Spicy Pickled Red Onions

Every time we eat out and I see those beautiful pink pickled onions, I instantly know there won’t be nearly enough for me to enjoy. I want half pickled onion and half whatever I ordered in each bite.  I love onions and I love pickles so this combination is my crack and I will add it as a topping to whatever I am eating.
If you know, you know.
We usually purchase our pickled onions from the farmers market but I started to grow annoyed at the 10$ baby jar that lasted maybe a total of 5 meals when used sparingly. After some investigation, I realized that pickling requires little to no time, no special equipment and I decided to give it a try.
I looked up lots of recipes for some inspiration and I found that some were super intricate, adding sprigs of rosemary, whole peppercorns, feathers of a baby bird or had wayyyy too much sugar.  I don’t have time for any of that so to keep things simple, I used what I had in our kitchen and the result was awesome.
I also now want to pickle everything in our kitchen, let me know what you think I should pickle next!

Ingredients
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 large red onion
1 jalapeño
4 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp sugar
Salt (I used cracked Himalayan Salt)
Pepper (I used Fresh cracked pepper)

Directions
1. Prepare the onion, jalapeno and garlic. In a mixing bowl with a mandolin, slice your onion to your desired thinness. I enjoy my pickled onions thin so I used our mandolin on the smallest option setting however, this recipe works well for any thickness.  If you want some nice heat for your pickles I suggest adding Jalapeno to the onions, like I did.  It really gives it a nice kick and the colors are pretty rad too once its all done.
After the Onion is slices, use the mandolin to slice the jalapeno, seeds and all. With a spoon, mix together the onions and jalapenos. Separately slice your garlic cloves & place to the side. **If you want it less spicy only use half a jalapeno
2. In a small pot on medium heat, add both cups of vinegar, 2 bay leaves, 1 Tbsp sugar, a few turns of fresh cracked pepper and 2 pinches of Himalayan Salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer until ready to pour.

3. While the mixture is heating up you can prepare the jars for the pickling.  In the jar(s) you have, add the garlic slices & 1 pinch of salt and a few turns of cracked pepper. Use tongs or whatever you have to add the onion/jalapeno mixture to the jars. For obvious reasons I encourage you to use anything but your hands for this process. I lightly packed them into the jars so I didn’t need another glass.  I have a few glass jars and wanted one for work so I used a small jar and a decent sized one for home. I will add the sizes later but it really doesn’t matter just use what you have. You can recycle
condiment jars, etc if you can’t fit the entire batch in one and give to a friend or coworker.

4. Remove the bay leaves and transfer the vinegar into a measuring cup, or something that will pour easily into the jars. Slowly add the vinegar to each jar, all the way to the top then cover with the lid. Let them cool for at least 30mins-hour on the counter before serving. The acidity from the vinegar will turn the onions pink during this process, just like magic. I couldn’t resist and enjoyed some of them almost immediately however they were definitely ready after about 30 mins. Before storing – I let mine sit out until they were room temperature and then placed in fridge. These pickles can last 1-2 months in the fridge (if not devoured sooner).