If you came here searching for the best cocktail onions, then congratulations, you are cool. Because not everyone likes pickled cocktail onions. Not everyone can handle the crunch and the tang and the pungency of pickled pearl onions. But you can—and you want more. You want the best cocktail onions to put in your Gibsons, to snack on with your cheese, to garnish Bloody Marys, to use to make fake eyeballs with sliced black olives. Lucky for you, I have tasted seven different brands of Martini onions and can tell you exactly which cocktail onions are right for you and your superb taste.
Here’s what I was looking for in my search for the best cocktail onions: crunch, tang, and je ne sais quoi. Pickled pearl onions need to be crunchy—biting into a soft, soggy Martini onion is an extremely disappointing experience. They need to be tangy—they’re pickled, after all. I want bite and zest and zing. And, for the purposes of this ranking, they also need to have a little something else—something that earns them a spot in the Martini onion hall of fame. That could mean some spice, it could mean some depth in the pickling spices, it could even mean the size. But I was looking for a reason to really recommend a jarful to you. I’m looking out for you. Because that’s what we pickled cocktail onion lovers do for each other.
Here are the four best brands of pickled pearl onions out there.
- Sable & Rosenfeld Tipsy Jalapeno Onions
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These jalapeno-stuffed cocktail onions are brined in a vermouth-based mix, so they’re already one drink ahead of you. The jalapeno bleeds into the brine, so even that has a kick to it. The pickled pearl onions themselves are slightly sweet—almost like bread and butter pickles—which works as a nice complement to the spicy pepper. They have so much going on, so they’d be great served alongside some super-sharp cheddar as a featured accoutrement on a cheese board. But they’d also be great on a skewer in a spicy Bloody Mary.
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- Mezzetta Cocktail Onions
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Mezzetta is always a good pick when it comes to anything pickled. They make some of the best green olives (get the ones stuffed with garlic) and the best capers. So I wasn’t surprised when I tasted Mezzetta’s cocktail onions and found them to be delicious. They are crunchy. They are the perfect, average size (think: large marble). They are pickled. They are rich and savory. And they aren’t too crazy acidic. If you’re new to the world of Martini onions (welcome), these are not overly pungent or oniony, so they’re a good place to start.
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- Sanniti Silver Skin Cocktail Onions
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These are petite cocktail onions, perfect for skewering onto a cocktail pick with olives for a Dirty Martini. They’re extremely crunchy and really, really tangy. They make your mouth water. I would totally snack on these if they were in a little bowl on a charcuterie board. They’re just the right size for one-bite noshing.
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- Old South Pickled Jumbo Cocktail Onions
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These pickled cocktail onions are, indeed, quite jumbo. You only need one to garnish your Gibson—just drop it right into the bottom of the glass. But they’re more than just sizeable. These pickled cocktail onions also had the most interesting flavor amongst the onions we tasted. They have a somewhat dilly flavor. And they are also seriously eye-wateringly tart and pickled. But that just means they’ll stand up to a strong cocktail. The brine itself is also very good, so go ahead and add a few barspoons into your drink for some layered flavor. If you’re way into pickled pearl onions like I am, these are the best cocktail onions to buy.
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Best Spicy
Best Mild
Best Small
Best of the Best
Other cocktail onions we tried: Dirty Sue Jalapeno Stuffed Onions, Filthy Pearl Onions, Collins Snow White Onions
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!