Crispy Sweet & Savory Pickled Onions: Restaurant-Style Side Dish at Home!
The Best Side Dish! Easy & Delicious Restaurant-Style Pickled Onion Recipe (No Cooking Required!)
When you lack appetite, it’s a rice thief! A perfect match with grilled meats! Easily make delightful pickled onions at home with their crispy texture and fantastic sweet and sour flavor. You can achieve a professional taste without any special techniques. Shall we get started?
Pickled Onion Ingredients- 5 medium-sized fresh onions
- 3 spicy Cheongyang chili peppers
- 1 cup soy sauce (200ml)
- 1 cup water (200ml)
- 1 cup vinegar (200ml)
- 1 cup sugar (200ml)
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
Today, I’ll introduce an easy pickled onion recipe that doesn’t require boiling water. It’s as simple as making delicious Oiji (Korean cucumber pickles) without cooking. Let’s begin!
Step 2
First, we’ll prepare the onions and chili peppers for easy eating. You can leave the onions whole or cut them into quarters, but to ensure the marinade penetrates well and to avoid the hassle of slicing them later, it’s best to pre-slice them into bite-sized pieces (about 1-1.5cm thick). For the Cheongyang peppers, you can remove the seeds or slice them thinly according to your preference.
Step 3
Now, it’s time to make the ‘brining liquid’ for our delicious pickled onions. Mix soy sauce, water, vinegar, and sugar in a 1:1:1:1 ratio, measuring 1 cup of each. (e.g., 200ml soy sauce, 200ml water, 200ml vinegar, 200ml sugar). This simple mixture forms the sweet and sour base. Add all the prepared onions and chili peppers to this brining liquid.
Step 4
The best part about these pickled onions is that you ‘don’t need to boil them’! Because vinegar is included, there’s no need to boil and sterilize. The vinegar’s acidity prevents the ingredients from becoming mushy or spoiling. In fact, the acidity from the vinegar further enhances the onion’s crispiness, ensuring they stay fresh and don’t become soggy over time.
Step 5
And there you have it – delicious pickled onions are ready! For freshly made pickled onions, store them at room temperature for about 3 days to allow the flavors to fully meld. After 3 days, be sure to refrigerate them. This way, you can enjoy crispy, sweet, and tangy pickled onions anytime, just like the ones you taste at Korean BBQ restaurants. They are perfect as a side dish with rice or as an accompaniment to grilled meats!
