Caramelized Onion Pudding Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What's the best way to caramelize onions? ›

While you can start the cooking process at medium heat, low and slow is the name of the game when it comes to caramelizing onions. 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 first phase of the process is softening the onions so that they collapse into a tender mass while releasing a good deal of their liquid. 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.

Place sliced onions in a 9x13-inch casserole dish. Add olive oil, salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the pan from the oven, lift the foil, and stir the onions.

Put the onions in the bowl with the fat or butter. Cover the bowl and microwave for 10 minutes on high. Take off the cover, and stir the onions--there should be good bit of liquid in the bowl. Microwave (uncovered) for approximately 10 more minutes, but keep an eye on it.

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.

Simply put, caramelized onions aren't quick. It takes at least 45 minutes (and often over an hour) over low heat for the natural sugars in the onions to caramelize. Still, the time is totally worth it. Packed with irresistible umami flavor, caramelized onions add complexity to all sorts of savory dishes.

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.

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.

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!

The key is to cook at a low heat for at least 20 minutes until the onions are really soft and form almost a thick stew of its own juices. Then turn up the heat and stir constantly for 20 more minutes until the onions are brown. If you try to heat the onions too quickly in the beginning, they will just burn.

Do you need to add sugar to caramelize onions? ›

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.

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.

Not cooking the onions long enough.

→ Follow this tip: Cook times will vary depending on the number of onions you're cooking and the type of onion (its sugar content and age), but plan to cook caramelized onions for 40 to 50 minutes (at least) until they have a dark-brown, rich color.