When it comes to pickled red onions, Bobby Flay is the master. If you're a fan of the show Beat Bobby Flay, you've seen him make these. My favorite part is always the addition of grenadine. I have a happy association with grenadine and childhood Shirley Temples. Who doesn't? If you haven't tried them yet, you absolutely must make Bobby Flay's Fantastic Pickled Red Onions immediately. The uses are endless!
Bobby Flay's Pickled red onions
From time to time, I would look on the internet for his recipe and I could never find it. He seems to have several versions of the pickled red onions out there. Every time I thought I found "the" one, it wasn't the recipe that included the grenadine. That's the one I wanted! But finally, I realized he published it in his book, Bobby at Home: Fearless Flavors From My Kitchen. Of course, I ordered it immediately.
And so I made Bobby Flay's fantastic pickled red onions for my Amazing Pork Schnitzel Sandwich, one of the earlier recipes when I first started my website. It made me realize that I have some recipes that have other recipes within them. So I split off just the pickled red onion recipe for other nuts like me who can't get enough pickled red onions (or Bobby Flay - who is an incredible chef!). I'm posting the video that is just the pickled red onions below.
What do you need to make pickled red onions?
This is pretty easy and there aren't that many ingredients needed to make these. Apart from the ingredient list below, you'll obviously need a pot, a large bowl (heat safe!), and glass jars of some kind to store them. Use empty glass jars you have on hand if you have them. I almost always have wide mouth pint jars (Ball is the best brand in my opinion.)
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- Large red onions.
- Fresh squeezed lime juice.
- Red wine vinegar.
- Grenadine (yes, the one from childhood Shirley Temples).
- Sugar
- Water
- Salt
Fresh Squeezed Limes vs Bottled Lime Juice
I have always preferred squeezing fresh lime juice for this recipe. When I have to stand in one place, slice limes in half, and squeeze my hand-held juicer - I see this as an opportunity. It's a thoughtful time. I daydream. It relaxes me. By the time I'm done squeezing, I feel refreshed. But that's just me.
Some people do not find cutting and squeezing limes relaxing...lol. Readers have emailed me saying they've used high-quality bottled lime juice and I should try it. I finally did this recently. I bought the Organic Santa Cruz brand of pure lime juice at Whole Foods and made them. And I have to admit - the pickled red onions tasted just as delicious as using the fresh-squeezed kind. Aaaahhh! Shortcuts - sometimes they DO WORK!! 🙂
All the ways to use bobby flay's fantaStic pickled red onions
In addition to using them on delicious sandwiches like my Crispy Pork Schnitzel Sandwich, you can use them on top of salad. You can put a heap of pickled red onions on top of a burger and they are awesome on my Bacon Stuffed Cheeseburgers from my Backyard BBQ video! Throw them on your Pork Carnita Tacos! Get creative and add them to a cole slaw recipe! Believe me, you'll keep finding uses for these crunchy, tangy pickled red onions. Here are four recipes below to give you some ideas:
Oh, and if you want to see a hilarious video called We Can Pickle That, just click the link and have yourself a nice laugh.
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Bobby Flay's Pickled Red Onions
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
Description
You cannot go wrong having these pickled red onions on hand. Use them for salads, avocado toast, burgers and more. Trust me, you’ll keep finding new uses for them.
Ingredients
- 3 cups red wine vinegar
- 1 cup fresh lime juice (8 limes)
- ¼ cup grenadine
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 large red onions, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of water
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Instructions
- Squeeze approximately 8 limes for 1 cup of fresh lime juice. Add it to a pot. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil on medium to high heat. Stir a few times to make sure salt and sugar is dissolved. Should take about 5 minutes.
- While the liquid is cooking. Use a mandolin to slice to large red onions. I set my mandolin to ⅛” and it was perfect. If you don’t have a mandolin just use a knife and slice as thin as possible. Put the onions in a large bowl or container (non-reactive).
- Once the liquid has cooled a few minutes, pour the liquid over the onions. Press down on the onions with a spatula to make sure they are all coated. I didn’t have a container with a lid so I used saran wrap and it worked fine. I transferred them to a large jar the next day.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour, but ideally, for 24 hours.
Equipment
Bobby at Home: Fearless Flavors from My Kitchen
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Ball Wide-Mouth Mason Jars (pint)
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- Bobby Flay’s pickled red onions recipe called for two large red onions. I actually sliced three onions because I wanted to have more on hand. Sooo – this recipe can hold three red onions without adjusting any of the ingredients.
Jeff
Hey - I made these and they were awesome! Great video. Thanks!
Stacey
Jeff, I'm so happy to hear you made these. Keep cooking.
Linda
How long do picked onions last in refrigerator. Delicious recipe.
Stacey
Hi Linda! Thanks for stopping by. When I make these pickled red onions they last about 3 weeks. Then it's time to make another batch! Happy pickling!
Linda Kachr
Adding pinch of salt removes bitterness. Also, you can pop your citrus into the microwave and the juices will just pour out.
Stacey
Hi Linda! Thanks for your comment. Not sure what you mean about adding the salt since the recipe does call for a tablespoon of kosher salt so maybe you didn't see that. LOVE your hack for juicing limes though! I'll have to try that next time. Thanks!
Stef McCabe
Good! I had some left over brine. Can i keep it, freeze it?
Recipe turned out great;,squeezing limes was tedious; can i use bottled 100% lime juice next time
Thanks for recipe
Stacey
Hi Stef – I’m so glad you made the pickled red onions and that you like them! I just made a batch too and I used them in two upcoming recipes I will post! Stay tuned for that.
Regarding the lime juice. I do really understand that squeezing lime is tedious, but fresh is always better. I find the bottled stuff to be oddly bitter, but I have never used it in the pickled red onions recipe and, for me, I wouldn’t want to risk it and have the batch taste weird. I try to zone out a bit when I squeeze all those limes. Take a moment and dream a little dream. Before you know it – those limes will be squeezed!
The extra brine: You could try a homemade vinaigrette for your salads. Whisk some olive oil and a small glob of dijon mustard together with the brine. I just tried it now with some of the brine from my batch of pickled red onion. It’s delicious!
Nancy
You can add more red onions to the brine. I do it with my refridgerator pickles all the time and it works great.
Michelle
I just made them too and we all loved them. We put them on our burgers and it was great!
Stacey
Michelle - I can't tell you how happy this makes me! Bobby Flay is the master of pickled red onions for sure. It was fun to make this video!
Linda Kachur
I used over 4 red onions for the liquid as there was just so much of it. I also boiled it down for the deeper red, sweet tartness. And, it turned out so delicious that I want to put it on everything!! Putting a lime 40 sec in the microwave will draw out the juice easily with much more per fruit. Never use processed juice as you will miss the sweet fruitiness from each lime.
Stacey
Thanks Linda! Yeah, definitely have to use FRESH limes... The bottled stuff is gross.
David
I've found this recipe on other sites. Question, why the water. When I watch videos of Flay doing quick pickling I've never seen him use water. And on the other sites with this recipe; no water! Wanted to check before pickling. Thanks
Stacey
Hi David - thanks for your question. This recipe comes directly from Bobby Flay's cookbook called "Bobby at Home: Fearless Flavors from my Kitchen." I've looked up other pickled red onion recipes as well and see water as an ingredient in those recipes too. The pickling liquid acts as a brine to the onions and most brines include water, salt, and sugar. For pickling red onions, I think the added reason is likely the need to dilute what could be the over-powering flavor of red wine vinegar and lime juice. So go forth and make this recipe! I've made them many, many times and they are totally awesome! You can see in my blog post a bunch of different ideas for uses. Good luck and let me know how they turn out!
David
Stacey, It's the "Cheesemonger" returning with feedback.
The pickled onions, made exactly to the recipe, are great! I've had them on a ham, cheese, tomato, mayo, dijon sandwich and they added great acidity and crunch. I tried it on a mixed veg salad but with balsamic vinegar didn't need more acid and already had lots of crunch.
Any suggestions on other great uses?
Thanks, David
Stacey
David! So glad you made them and it turned out well. I have several options on my website where I use them, my pork schnitzel sandwich, pork carnitas where you can put the pickled red onions on sliders or tacos, you can add them to a variety of different avocado toasts, steak salad with pickled red onions and bleu cheese AND they taste great on burgers too! I have a yummy burger recipe in my backyard bbq video... but you can really make any burger you want and it will taste awesome with pickled red onions. Also, someone told me they use it in their tuna salad all the time... I'm not a tuna/mayo person so I can't vouch for that one, but if you're feeling daring give it a try. Happy experimenting!
Cathy
Stacy, can these be processed for longer shelf life?
Stacey
Hi Cathy - I'm so sorry, I don't know of any way to make the shelf life longer. I did Google around and saw some information about "canning" pickled red onions, but I don't want to recommend something from a source I don't know that may not have accurate information. You could look into canning options by Googling this. Good luck!
Nancy
I haven't made these yet (can't wait), but the recipe is so similar to my refrig. pickles and that says they will keep for around 3 months in refrig. Mine never last that long but that's the recipe. ( It's a generations old recipe!)
Sonya
Hi Stacy, I may be a little late to the game, but I just made these as the recipe stated. Cannot tell you how delicious they are!! Love, love love! I put them on grilled brats.. Mmm. I've seen Bobby make them on "Beat Bobby Flay" shows. So glad you posted his recipe. I also can confirm the leftover brine makes excellent salad dressings and sauces. I put a little bit in almost everything. Delish ♥
Stacey
Sonya! Thanks so much for stopping by. I also looooove these pickled red onions. And like you, have seen Bobby make them on Beat Bobby Flay, that's what got me turned on to this recipe! It's funny how many uses you can think of for these things and so glad to hear you also made a salad dressing with this too!
Steve
I made these but I had to cheat and used the next best thing to fresh lime juice and that would be Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime Juice...Its pretty damn good with out any funky after taste and even though reconstituted from there concentrate its done correctly as it tastes very good. We use it a lot down here in FL and is made aprox 20 miles from my home.
I used 3 large red onions but had to come back and make another 1/2 recipe brine due to my onions being as large as good size grapefruits. I used #3 28 oz mason jars. They seal and they were sterilized but I'll still put all 3 jars in the fridge.
After 24 hrs cracked the first jar open and they were superb. Best recipe for me for pickled red onions and many of my friends agree and I have them all hooked on the recipe now . Thank You for sharing this with us 🙂
Stacey
Thanks Steve!! I've always wondered about trying a really good quality bottled lime juice for this. Someone else recommended it to me some time ago. Guess I'll have to try it in my next batch. Yeah, when I make them I give them away too and everyone loves them!
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