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Upgrade your home bar with these easy cocktail onions! Perfect for garnishing a Gibson, these pickled onions are also delicious on a relish tray or cheese board.

A glass jar filled with peeled pickled onions and spices sits on a counter next to lemon wedges and a striped cloth.

Even though I love to travel and dine out, my husband and I tend to be homebodies. On the weekends, this means we’ll mix up a cocktail from our home bar to enjoy with dinner or watching one of our favorite shows.

My friend Susannah over at Feast and West has taught me a lot about making cocktails, and as a result we’ve really stepped up our home bartending game, including keeping a stash of garnishes on hand to elevate our drinks.

While olives might be the classic garnish for a martini, I’ve always been more partial to pickled cocktail onions. This simple swap transforms a martini into a Gibson cocktail, which automatically sounds fancier, don’t you think?

Since I already love making pickles at home, I naturally had to make my own cocktail onions too. They’re just as simple as pickled red onions, with the most time consuming step being peeling the onions!

Learn how easy it is to make cocktail onions at home—they might just become your signature garnish!

Ingredients for cocktail onions

This is just an overview. For full measurements and step-by-step instructions, scroll down to the printable recipe card, or use the button on the side.

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Bowls containing pearl onions, water, vinegar, sugar, allspice, juniper berries, salt, peppercorns, and a bay leaf are arranged on a white surface, each labeled.

You’ll need:

Pearl onions (not frozen)
Water
White vinegar
Granulated sugar
Pickling salt
Black peppercorns
Whole allspice
Juniper berries
Bay leaf

While frozen pearl onions are great in a pot roast recipe, they won’t work for this pickle because we want them to be crisp, not soft. You should be able to find pearl onions in the produce section; they are usually sold in 8-ounce packages. Either red or white onions will work—just keep in mind the red onions will end up pink after brining.

Pickling salt is a fine grain salt that dissolves easily. If you don’t have it, you can use fine sea salt in its place.

This recipe uses a standard 50-50 ratio of vinegar to water. If you want a more puckery pickle, increase the vinegar. I don’t recommend decreasing the vinegar, however. You want a pickle, not watery onions!

A jar of pickled onions with spices, two martini glasses each garnished with an onion, and a glass with lemon wedges on a white tiled surface.

How to make this recipe

Grab a jar or other airtight container for storing the onions. We’re not canning these, so you can choose from nearly any container, as long as the lid is tight fitting! I like to use a swing-top lid for pickles like these, and a large jar makes it easy to fit in the larger onions.

Pour the peppercorns, allspice, and juniper into the jar. Crush the bay leaf slightly and add that too.

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A glass jar containing a small amount of whole spices, including peppercorns and bay leaves, on a white tiled surface.

Peeled pearl onions on a cutting board with a knife, a bowl of peeled onions, and a metal bowl containing onion skins on a white countertop.

Trim the ends from the onions, leaving as much of the onion intact as possible, and peel off the papery skin. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the water, vinegar, sugar, and pickling salt. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt.

Once dissolved, add the onions and simmer for just 1 minute, then remove from the heat.

A stainless steel saucepan with water inside is placed on a white tiled surface next to a black and white checkered kitchen towel.

A saucepan filled with peeled pearl onions in water sits on a white countertop next to a checkered kitchen towel and a metal spoon.

Scoop out the onions and add to the jar with the spices (pack tightly if you are using a smaller jar), then pour in the hot brine. The onions will float.

Note that you’ll likely have more brine than you need for this amount of onions. You can either use all of the brine, like I did, or just use enough to cover the onions completely and discard the rest.

A pot pours liquid through a red funnel into a glass jar filled with peeled onions, resting on a gray mat next to a checkered towel.

A glass jar filled with pickled pearl onions and peppercorns in brine, placed on a round gray mat with a checkered cloth nearby.

Cover and let cool to room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator.

You want to let the onions pickle for at least two days before eating, but the longer you can wait, the better! The flavor will continue to develop so you get the perfect pickley punch.

Two coupe glasses with clear cocktails, each garnished with a pickled onion on a cocktail pick, with a pitcher of similar liquid and onions in the background.

Storage tips

This recipe is not developed for canning, so please store it in the refrigerator! Plus, you’ll want to make sure the onions are nice and chilled for adding to your Gibson or bloody mary anyway, so don’t be tempted to stash in the pantry.

Pickled pearl onions will keep in the refrigerator for at least a month. I recommend storing toward the back of the fridge, where it is colder, rather than the door.

A jar of yellow liquid with melon balls, black peppercorns, and orange slices next to two glasses holding clear drinks garnished with melon balls on cocktail picks.

These onions are perfect for cocktails, antipasto platters, or quartering for a salad. Crunchy, tart, tangy, and always a winner!

Homemade Cocktail Onions

These easy pickled cocktail onions are ideal for garnishing a Gibson martini or bloody mary, or enjoying on a relish tray.

Author : Megan Myers

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Print Pin Recipe Review

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 5

Total Time 20

Servings

Calories per serving 15 kcal

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon whole allspice
1/4 teaspoon whole juniper berries, about 4 or 5
1 crushed bay leaf
8 ounces pearl onions, not frozen
1 cup water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pickling salt

Directions

Add the peppercorns, allspice, juniper berries, and bay leaf to a wide-mouth pint jar, or quart jar.
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1/4 teaspoon whole allspice, 1/4 teaspoon whole juniper berries, 1 crushed bay leaf
Peel onions and trim off ends, leaving as whole as possible. Set aside.
8 ounces pearl onions
Combine water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a light boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt.
1 cup water, 1 cup distilled white vinegar, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon pickling salt
Add the onions and simmer 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
Scoop the onions into the jar. If you are using a pint jar, you will need to pack them in tightly. Pour in the brine. You may not use all of it; if using a pint jar use a chopstick to release any air bubbles, then add more brine as needed.
Let cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator. Let the flavors meld for at least 2 days (but better after a week or two) before enjoying.

Notes

Pickling salt is a fine grain salt. You can swap in fine sea salt.

Want to save this recipe for later?

We’ll email a link to you, so you can come back to it later! Plus, we’ll send new recipes to your inbox weekly.

Nutrition

Calories: 15 kcalCarbohydrates: 3 gProtein: 0.2 gFat: 0.04 gSaturated Fat: 0.01 gSodium: 438 mgPotassium: 24 mgFiber: 0.3 gSugar: 2 gIron: 0.1 mg

Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.

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