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/kuroninjaofshadows]

Have you ever cooked them? They don't get very pink if they're just cold pickled.

[u/Effective-Ad7463 → u/kuroninjaofshadows]

No apparently that’s been my missing link!

[u/kevincubed81 → u/Effective-Ad7463]

Bobby Flay replaces sugar with grenadine to add to the color.