Quick Panera Pickled Red Onions Copycat Recipe

Recipe Ingredients

Writing a copycat recipe is pretty fun and feels like I am a detective trying to solve a case.

My first step is always to go to the Panera Bread website and take a look at the list of ingredients for that item. With the first piece of the puzzle solved, the next step is to decide on the quantities and process.

Here is the exact list of ingredients from panerabread.com: Red Onions, Sugar, Water, White Wine Vinegar, Distilled Vinegar, Calcium Chloride, and Sea Salt

Luckily the ingredients list is pretty short without too many unusual or hard-to-find ingredients.

Red Onions: Pickling red onions mellows their flavor and makes them sweeter. You will need one large red onion or two small red onions.

Tip: One way to minimize tears when slicing onions is to use a very sharp knife. A sharp knife will minimize cell damage when slicing onions and release less allinase which is the compound that irritates your eyes and makes them water.

Calcium Chloride: This ingredient is optional but will help keep the onions crisp. There are two popular canning brands that sell food-grade calcium chloride; Ball Pickle Crips Granules and Mrs. Wages Xtra Crunch.

White Wine Vinegar and Distilled White Vinegar: Using white wine vinegar adds a little extra flavor. Distilled white vinegar is cheaper and helps increase the volume of vinegar.

Water: Adding water to pickling recipes helps to increase the volume of the pickling liquid so that all of the ingredients are fully submerged without creating an overwhelmingly strong vinegar flavor. A good rule of thumb when pickling is to have at least a one-to-one ratio of vinegar to water.

Sugar: I prefer granulate white sugar because it has a purer flavor. If you prefer a less refined sugar you can substitute an equal amount of honey or maple syrup.

Salt: When pickling I use pickling or canning salt because it has a fine texture and no additives.

I don't use table salt because of the added flavor from the iodine as well as the added anti-clumping agents. If you do decide to use table salt I recommend using 1 teaspoon since it has a similar texture to pickling salt.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

Onions: If you don't have red onions you could also use yellow or white onions. Using different onions will change the flavor.

Vinegar: If you don't have white wine vinegar you could also use rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar.

Sweetener: Try using honey or maple syrup instead of white sugar.

Salt: When pickling I use pickling or canning salt because it has a fine texture and no additives. If you don't have pickling salt you can substitute kosher salt. The best and easiest way to accurately measure the salt is to use a kitchen scale.

This is my favorite kitchen scale because the display pulls out making it easy to see when using a large bowl.

You will want to use 6 grams of salt which is approximately equal to 1 teaspoon of pickling salt, 1 teaspoon of Morton Kosher Salt, or because it has larger granules 2 teaspoons of Diamond Kosher Salt.

There are several ways you can customize this pickled red onion recipe.

• Spicy: To make spicy pickled onions add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes or whole peppercorns to the jar.
• Flavor: To add some additional flavor try adding some fresh herbs, dry bay leaf, or garlic to the jar.
• Spices: Change up the flavor even more by adding a variety of spices. Some of my favorites include nutmeg and allspice.