Pickled Red Onions and Peppers
This simple Pickled Red Onions and Peppers recipe is incredibly simple to make and it makes the best pickled veggies for adding on top of salads, sandwiches, or just to eat for a snack! This recipe works as pickled red onions, pickled peppers, or both together using the same quick brine.
If you're looking for more snack recipes, try The Best Refrigerator Pickles, Pink Himalayan Sea Salt Popcorn, or Best Homemade Kale Chips with Nutritional Yeast.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Pickled Red Onions and Peppers
- Ready In: 3 days
- Makes: 32 ounces
- Main Ingredients: red onion, bell peppers, cane sugar, yellow mustard seed
- Flavor Profile: bright, sweet, tangy, crunchy
- Dietary Info: vegan, gluten free, no seed oils, eggless
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Why You’ll Love It: incredibly versatile and easy to make!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 10 Minutes Prep: Prep the veggies in less than 10 minutes.
- Better Than Store Bought: With only a few organic ingredients, these are so much better than store bought. Skip the flavors and added colors that some pickled onions and peppers can have!
- Use on Everything: I love these Pickled Onions and Peppers because you can add them to burgers, hot dogs, salads, sandwiches, and more.
- Side Dish: These even make a wonderful side of veggies to any meal!
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Ingredients
- Red Onion: I use organic red onions for a sweeter onion. But, yellow or white also work if you prefer them.
- Bell Peppers: I use organic red and yellow bell peppers for a sweeter flavor, orange would also be great. But, if you prefer green peppers, you can also use those. The green peppers are more bitter as they have not been on the vine as long as the other colors. You can use any kind you like, this is personal preference.
- White Vinegar: Organic white vinegar is a natural preservative that also provides a tangy flavor that is essential for pickled onions and peppers!
- Apple Cider Vinegar: I use a mix of both apple cider vinegar and white vinegar to balance the vinegar flavor really well.
- Celery Seed: Organic celery seed is one of my favorite ingredients. It has such a distinct flavor. It's especially good in pickled recipes like this!
- Cane Sugar: A touch of sugar balances the vinegar’s acidity. This keeps the onions crisp and the peppers bright instead of harsh.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Variations
- Spicy: Add red pepper flakes or jalapeño
- Sweeter: You can adjust the sugar to fit your preference. The best part about this recipe is if you reduce sugar, taste them after 24 hours and don't like them, you can just add more sugar and then try again in a couple more days.
- No-Sugar: If you want sugar free pickled red onions or peppers, you can omit the sugar, but expect a very sharp flavor (I don't personally like this at all)!
- Veggie Flexible: You can use only red onions or only peppers if you prefer. You can also use this bine recipe for cucumbers, carrots, or other veggies you want to pickle!
Tips for Pickled Red Onions and Peppers
- You can use any color bell pepper, though I prefer the sweeter varieties (red, orange, and yellow) versus green as green is a bit more bitter. Red, orange, and yellow bell peppers are all on the vine longer, while green is harvested before they have fully ripened. Fun fact, the different colors of bell peppers are really in fact just the same bell pepper picked at different stages of ripeness! Hence, green being less ripe and more bitter while the other colors are sweeter as they have had more time to ripen!
- This recipe works as pickled red onions, pickled peppers, or both together using the same quick brine. So, if you want just onions or just peppers, you can use whatever you prefer.
- You can use white or yellow onion if you prefer.
- If you don't have a large bowl with a lid, you can cover the bowl with plastic wrap while it sits in the fridge.
- I like to transfer these to mason jars for easier storage once they are pickled and done!
How to Make Pickled Red Onions and Peppers
- Thinly slice thinly red onion and peppers and place into a large bowl or Tupperware with a lid.
- Sprinkle with the sea salt and cover. Let sit for 2 hours. Drain off moisture.
- Add the white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, cane sugar, celery seed, and mustard seed. Stir with a spatula to combine completely.
- Cover with the lid and place in the fridge. Let sit in the fridge for at least 3 days. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 month. You can leave in the Tupperware or bowl, but I usually transfer to mason jars so it doesn’t take up as much space in the fridge.
Can I make pickled red onions and peppers faster?
While you may be tempted to eat your pickled onions or pickled peppers right away, they really taste best if you can wait the 3 days! Here's what I've found:
- After 10 Minutes: If you just let the onions and peppers pickle for only 10 minutes, they will still be every crisp and only only slightly tangy. This amount of time has not given the onions and peppers enough time to absorb the flavors.
- After 24 Hours: After 24 hours, the flavor does have time to develop a bit. This is much better than 10 minutes! The onions and peppers are still crunchy and crisp.
- 3+ Days: If you wait the full 3 days the pickled onions and peppers are softer and absorb more flavor from the brine. The harshness is gone and I think they are just perfect!
How to Use
These Pickled Red Onions and Peppers are delicious on their own and I usually find myself grabbing the mason jar from the fridge and just eating with a fork! But, they are also amazing on top of salads, sandwiches, in wraps, and especially on burgers and hot dogs!
- Add into my Roasted Cauliflower Turkey Salad with Lemon Dressing for the ultimate flavor!
- Add into wraps like BBQ Turkey Avocado Wrap for some tang and crunch.
- Add onto burgers like Turkey and Lamb Burgers with Dill Sauce, Avocado Lettuce Wrap Burgers, or Organic Turkey Burgers With Grilled Onions.
- Add on top of Simple Green Salad with Homemade Dressing or Kale Apple Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing.
- Add on top of your favorite hot dog in place of sauerkraut.
Recipe FAQ's
Yes, you can use different veggies if you like! Other veggies that would work include cucumber, carrots, cabbage and more.
Yes, if you want to pickle only red onions you can do that. Just add another onion or two to fill the brine.
Yes, you can also pickle just peppers if you prefer. If you are doing only peppers, I'd add in one more pepper to replace the onion. This will fill up the brine well.
It's ideal to salt vegetables before pickling to draw out moisture. This will result in a crisper vegetable when they are pickled! So, don't skip this step.
I like a mix of white vinegar and apple cider vinegar like I'm using here. This gives you a beautiful tang.
This means the pickling process is woriking! Onions will turn pink when pickling because of natural pigments that change their color in an acidic environment. So, when pickling, the vinegar is acidic and will make this transformation.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month. I like to store them in a mason jar.
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Pickled Red Onions and Peppers
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 226 grams cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons celery seed
- ½ teaspoon yellow mustard seed
Instructions
- Thinly slice thinly red onion and peppers and place into a large bowl or Tupperware with a lid.
- Sprinkle with the sea salt and cover. Let sit for 2 hours. Drain off moisture.
- Add the white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, cane sugar, celery seed, and mustard seed. Stir with a spatula to combine completely. Cover with the lid and place in the fridge. Let sit in the fridge for at least 3 days.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 month. You can leave in the Tupperware or bowl, but I usually transfer to mason jars so it doesn’t take up as much space in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- You can use any color bell pepper, though I prefer the sweeter varieties (red, orange, and yellow) versus green as green is a bit more bitter. Red, orange, and yellow bell peppers are all on the vine longer, while green is harvested before they have fully ripened.
- This recipe works as pickled red onions, pickled peppers, or both together using the same quick brine. So, if you want just onions or just peppers, you can use whatever you prefer.
- You can use white or yellow onion if you prefer.
- If you don't have a large bowl with a lid, you can cover the bowl with plastic wrap while it sits in the fridge.
- I like to transfer these to mason jars for easier storage once they are pickled and done!
Nutrition
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We eat these with everything! Salads, sandwiches, burgers…