Using Caramelized Onions in Your Recipes - Recipes Just 4 U (2024)

FAQs

What can I do with caramelized onions? ›

Add them to pizza, pastas, plant-based burgers, soups, dips, and more! I could grab a fork and eat these sweet caramelized onions right from the pan!

If you have the time to properly caramelize onions, the silky, luscious strands will more than pay you back for your effort. Learning how to caramelize onions means you've always got a flavor-rich, healthy condiment at the ready.

You can caramelize any kind of onion, but yellow or Spanish onions tend to offer the most balanced-sweet-savory flavor profile and are the most versatile for different dishes. Sweet onions, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla work too, but keep in mind that their flavor will become even sweeter once caramelized.

It's this chemical reaction that creates wonderful flavors and changes in color. And if you've tasted caramelized onions before, you've experienced this magic first hand. They aren't just sweet. They're nutty, intense, and almost meaty.

You can use either oil or butter to caramelize onions — but ideally, you use a combination of both! I like to use olive oil, and this cooking fat tolerates heat particularly well. Meanwhile, butter adds a distinctly rich flavor to the caramelized onions.

Caramelized onions can add flavor and nutrition to a variety of dishes, such as soups, stews, sandwiches, and omelets. It's also important to remember that it's okay to enjoy caramelized onions in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

Eating onions may help regulate blood sugar levels, which is significant for people with diabetes or prediabetes. A small 2010 study in 84 people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes found that eating 100 g of raw red onion significantly reduced fasting blood sugar levels after 4 hours.

Nutritional benefits

Onions contain antioxidants and compounds that fight inflammation, decrease triglycerides, and reduce cholesterol levels — all of which may lower heart disease risk. Onions are also rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Copper, Potassium and Manganese.

Tip: use apple cider vinegar for white and yellow onions and balsamic vinegar for red onions. Tip: the vinegar serves to deglaze the pan, adds acidity, and brings this recipe together by boosting the tangy and savory flavors of the caramelized onions. If the onions stick to the pan, that's fine.

After 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt over the onions, and if you want, you can add some sugar to help with the caramelization process. (I add only about a teaspoon of sugar for 5 onions, you can add more.) One trick to keeping the onions from drying out as they cook is to add a little water to the pan.

Can I freeze caramelized onions? ›

Caramelized onions freeze beautifully, and you should take advantage of that. Imagine a life where you can add deep, sweet umami to soups, stews, braises, burgers, and anything else with a quick trip to the freezer. Don't you want that for yourself? Don't you want access to easy flavor?

When you add baking soda during cooking it changes the pH which increases the Maillard reaction causing the onions to brown more quickly. The higher pH also causes the onions to soften more quickly, which we cover below when we discuss the texture.

For most of the cooking process, the heat should be low or medium-low to prevent the onions from burning before they have a chance to soften and caramelize.

On the other hand, you can not caramelize onions for too long – they will be bitter. You need to cook the onions for 45-60 minutes – they will be soft and light brown in color. The onions are done and ready to use in any recipe that calls for caramelized onions!

Sautéing vs caramelizing

Sautéing is about softening and lightly flavoring the onions, while caramelizing is about developing a rich, sweet complexity. Unfortunately, you can't swap one out for the other without changing the flavor profile of your dish.

It takes time, probably a solid 45 minutes, for the onions' sugars to caramelize. If your heat is too high, the onions will burn.

Consuming burnt onions is generally not harmful to most people, but it may not be very pleasant to eat as the burnt taste can be bitter and unpleasant.

The best way to reheat caramelized onions is to utilize that fat and reheat them in a pot over low heat. You shouldn't need to add any extra oil or butter and should only take about five minutes. If you're in a pinch, you can microwave them, but the microwave does have the potential to unevenly overcook them.