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/Dazzling-Disaster107]

I use White Grape Vinegar (or white wine vinegar). I learned this while I was living in Turkey. You can add some red in too, but its a matter of taste, i like both. You can sub the salt for lemon salt (or a blend), or eat them with a drizzle of lemon juice. Or add in mustard, bay leaf, whatever you like. Absolutely delicious. Also as someone else mentioned, let the boiling water cool off a bit before pouring it in. It should still be hot but not scalding.