How to Make (and Use!) Versatile and Jammy Caramelized Onions (2024)

FAQs

How to caramelize onions step by step? ›

Heat the oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes or until starting to soften. Add the salt, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 50 to 80 minutes, stirring every few minutes, or until the onions are very soft, golden brown, and caramelized.

HOW TO USE CARAMELISED ONIONS. Delicious piled into burgers, cheese toasties or served alongside a cheeseboard. They work well in a simple pasta dish with pine nuts and kale or broccoli. Add a spoon to sausage rolls before rolling, or use in quiches or savoury tarts.

Once your onions begin to soften and take on a golden hue, you'll want to reduce the heat from medium to medium-low or even low for the remainder of the cooking process. The sugars in the onions require time and gentle heat to caramelize; cooking them over high heat will take you straight to burnt.

Around 30 Minutes: Onions should be light blonde in color and starting to become jammy. More fond is starting to build up, but it should still be fairly easy to scrape it up with the evaporating liquid from the onions. Around 40 Minutes: Onions are golden and starting to smell very caramelized.

If you cover the pan, you'll trap steam, which will speed up their softening, heat them more quickly, and help release their liquid more quickly. Lift the lid a few times during this stage to give them a stir and make sure nothing is browning yet.

Usually caramelized onions start with thinly sliced onions, but you can also work with diced or chopped onions. To caramelize, just place a heavy pan over medium low heat and heat up some butter or olive oil.

Caramelized onions work beautifully when piled on patty melts, cheesesteaks, sausage heros, or even just a piece of crispy bread with goat cheese. They work well on cold cuts too. Ham, mayo, and caramelized onions on some country bread?

Once that's done, drain all the liquid out and down the drain, then toss the wilted onions with oil/butter and a pinch of baking soda*. Microwave uncovered for 10 minutes, stir and drain again (if necessary), and keep repeating until your onions are looking nice and brown.

You'll see some people add sugar to the recipe, which is done to speed it up. Doing this is caramelising the sugar, not the onion. The onions get plenty sweet enough on their own if you take your time with it. From a health perspective it's much better not to add extra sugar.

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.

Why add vinegar to caramelize onions? ›

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.

Fold onions with a spatula, scraping bottom of pan to ensure they don't stick or scorch. Cook, stirring every 5 to 6 minutes and reducing heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, until liquid has evaporated, about 35 minutes.

Depending on the consistency you want your onions, you can use more or less fat. Just cover the bottom of your pan for jammy, soft caramelized onions, or add a little more for more structured, slightly charred caramelized onions. The more fat in the pan, the more the onions will fry rather than soften.

Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, or a mixture of olive oil and butter, if using (about 1 teaspoon per onion). Heat the pan on medium high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onion slices and stir to coat the onions with the oil.

When you add baking soda, the onions start to turn to mush as they caramelize. Delicious mush. But something closer to jam.

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.

In addition to water, we have another secret ingredient: baking soda. We often turn to it to speed browning, since it creates a high-pH environment, which allows caramelization to occur more readily.