My sugar free pickled onions are deliciously tangy, sweet and crunchy. You can prep them in minutes and they require no pickling or canning skills! Add them to salads, sandwiches, burgers and more.
It's always the small tweaks that make a meal stand out - the seasoning and condiments, the sauces, drizzles and sprinkles.
My sugar-free pickled red onions are one of those secret tweaks. They transform a regular dish into a culinary experience. Plus, their vibrant pink colour looks so pretty.
I put them on literally everything at the moment, from breakfast through to dinner.
Regular pickled onions contain a lot of added sugar. It is mixed into the pickle juice. This sugar free recipe is for everyone who wants to reduce their sugar intake or is on a low carb or keto diet.
I hope that these easy no sugar pickled onions will become a fridge staple in your house. They are in mine.
Jump to:
What's To Love About This Recipe
Sugar free: It is my mission to offer you sugar-free versions of anything that tastes delicious. And it is possible to make pickled onions without sugar. We simply add a sugar-free sweetener instead. They taste just like classic pickled onions.
Flavor: Simply incredible. The acidity of the vinegar is mellowed by the added sweetness. The onions retain a lovely crunch and the pickling process removes all sharpness. And of course, we add spices that lift the flavor even more.
Easy and quick: The recipe takes minutes to make and the onions last in the fridge for several weeks. You don't need any pickling or canning experience.
Ingredients
Let's talk ingredients. You'll find exact quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of the post, but I wanted to give you a bit of extra info right here:
- Red onion - Makes sure that it is fresh.
- Apple cider vinegar - This has a pleasantly mild taste and is also supposed to have plenty of health benefits.
- Sweetener - The sugar substitute mellows the tangy vinegar. I used allulose, because it melts like sugar and does not recrystallise. You could also use stevia drops or a powdered sweetener of your choice.
- Salt and Peppercorns - I use flaked sea salt by Maldon and black peppercorns. Pink peppercorns or juniper berries are alternatives to black pepper
- Spices - Coriander seeds, star anise and bay leaf
Don't worry if you don't have all of the spices. The only absolutely necessary ingredients are onion, apple cider vinegar, salt and sweetener.
Instructions
It is simple to make sugar free pickled onions. Here are the basic steps.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed method with ingredient amounts, timings and nutrition information.
STEP 1
Peel the dried skin off the red onion and slice it into rings with a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife.
STEP 2
Put the onion rings in a colander and pour boiling hot water over them. This mellows their pungency. Drain well.
STEP 3
Heat the apple cider vinegar in a pan with the sweetener, salt and spices. Stir until the sweetener and the salt have dissolved.
STEP 4
Put the onion slices into a jar. Pour over the the warm vinegar and seal. Leave to pickle for 2 hours.
Katrin's Top Tips
Thin slices. I use a mandoline to slice the onions because thinly sliced onions don't just look better, they also taste better than thick slices. Pickled onions have an intense flavor, and you don't need a massive mouthful to enjoy it.
Patience! Whilst the onions are ready to enjoy after 2 hours, they are even better the next day. The flavor of sugar-free pickled red onions develops over time, making them taste milder. They also soften because the acid in the vinegar braks down the cell walls.
Variations
- Swap the vinegar: You can make pickled onions with white wine vinegar, but you'll also need to increase the sweetener.
- Zesty pickled red onions: Add the juice of ½ a lemon plus lemon zest for a fragrant and zesty version. Reduce the amount of vinegar accordingly.
- Garlic pickled onions: Add a peeled garlic clove to the jar.
- Spicy pickled onions: Add a few thin slices of chilli pepper.
- Ginger pickled onions: Put 2-3 slices of peeled ginger into the mixture.
Serving Suggestion
No sugar pickled red onions add crunch and sweet-sour excitement to many dishes, from morning to night.
Try them in a classic cheese sandwich or Ploughman's (or my zucchini grilled cheese). They improve any cheeseboard plus homemade seed crackers.
I love to spread a forkful over roasted vegetables or salads. And of course, pickled onions are a classic topping for keto burritos, burgers, tacos or fajitas.
Katrin's perfect low carb breakfast: A handful of rucola salad, a dollop of whipped cottage cheese and 2 fried eggs topped with nigella seeds and pickled onions. Add ½ avocado if you are really hungry.
Recipe FAQs
Preserve sugar free pickled onions just like regular pickled onions. You need to sterilise a jar and lid and ensure that the seal is airtight. Here are instructions for canning.
The recipe works with other onions. However, I recommend choosing milder varieties auch as Spanish onions or salad onions. In my opinion, brown onions are better for cooking than pickling.
Regular pickled onion recipes contain added sugar, which makes them unsuitable for a keto diet. My sugar free pickled onion recipe uses a zero carb sweetener instead. This is keeps the net carbs low at only 1g per serving. Indeed, you could call them keto pickled onions.
Red onions do contain naturally occurring sugars - about 5g per 100g (a medium onion). The amount of onion I suggest as a serving in this recipe is ⅛ of a medium onion. This means the natural sugar content per portion is low.
Storage
My "instant" sugar-free pickled onions last for several weeks in the fridge. The vinegar preserves the onions. Once you have opened the jar, eat within 14 days.
With proper canning methods, the onions can be stored in a dark place for up to 6 months. After opening, store them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Not suitable for freezing.
More Sugar Free Condiments
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
★ STAY IN TOUCH on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST and INSTAGRAM for more great food and join my NEWSLETTER for the latest updates and a FREE EBOOK.★
Recipe
Sugar Free Pickled Onions
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Equipment
- mandoline slicer or sharp knife
Ingredients
- 1 red onion medium, thinly sliced into rings, 100g
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar 120ml
- 1 tablespoon allulose or 2-3 teaspoon powdered sweetener of choice, to taste
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 6 black peppercorns or pink peppercorns, or juniper berries
- 6 coriander seeds
- 1 star anise
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Peel the dried skin off the red onion and slice it into fine rings with a mandoline slicer. Or, use a sharp knife and slice as thinly as possible.
- Put the onion rings in a colander and pour boiling hot water over them. Drain well.
- Heat the apple cider vinegar in a pan with the sweetener, salt and all spices. Simmer until the sweetener and the salt have dissolved, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the onion slices into a clean jar (around 200ml capacity). Pour over the warm vinegar and seal. Cool, then leave to pickle in the fridge for 2 hours.
Pamela Shorland
Hi Katrin,
Forget the Pickled Onions for the moment.
I am excited by your recipe because I think I could use the ‘pickling’ liquid for my baby beetroot slices, which I love but which go mouldy -even in the fridge - because I don’t know what liquid to cover them with.
Could this be the answer to my problem?
Would the A/C be too strong - need mellowing with some water?
Please comment.
Katrin Nürnberger
Hi Pamela, you can definitely pickle beetroot or even cucumber with apple cider vinegar, salt and sweetener plus spices. If you add the sweetener you won't need water. I think without the sweetness you may want to add a little water.
Pip
What would these be like without any sweetener at all- I don’t have anything sweet atm…
Katrin Nürnberger
They will be more sour and tangy. If you have a mild apple cider vinegar it will probably taste fine, too. You could always dilute it with a splash of water afterwards incase you fine it too intense.