Pickled onions are the perfect way to deliver some sharp acidity and crunchiness to dishes like tacos, salads, and sandwiches. Pickling onions can be a very quick process, but this means that the color and flavor can sometimes be a little flat, so follow celebrity chef Bobby Flay's tip for onions that look and taste vibrant.

For onions with a slight sweetness and beautiful pink color, Flay adds some grenadine to his pickling mixture. This syrup of pomegranate juice, lemon, and sugar is a classic cocktail ingredient, but a good homemade batch can also add a hint of sweetness to your onions that balances and brightens the vinegar's acidity.

Using sugar in your pickling brine offers the same sweetening effect, but grenadine adds an inimitable pop of color. To pickle onions with grenadine, simply combine the syrup with red wine vinegar in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil before pouring it over sliced or chopped onions, and you’ll have great pickles in no time.