Caramelized onions add the perfect amount of both savory and sweet flavor to many dishes (hello burgers, French onion soup, and dips). Wonder what caramelizing is? Well, all vegetables and fruits contain natural sugars. When heated, these sugars brown and caramelize, becoming more intense in flavor. Onions are great candidates for caramelizing because they contain plenty of natural sugars. Onions can be caramelized by cooking them slowly in oil. Or they can be caramelized using a little sugar. Read on to learn how to caramelize onions like a pro using our Test Kitchen's step-by-step process. From there, we'll include tasty uses for caramelized onions.
How to Caramelize Onions
The best onions to use for caramelizing are sweet onions, since they tend to be juicy with a mild, sweet taste. Some popular sweet varieties include Maui, Vidalia, and Walla Walla onions. Once you've got you're onions, follow these steps to learn the best way to caramelize onions.
For 4 to 6 servings (about ⅓-cup each), start with two large onions and peel away and discard the outer papery layers. Use a sharp knife ($60, Bed Bath & Beyond) to cut the onions into thin slices or ¾-inch chunks.
Step 2: Melt the Butter and Add Onions
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet ($25, Walmart) over medium-low heat. Our Test Kitchen likes to use butter when caramelizing onions, as it offers the richest flavor. If you avoid dairy or don't have butter, you can caramelize onions in other fat such as margarine or olive oil.
Add the onion slices. It's okay if they overlap a bit here because they'll shrink as they cook down. If the skillet gets too full or you're making a lot of caramelized onions, consider using two skillets for more even cooking.
Step 3: Slowly Sauté Onions
Cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 13 to 15 minutes or until onion slices are tender, stirring occasionally. Low and slow is the key here. The slow cooking step allows the onions to release their juices and become uniformly soft.
Step 4: Finish Caramelizing the Onions
Once the onions are tender, turn up the heat to medium-high and uncover the skillet. The extra heat will help to caramelize the onion juices in the butter, giving the onions the desired caramel color and flavor. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden.
There are so many delicious options for enjoying caramelized onions—although you may be tempted to eat them right out of the skillet. Spoon the caramelized onions atop juicy burgers, steaks, pork chops, or cooked veggies. For appetizers, top a warmed wheel of Brie cheese or bruschetta slices with caramelized onions. They'll also be a game-changing addition to family-favorite sides such as mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese.
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.
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.
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.
Caramelize the onions: Heat about 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onions and stir to coat. Let cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until deeply caramelized, about 1 ½ - 2 hours.
You'll know the onions are ready when they're deep brown in color and jammy in texture. They should also be fully translucent and completely sweet. If they're still kind of crunchy, or they still have some of that raw onion bite, let them cook for a bit longer.
You're not sautéing your onions—you're trying to slowly coax flavor out of them. It takes time, probably a solid 45 minutes, for the onions' sugars to caramelize. If your heat is too high, the onions will burn. Heat your pan over medium-low, then add your onions.
Around 40 Minutes: Onions are golden and starting to smell very caramelized. Taste one — if you like the way they taste, you can stop now! For even deeper caramelized flavor, continue cooking. When your onions have finished cooking, pour in 1/4 cup wine, broth, balsamic vinegar, or water.
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.
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.
So adding water and covering the skillet causes the raw onions to wilt faster and more evenly as the water turns to steam. Then, uncover the skillet and begin a process of pressing the softened onions into the bottom and sides of the skillet for maximum contact—and maximum browning.
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.
Salting caramelized onions is like the icing on the cake. They must have salt but don't make the mistake of salting the onions too early. Instead, salt them at the very end of the recipe. Salt makes the onions release moisture which can slow down the caramelization.
Place in a large shallow skillet with Teflon™ nonstick coating. Cover and sauté on medium-low heat for 8 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid reduces. Add butter; cook on medium-low stirring frequently for 30 minutes or until the onions become caramel-colored.
Cover the pot with a lid, and then turn the burner on to medium-low heat. Cook covered until the onions have mostly broken down and are a pale brown sludge (about 45-60 minutes). Be sure to stir the pot periodically, checking to make sure the onions aren't burning.
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.
Introduction: My name is Kareem Mueller DO, I am a vivacious, super, thoughtful, excited, handsome, beautiful, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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