Herb and Hot Sauce Pickled Onions

When I first started blogging over a year ago, Alex asked me when I was going to do a post about “those onions.” But I shrugged the suggestion off because, even though these onions are a staple in our fridge, at the time they just didn’t seem worthy of an entire post dedicated only to them.

I knew I wanted to share them with you–they are way too good to keep quiet about–but I was stuck on coming up with a recipe that would use the onions as one component. Maybe a spinach salad, or a grilled cheese sandwich, or veggie tacos.

But recently I realized that these pickled onions, shot through with Tabasco and steeped with fresh rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves, really are delicious enough to stand on their own, proudly in their jar, right at the top of a post.

What’s more, I wouldn’t want you to think that in order to enjoy them you have to prepare a whole main dish just to sprinkle them on top. To the contrary, Alex has been known to eat them straight from the jar with a fork.

So here they are!

I encourage you to be creative with how you use them. We have put them in literally everything, from scrambled eggs to lettuce wraps, and they are always delicious. When I add them to a salad, everybody noodles around in the bowl looking for more to pick out.

These herb and hot sauce pickled onions were inspired by Anne Burrell’s version. I started making them years ago, and over time I’ve adapted the recipe quite a bit to make it my own. You can use any herbs you have on hand, and feel free to increase or decrease the amount of Tabasco according to your taste.

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Herb and Hot Sauce Pickled Onions

You can use whatever herbs you like in this recipe. The onions will keep for about a month in the refrigerator.

Servings 8

Author Turnip the Oven

Ingredients

• 1 large red onion
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce such as Tabasco
• Small handful of fresh herbs I used rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves

Instructions

1. Peel the onion and cut it in half lengthwise. Slice each half crosswise into thin half-moons. Transfer the onion slices to a container with a lid (like a quart-sized mason jar or Tupperware container). Add the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, hot sauce, and herbs. Seal the container and give it a good shake. Transfer the onions to the refrigerator and marinate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. The onions will keep for 1 month.