Practically a British delicacy, it is difficult to imagine life in Great Britain without pickled onions! Easy to make and amazingly tasty, you’ll surely want to make a double batch of these irresistible pickled onions!
We know that pickling has been around since the dawn of time. You can find records of food preservation techniques in the 1700s. One very popular English vegetable that was preserved and enjoyed was onions. When talking about its history, the following recipe comes from Sarah Harrison’s 1739 cookbook named “The House-Keeper’s Pocket-Book.”
Tangy and Tasty English Pickled Onion Recipe!
Right up there with fish and chips, mushy peas, pork pies, and Yorkshire pudding, English pickled onions are practically a British must-have recipe! This dish is an integral part of British cuisine.
Whether used as part of a traditional Ploughman’s lunch, sliced on cheese sandwiches, burgers and baked potatoes or relished with hot dogs, they’re just tasty and versatile.
You will also find these pickled onions in pubs. Walk into any British pub and you will certainly find a dark jar of pickled onions placing on the counter as it is one of the most popular snacks during cocktail hour.
So, let’s see how you can make these delicious English pickled onions at home.
Quick Stats
Prep time: 60 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Servings: 3 jars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons table salt
- 2 1/4 pounds of pickling onions, peeled
- Four teaspoons of pickling spices
For the Spice Mix:
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
For the Pickling:
- One liter of malt vinegar
- 6 ounces of sugar
Method to Prepare
- Gather all the ingredients and sprinkle salt over the dry, peeled onions.
- Stir to ensure that salt is distributed evenly and leave overnight. Make sure that you do not leave it longer than overnight if you want your onions to be crisp.
- The next morning, rinse the onions and dry them with a kitchen towel.
- Mix the pickling spices and place them in a large stainless steel pan. Add malt vinegar and sugar to it.
- Heat the pan to dissolve the sugar, but do not bring it to a boil.
- Pack the onions into a clean jar. Pour the vinegar and spice liquid to fill the jar. Ensure each jar has pickling spices and also there are no air pockets.
- Seal the jar and leave them to cool.
- Your English pickled onions will be ready in no time.
- Enjoy!
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Final Words
This old-fashioned English pickled onion recipe will provide you with an authentic British dish. You can buy any of the commercial varieties from the supermarket, but nothing will beat this jar of homemade pickled onions! Try them and enjoy a tangy British classic at home!
