Easy Homemade Onion Chutney Recipe with Apples

Name: Easy Homemade Onion Chutney Recipe with Apples
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 700g (1 1/2 lbs or 6 cooking apples), peeled, cored and diced; 700g (1 1.2 lbs or 6 medium red onions), skinned and chopped; 225g (8 oz or 2 cups) seedless raisins (or sultanas); grated rind and juice of 1 lemon; 350g (12 oz or 1 1/2 cups) demerara sugar; 300ml (1/2 pint or 1 1/4 cups) malt vinegar; 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted & crushed,

in apples. onions, chutney, condiments, pickle, preserves - 34 comments

Make a batch of this easy homemade onion & apple chutney to perk up salads, baked potatoes & sandwiches. The subtly spiced flavours make it a winner.

a spoonful of easy homemade onion chutney with apples.

Easy Homemade Onion Chutney Recipe with Apples

My work friend Margaret, gave me a wonderful gift, a bag of windfall apples from her garden.

So, I decided to make some Apple and Red Onion Chutney as it's one of my favourite chutney's and very easy to make.

I adapted this recipe from one I found in a Good Housekeeping magazine a few years ago and tweaked it a little each time I made it.

Red onions make a sweeter chutney and I tweaked the spices too.

Why make onion chutney at home?

You may think, well I can just pick up a jar of apple and onion in the supermarket, so why make my own?

Here are a few reasons why:

Fun - it's so fun to make your own
Easy - super easy too
No special equipment - all you need is a big pot, a wooden spoon and a few sterilised jars
Recycling - keep your old jam jars for storing homemade jams and chutneys.
Cheap - you can use windfall apples from your own or a friend's tree (or a bit of scrumping, I won't judge, but if anyone asks I didn't know you did it), alternatively, you can buy apples and onions when they are on special offer in the supermarket or if they are in the marked down (price) section
Tastes delicious - always so much nicer than shop-bought
No problem - sterilising jar is actually super simple, I will tell you how further down
Beginners - it's a great recipe for beginners are you are just chopping a few apples and onions and adding them to a pot with a few other ingredients, then stirring a it bubbles away.
Smells great - some people may disagree, but I love the smell of chutney bubbling away in the pot

What you need to make easy homemade onion chutney with apples

Here are the simple ingredients you need to make this tantalisingly tasty apple and onion chutney.

Cooking apples - you can make it with eating apples and it's still gorgeous but the texture is a little different
Red onions - you may use white or brown onions, but I think it's better with red onions
Seedless raisins - or sultanas
Lemon - the juice and zest
Demerara sugar - or brown sugar, caster sugar would work too, but the brown sugars give a richer caramel flavour
Malt vinegar - you can use a different type of vinegar, but this is my preference
Cumin seeds - if you only have cumin powder, you could add that instead.

Variations to this apple chutney

Here are a few tweaks you can make to this homemade onion pickle.

Cranberries - as well as raisins for a Christmas chutney to give as a gift or serve with a deli or cheese board, I would use half raisins and half cranberries
White wine vinegar - or cider vinegar instead of malt vinegar
Mustard seeds - instead of cumin seeds
Chilli flakes - for a bit of heat

The easy way to sterilize jam jars

Many people are put of at the thought of making homemade chutney like this apple and onion chutney because they think sterilising jam jars is difficult, but it's actually very easy.

The traditional way to sterilise jam jars and their lids is to wash them in really hot soapy water, then put them in hot oven to dry off and sterilise.

A more modern way of doing it, and my preferred method is to pop them through a dishwasher cycle.

Whichever way you do it, just make sure you fill the jars while they are still hot and don't touch the inside of the lids or the jars.

If you do touch the inside of the jars or lids, you will introduce bacteria and then have to start the sterilising all over again.

And, you don't want that!

homemade onion chutney being made in a large soup pot.

Do you need any special equipment to make homemade chutney or pickle?

There's all sorts of specialised kit you could buy for making homemade jams, chutneys and pickles, but all you really need is a big pot, a wooden spoon and a few sterilised jars (which can be old jam jars, you are re-using).

The only bit of kit I would recommend for jarring (canning) is a jam jar funnel.

It's not necessary, but it makes spooning the preserves into the jars much easier and less messy, as you have a wider area to spoon into (the funnel sits in the neck of the clean jam jar).

Just remember this should be sterilised too, so only handle the outside of it.

What about jam jar labels?

Again, you don't need anything fancy, although you can buy all sorts of pretty labels.

A plain sticker will do.

Just add the type of chutney (or other preserves) and the date you jarred (canned) it up.

Can you eat onion chutney right away?

You can eat freshly made chutney and pickle, but the flavours won't have developed and the vinegar would be harsh, so I wouldn't advise it.

This style of chutney is best stored for a few months (2-3 months), so the flavours can really settle in and develop.

Yes, you do need to be patient when making an onion pickle, but it's well worth the wait as it tastes so good.

If you want a tasty condiment that's a bit quicker, to perk up a sandwich or meal, you could try this red pepper sweet chilli sauce, which is ready to serve right away or this simple red chilli chutney, which just needs a few days in the fridge to develop.

Where should you keep chutneys and pickles while they mature?

A dark, cool cupboard is the best place to store homemade pickles and chutneys while they are maturing.

Sunlight is not your friend during this process.

They don't need a fridge either until they are opened.

So just pop them in your larder, a food cupboard or anywhere dark and cool you can tuck them away.

Just remember where you put them!

How long will homemade onion pickle keep?

This homemade apple and onion chutney will keep in the fridge for 3-4 weeks once it is opened.

The unopened jars (provided they have been sterilised and jarred properly) will keep for a couple of years in a cupboard or larder.

Some people keep them even longer!

Long maturing chutney doesn't need to be put in the fridge until it is opened, but then it is important that you do.

I will sit in a dark cupboard quite happily until you are ready to serve it.

It's very forgiving.

How to serve apple and onion chutney

We Brits like to serve a fruit chutney on a sandwich (we do love our sandwiches), but it is a lot more versatile than that.

Here are a few ideas.

Ploughman's sandwich - the absolute classic British sandwich, try this vegan ploughman's sandwich, or if you are veggie, just use your regular cheddar.
Salad - any hearty salad, but particularly a ploughman's salad, another British classic.
Baked potato - also known as a baked spud (in England), or a baked tattie (in Scotland) with grated cheddar.
Cheese board - on a cheese board or deli board, add a dollop to an oatcake or cracker piled with cheese and you will see what I mean.
Toastie - in a cheese toastie (grilled cheese).
Pie - with an individual savoury pie, another very British pairing.
Sausages - on a veggie sausage sandwich or on the side if you are serving sausages and mashed potatoes.

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chutney, pickle, onion chutney, apple chutney, homemade chutney, preserves

condiment

British

Yield: 120 servings (4 jars)

Author: Jacqueline Meldrum