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Pickled Red Onions

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Want to jazz up your next salad or bowl? Add pickled red onions! Tangy & sweet, they’re the best way to give almost any dish a bright pop of flavor!

Pickled red onions have been an indispensable ingredient in my kitchen for years. Not only are they a gorgeous, vibrant pink, but they’re tangy, sweet, and a little crunchy. I like to say that they give sandwiches, salads, bowls, and more a “bright pop of flavor,” and though Jack makes fun of me for how often I use that phrase, I can’t think of a better way to describe them.

Try making a batch of quick pickled red onions, and you’ll see what I mean. Top a few onto an otherwise good sandwich or salad, and it’ll become great. Their vinegary, zippy taste adds an irresistible extra dimension of flavor, brightening and sharpening the other elements of the dish. You only need a few minutes and 5 ingredients to make this pickled onion recipe, so give them a try – you’ll add them to everything!


Pickled onion recipe ingredients


How to Make Pickled Onions

To make pickled red onions, you’ll need 5 basic ingredients: red onions, white vinegar, water, cane sugar, and sea salt. 

First, thinly slice the onions (I recommend using a mandoline for quick, uniform slicing!) and divide them between two jars. Then, heat the vinegar, water, cane sugar, and salt over medium heat, and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. This will only take a minute or so!

Let the brine cool slightly, and pour it over the sliced onions. Allow the jars to cool to room temperature before covering them and transferring them to the fridge. Your onions will be ready to eat when they are bright pink and tender. This could take anywhere from 1 hour to overnight, depending on the thickness of your onions.

Sometimes, I’ll add a few peppercorns or garlic cloves to the jar along with the onions to make their flavor a little more complex. I like to change up the vinegar too! I particularly like a mix of white wine and rice vinegar, and apple cider vinegar and white vinegar are a fun tangy combination. These variations are great, but they’re totally optional; your quick pickled onions will be delicious even if you stick to the basic recipe!

What to Do with Pickled Red Onions

As I said above, pickled onions are my favorite way to add a bright pop of flavor to almost any dish. Most simply, they’re excellent on avocado toast, but your options don’t end there. Here are a few of my favorite ways to use them:

  • Add them to a salad! This roasted cauliflower salad and this grilled potato salad show them off well.
  • Stuff them in a sandwich! Pair them with any bright sandwich filling like egg salad, chickpea shawarma, or this lemon edamame/avocado combo.
  • Pile them on a burger! I like them with my favorite veggie burger, these falafel burgers, and my classic black bean burger.
  • Top them onto any Mexican dish! They’d be delicious with these sweet potato tacos, these many-veggie tacos, or even breakfast tacos or a breakfast burrito!
  • Add them to a bowl! Try them in this grain bowl or this buddha bowl, or top them onto a DIY-burrito bowl with cauliflower rice or cilantro lime rice, black beans, pico de gallo, mango or tomatillo salsa, guacamole, and your favorite veggies!

Do you have a favorite way to use pickled onions? Let me know in the comments!

 

Pickled Red Onions

Author: Jeanine Donofrio

Recipe type: Condiment

  • 2 small red onions
  • 2 cups white vinegar
  • 2 cups water
  • ⅓ cup cane sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sea salt
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon mixed peppercorns
  1. Thinly slice the onions (it’s helpful to use a mandoline), and divide the onions between 2 (16-ounce) jars or equivalent. Place the garlic and peppercorns in each jar, if using
  2. Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve, about 1 minute. Let cool and pour over the onions. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then store the onions in the fridge.
  3. Your pickled onions will be ready to eat once they’re bright pink and tender – about 1 hour for very thinly sliced onions, or overnight for thicker sliced onions.

3.4.3177

 

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Cheesy Vegetarian

Easy Mediterranean Lentil Meatballs

Don’t you just love it when a recipe is as simple as ‘mix + bake’? No pre-cooking, no unnecessary extra steps – just mix together all of the ingredients, and pop it in the oven. And that’s just the case for these vegetarian lentil meatballs (lentil balls? vegeballs? meatlessballs?). They couldn’t be easier.

Other easy ‘mix and bake’ recipes → easy nut roast; baked fajita rice; Boursin pasta.

Vegetarian Mediterranean lentil meatballs served with spaghetti and tomato sauce.

I served my lentil balls with spaghetti and tomato sauce – spaghetti and meatballs is such a classic that’s hard to improve on. If you prefer, you could equally serve these vegetarian meatballs with couscous and tzatziki, stuffed into pitta bread, or even just eaten straight from the oven (no judgment here). They’re packed with Mediterranean-inspired flavours, and they’re super versatile.

Mediterranean lentil meatballs on a baking tray.

⭐ What’s in these Lentil Meatballs?

The basic recipe for these lentil meatballs is canned lentils + flour + egg (the same base I used for my cheesy lentil burgers). Once you’ve got that far, you can jazz things up however you like. I added:

  • black olives
  • sun-dried tomatoes
  • parmesan-style cheese
  • fresh basil
  • garlic

If you like, you could easily switch things up to bring a different flavour profile to your meatballs – maybe you could make a Tex-Mex version, or use some Indian spices, for example.

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🥗 Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make these vegetarian meatballs. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

Ingredients for Mediterranean lentil meatballs laid out with text overlay.
  • cooked lentils. I used lentils from a can, because they’re so convenient – just drain them well, and they’re ready to use. If you can’t get canned lentils, you can boil dried brown or green lentils until they’re soft, then continue with the recipe as written. I would not recommend using red lentils for this recipe, as they will not give quite the same end result.
  • eggs
  • plain flour (I used wholemeal for extra fibre)
  • sun-dried tomatoes
  • black olives
  • parmesan-style cheese. ‘Real’ parmesan isn’t vegetarian, but there are plenty of vegetarian alternatives, which are very similar. Often, supermarkets sell a generic ‘Italian hard cheese’, which is usually vegetarian.
  • fresh basil
  • garlic granules

Spaghetti with tomato sauce and Mediterranean lentil meatballs.

🖨 Printable Instructions

Overhead shot of Mediterranean lentil meatballs with spaghetti.

Print

Mediterranean Lentil Meatballs

Easy vegetarian lentil meatballs, made extra tasty with Mediterranean-inspired ingredients. These are so simple – just mix and bake!
Course Main meal
Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean
Diet Vegetarian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 25 meatballs
Calories 216kcal
Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

  • 2 x 390g tins green lentils, thoroughly drained (470g, or ~ 2 2/3 cups, in total when drained)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons sliced black olives, roughly chopped
  • 5 pieces sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 50 g (~ 1/2 cup) finely grated vegetarian parmesan-style cheese
  • 1 teaspoon garlic granules
  • Few sprigs fresh basil, roughly chopped
  • 85 g (~ 2/3 cup) plain flour (I used wholemeal)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F). Add all of the ingredients, except for the flour, to a large mixing bowl. Use a fork to mix the ingredients thoroughly. It’s fine if the lentils get a little mashed up.
    Ingredients for Mediterranean lentil meatballs mixed up in a mixing bowl.
  • Add the flour, and mix well to combine.
    Mediterranean lentil meatball mixture in a bowl.
  • Lightly grease a baking sheet. Use clean hands to form the mixture into ball shapes, and place them on the tray. The mixture will be quite sticky – they don’t have to be perfect balls. I managed to get 25 balls from the mixture.
    Uncooked vegetarian Mediterranean lentil meatballs laid out on a baking sheet.
  • Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, until the lentil balls are slightly crispy and just firm.
    Crispy vegetarian Mediterranean lentil meatballs on a baking tray.
  • Serve with spaghetti and tomato sauce, if desired.
    A plate of spaghetti served with Mediterranean lentil meatballs.

Nutrition

Serving: 5balls | Calories: 216kcal | Carbohydrates: 27.6g | Protein: 14.9g | Fat: 5.6g | Saturated Fat: 2.2g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 201mg | Potassium: 325mg | Fiber: 8.3g | Sugar: 1.9g | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 3mg

💭 Recipe FAQs

Can I prepare these lentil balls in advance?

You could certainly mix together the ingredients in advance, and then store the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for a day or so, until you’re ready to shape and bake the balls. The meatballs are tastiest when freshly baked, but if needed, you could even bake them in advance, and then reheat when you’re ready to eat them.

Can I freeze these lentil meatballs?

I didn’t experiment with freezing these balls, but it’s the sort of recipe I have had luck with freezing in the past, so I definitely think it’s worth a try.

How should I reheat leftover vegetarian meatballs?

The easiest way to reheat these lentil meatballs is in the microwave. They do dry out a little and lose their crispiness when reheated, but they’re still tasty. Alternatively, you could re-crisp them in the oven or air fryer.

How should I serve vegetarian lentil balls?

I served my meatballs with spaghetti and tomato sauce, which worked beautifully. You could alternatively serve them stuffed into pitta bread with some tzatziki, or alongside some mashed potato.

🍛 Other Lentil Recipes

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