Pickled Onions

Name: Pickled Pearl Onions: Step-by-Step Recipe for Jars
Prep time: 24 h
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 24 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Small onion sets 0.5 kg; Lemon ½; Salt 1 heaped tsp (9 g); Cold water to cover the onions; Water for the marinade 1½ cups (300 ml); White or wine vinegar, 6% 100 ml (½ cup); Salt ½ tsp (3 g); Sugar 1 tsp (5 g); Bay leaves 1–2; Black peppercorns to taste

☆ 4.3

1 day

Many cuisines of the Mediterranean make wide use of different kinds of onion. The very plant that has surely made plenty of us cry. So why do onions make you cry?

When you cut an onion, you damage its cells, and the substances inside them (sulfenic acids) evaporate. They get into your eyes and nose, and there come the tears. Back when I was a kid, my grandmother taught me to peel onions under water. That way the pungent irritants don’t evaporate. And it actually helps.

Today onions are used in every cuisine in the world, and the variety is simply amazing. The familiar yellow onion — shaped a bit like a turnip — is the best known of them all, and most soups and main courses can’t do without it. French onion soup (gratinée à l’oignon), where onion is the star, is a masterpiece of world cooking. Green onions, or rather the “feathers” — the green shoots of onions grown from seed or from a sprouted bulb — go into salads, soups and main courses. Herring with green onions is the perfect snack to go with strong drinks.

Small onions are very widely used in cooking. Most often this isn’t a separate variety but a small bulb that forms in the first year of growing, known as onion sets. These onions are an essential part of Greek stifado — meat (veal or rabbit) stewed with small onions — or rabbit in wine. Italian pizza is often made with small onions, and pickled ones at that. In Bulgarian cuisine small onions, “arpadzhik”, are a fairly common ingredient. These onions keep well over winter if they haven’t been planted as a winter crop. In spring they get planted to grow into full-size onions by autumn. And whatever is left over has to be pickled so it doesn’t dry out or spoil.

Pickled onions keep for a long time without spoiling, and they’re great for cooking or salads, as well as a side dish on their own.

Pickled onions are a handy preserve for pizza or main courses. They will be ready to use in a month at the earliest.

Ingredients

2 jars of 350 ml

Small onion sets 0.5 kg
Lemon ½
Salt 1 heaped tsp (9 g)
Cold water to cover the onions

Water for the marinade 1½ cups (300 ml)
White or wine vinegar, 6% 100 ml (½ cup)
Salt ½ tsp (3 g)
Sugar 1 tsp (5 g)
Bay leaves 1–2
Black peppercorns to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Peeling the onions

The main thing when putting up small pickled onions is not to miss the moment. These onions are only sold in late autumn or in spring. As soon as the planting season is over, small onions disappear.

Soak the onions in cold water for half an hour. Peeling small onions with dried skins is quite tricky: the skins stubbornly refuse to come off the bulbs. After soaking, it’s painless.
Peel the onions with a small paring knife – they peel quickly and easily. By the way, it’s worth peeling them under cold running water. That way there are no tears and no smell. Almost comfortable!

Get the jars and lids ready in advance so the pickled onions keep all year. First put the peeled onions into the jars to judge the volume.
You should have a little more onions than will fit in the jars raw: they soften a bit when cooked, and more will fit in the jar.

A day in lemon juice

Wash the peeled onions well, removing any remaining skin, and put them in a non-reactive container; a plastic container with a lid is ideal. Pour the juice of half a lemon over the onions and add 1 heaped tsp of salt (9 g). Cover the onions with cold water so the water is level with them.
Put the container in the fridge for a preliminary marinating, for exactly one day. During that time the onions soak up the lemon juice and salt. By the way, you can marinate them longer.

Marinade and cooking

Make the marinade. Pour 1½ cups of water (300 ml) into a non-reactive pot (ceramic, quartz or enamel), add ½ tsp of salt (3 g) and 1 tsp of sugar (5 g). Add 1–2 bay leaves and black peppercorns to taste. Pour in half a cup of vinegar (100 ml) – regular 6% or white wine vinegar. Bring to a boil.

Take the onions out of the fridge and drain off all the liquid. Drop the onions into the boiling marinade and simmer gently for 7–8 minutes.

Filling the jars

Take care of sterilizing the jars and lids in advance. Small jars, up to 0.5 l, with screw-on lids are very handy. It’s enough to wash them with baking soda and pour boiling water over them, taking care that the jars don’t crack. For this, my grandmother used to put a metal spoon in the jar before pouring in the boiling water.
Spoon the pickled onions into the jars. Whether to discard the bay leaf and peppercorns or add them to the jars is up to you – I kept them. Fill the jars with marinade right up to the neck and close the lids immediately. Turn the jars upside down and leave them under a warm towel or blanket until completely cool.
The jars can be stored in the pantry or in the fridge; they don’t take up much space. The pickled onions will be ready to use in a month at the earliest.

Serving

Use pickled onions on pizza or as a side dish on their own.
I’ve been told that pickled onions go really well with a dry martini. Or make a rabbit stifado.

Calories and macros

38 kcal

100 g

Protein0.9 g11% of kcal
Fat0.1 g3% of kcal
Carbs6.9 g86% of kcal

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

To keep the onions from darkening

One reader found that the black peppercorns darkened the onions in the jars, though it didn’t affect the taste at all. If the colour matters to you, discard the bay leaf and peppercorns before filling the jars.

Sweeter or more sour

Sugar is to taste. 1 tsp for the marinade isn’t much, so the onions come out on the tart side. If you like them sweeter, add more sugar.

What to serve them with

Small pickled onions are for pizza, a side dish, stifado or rabbit in wine. Readers suggest serving them as a snack with slivovitz, alongside pickled peppers.

Have your own trick for this recipe?

Questions and answers

How do you pickle whole onions for winter?

Small onion sets are pickled as whole bulbs: they spend a day in the fridge in water with lemon juice and salt, then simmer for 7–8 minutes in boiling marinade and go into the jars hot.

How long do pickled onions take?

First a day in water with lemon juice and salt, or longer. In the jars, the pickled onions will be ready to use in a month at the earliest.

Can you pickle onions for winter without sterilizing?

You don’t need to sterilize the filled jars in a pot. Wash the jars and lids with baking soda and pour boiling water over them in advance, fill them with the hot onions and marinade right up to the neck, close them at once and leave them upside down under a blanket to cool.

What vinegar do you need for pickled onions?

Regular 6% or white wine vinegar: half a cup (100 ml) for 1½ cups of water (300 ml).

How do you quickly pickle onions for a salad?

Slice onions into thin strips or rings, salt to taste, sprinkle with ground black pepper and add a little sugar. Once the sugar and salt have partly dissolved, pour wine vinegar over them; after 15–20 minutes pour boiling water over the onions together with the marinade, and after 5–6 minutes rinse them.

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