Quick Sumac Onions Add Flavorful Addition To Your Meals

Use this red onion salad to add a gorgeous bright red color and freshness to spreads, salads, sandwiches, wraps, bowls, and other dishes. Sumac onions are an excellent alternative to pickled onions. They can be made in less than 30 minutes in a bowl with simple ingredients. Dietary Note: this recipe is suitable for a vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diet.Don’t have time to read the full blog post? JUMP TO RECIPE HERE!

What are sumac onions?

Ingredients and substitutions for sumac onions

How to make sumac onions

Serving suggestions

Sumac onions on soups and stews

Variations

Storage & Make ahead

More sumac recipes

Fattoush Fatteh Tahini salad Dukkah

Traditionally, they are served at kebab shops as a side dish or topping for meatballs, kebabs, and shawarma to add freshness to a meal. Sumac is a spice made from dried ground sumac shrub berries. It has a deep red color and a citrusy, slightly acidic, and tart flavor with floral and fruity notes. Sumac can be hard to find in Western supermarkets. We get it online and store it in a mason jar for months. It’s absolutely worth it, especially if you like cooking Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern recipes. One common way to use sumac is to add it to marinades, as in this recipe for sumac-marinated onions. The sumac melds with the lemon juice, infusing the sliced onions with a bright red color and a fruity, citrusy flavor. You’ll love how the onions lose their sharpness and transform into an aromatic, fruity, and tangy add-on for salads, soups, spreads, wraps, and sandwiches. They are excellent with hummus and falafel and in a hummus sandwich. Add a pinch to your Mediterranean bowl or Moroccan lentil soup, or try them on stuffed eggplant or roasted eggplants. You’ll love how they add brightness and freshness without overpowering the dish with acidity.

Sumac

Sumac is a spice from the Eastern Mediterranean and Levantine region. We purchase sumac powder online as it’s difficult to find in Western supermarkets. You can store sumac in an airtight jar like a mason jar for months.

Red onions

We use red onions because of their milder flavor and bright color. When marinated with sumac, the red of the onions becomes even more colorful and gorgeous. Substitute white or yellow onions for red onions.

Lemon juice

It’s best to use fresh lemon juice, as it adds acidity and fruity notes to the marinated sumac onions. Substitute lemon juice with apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or white wine vinegar.

Sea salt

We recommend sea salt or kosher salt. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes for heat or Aleppo pepper for a fruity finish.

Parsley

Fresh parsley, the fla-leaf variety, is optional. We recommend it because it adds a pleasant herby flavor to the sumac onion salad.

Extra virgin olive oil

Extra virgin olive oil is optional. We add it to soften the tanginess of the lemon juice. Peel the red onions, cut them in half, then into thin slices. Rub or pinch the raw onions to separate their layers, then rinse them under cold water. Transfer them to a bowl and add fresh lemon juice, salt, and sumac. Mix well, then let the onions marinate for 20 to 30 minutes. Tip: For the best result, mix the onions by hand for about a minute, pinching them or massaging them with your fingers as you combine all the ingredients. Stir in chopped parsley and olive oil, and serve. Use them to add a burst of freshness, flavor, and acidity to dishes like wraps, sandwiches, soups, stews, salads, grain bowls, breads, and more. They go well with most Mediterranean recipes, Middle Eastern recipes, and beyond. For example:

Sumac onions on salads and bowls

Chickpea salad Black bean salad Sweet potato lentil salad Israeli couscous salad Balela salad

Black Bean Salad

Chickpea Salad

Mediterranean Bowl

Israeli couscous salad

Harira Soup

Moroccan Lentil Soup

Turkish Lentil Soup

Cauliflower Soup

You can serve red onion salad as a side dish alongside other Turkish or Mediterranean dishes or as part of a mezze platter.

Quick pickled red onions

Our quick pickled red onion recipe is easy to make with simple ingredients. Here’s our quick pickled red onion recipe. Refrigerator: Transfer the onion to an airtight container, such as a mason jar, cover it with the marinating liquid, and refrigerate for 5 days. Freezer: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe.