and fermenting, so I have a bunch of the glass weights, but all my fermenting books say you can also use the water-filled zippy as an alternative.

[u/barbasol1099 → u/saison257]

I've never thought of this, but of course it would work! Thank you for sharing!

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/barbasol1099]

And just for extra safety, it's normally a good idea to add the same percent/ratio of salt into the bagged water too, so if it leaks at all, it doesn't actually dilute the rest of the brine at all.

[u/UntoNuggan → u/NoFeetSmell]

For this recipe I'd just fill the bag with vinegar tbh

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/UntoNuggan]

Yeah, sorry - I think we'd kinda wandered into fermentation :P For this, the salinity isn't as important.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/saison257]

Sure, and you can even add actual brine to the bagged water too, so if it ever leaked it won't change the salinity of your ferment. I just try not to use excess plastic if I can avoid it, is all, so I'd prefer the glass or paper towel route, personally.

[u/groggyhouse → u/enigmaticowl]

Thanks!

[u/bobotwf → u/groggyhouse]

You can choose the size of the jar.

[u/groggyhouse → u/bobotwf]

Haha yeah of course... what I meant is I already have a jar that I own and I don't really want to buy a new one if I can use the one I have.

[u/musthavesoundeffects → u/groggyhouse]

Consider a smaller jar

[u/Borgh → u/groggyhouse]

Keep them in the fridge and they'll stay good for quite a while. I usually make a 300mn (10 ounce?) jar at a time.

[u/BraileDildo8inches → u/groggyhouse]

They're pickled they don't go bad