Easy Caramelized Onions
Caramelized onions are onions that have cooked low and slow, turning sweet and golden. They’re incredibly easy to make and add a burst of flavor when topped on burgers or steak, or used in soups, casseroles and dips. My French Onion Dip just wouldn’t be the same without caramelized onions.
If you’ve never made caramelized onions before, you’re in for a treat! Not only are they super easy to make, they have a rich, sweet flavor adds enormous depth to a wide variety of recipes.
I’m always touting sauces, marinades and spices for their ability to take recipes to the next level and caramelized onions are no different. Trust me, they’re a secret weapon in the kitchen.
Most think of onions as strongly flavored and tear-inducing, but when onions are cooked slowly over low heat, their natural sugars caramelize turning them a beautiful golden brown. And their flavor? Wonderfully sweet.
Caramelized Onion Ingredients
The great thing about this recipe is that there’s only one main ingredient – onions. You can use any variety of onions, but I recommend yellow onions or sweet onions.
To help with the caramelization process some oil, butter or ghee is needed to coat the pan and a little kosher salt enhances the flavor. Water or bone broth is also used (as needed) to help hydrate the onions while they cook, deglaze the pan and prevent burning.
Want to know what’s missing from this recipe? Sugar. There’s absolutely no need for it when the onions are cooked properly. And it’s just plain silly to add sugar to an item that caramelizes naturally.
How to Make Caramelized Onions
The great thing about this recipe is you can choose how long to cook the onions for and how golden or dark you like them to be. Here’s how you make them:
- Dice the onion. I prefer a mix of thinly sliced pieces and wider pieces for variety, but it’s up to you.
- Add the butter and/or oil (I prefer avocado oil) and sliced onion to a large sauté pan on medium heat.
- Give the onions a stir, then let them sit for 2-3 minutes at a time before stirring again. This helps to get one side dark and crispy. Add the salt, then stir again.
- Reduce the heat to medium low (or low if your burner cooks hot) and stir every couple of minutes for the first 30 minutes. If the onions stick or look like they’re burning, add a few tablespoons of water or broth as needed to rehydrate the onions and use a spatula to scrape the fond (those lovely browned bits) off the bottom of the pan and back into the onions.
- Repeat this cooking and scraping process for about 45 minutes or until the onions are cooked to your liking. Want them darker? Just cook a little longer. I like a mix of dark and light bits in my caramelized onions and this comes from not over stirring. If you stir them every minute, they’ll be more uniform in color. So darn easy!
How Long Can You Store Caramelized Onions?
Caramelized onions can be stored for several days in the fridge in a sealed container.
More Flavor Enhancing Recipes
Want to boost the flavor in any recipe? Just whip up one of these sauces below.
Easy Caramelized Onions
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp butter, ghee or oil
- 1 tsp salt
- water or broth, as needed
Instructions
- Add the butter or oil and sliced onions to a large pan on medium heat.
- Give them a stir to ensure the onions are all fully coated, then sprinkle on the salt and stir again.
- Reduce the heat to medium low (or low if you have a large burner) and stir the onions every 2-3 minutes, allowing them to caramelize on the bottom in between stirring.
- If the onion start to dry out and stick to the pan, add 1-2 tablespoons of water or broth to deglaze the pan (give it a good scrape) and rehydrate the onions.
- Continue this process of stirring, scraping and deglazing until the onions have cooked for 45 minutes or until they're cooked to your liking.
- Use the caramelized onions on a variety of recipes or store in the fridge for several days.
Lisa’s Tips
- If using butter, make sure you also add at least one tablespoon of oil to increase the smoke point of the butter and prevent the butter from burning.
- I think it’s best to make caramelized onions in a stainless steel or cast iron pan, not a non-stick pan. You want all those dark crispy bits!
Omgee I don’t know if I could ever have onions playin again. This was superbly delicious and so easy. I made this because I wanted to have add some topping for my focaccia. It made it a hit total star of the show.
But now I’m going to include it on almost everything you’re gonna have to stop me from trying to use caramelized onions. Where was this all my life. Thank you Lisa
I loved this recipe! It was delicious and looked lovely too. It was the best caramelized onions i have ever tried!!!
So glad you found a winning caramelized onion recipe! :)
FYI
you have referred to the browned food (see the 4th dot point of “How To Make Caramelized Onions”) as “frond”, this should be “fond”
typo? apologies for my pendantry
Hi Richard- Thanks for noticing! Just changed this :)
How come that in EVERY recipes for caramelized onions (which I ever read) you have to add sugar, except yours? Its so easy and simple and delicious!! I love it and made it so many times. Thank you so much for that! Yesterday I cooked rice (I cook it the turkish way) and I had some caramelized onions left in the fridge. I added it to the cooking rice and it was mindblowing. The rice turned a bit brown and the flavour!!! English is not my mothertongue so unfortunatly its hard for me to explain how amazing and tasty it was!!
Hi Katharina – That’s because you don’t need it! It tastes delicious on it’s own with just a little butter and salt :)
Can the cartelized onions be frozen and used at a later date?
Thank you.
Ilene
Yes, no problem.
Carmelized onions are the perfect topping for so many recipes! We love them on burgers!
Yes, they’re perfect on burgers (I love lettuce wrapped burgers). So much additional flavor!
Hi Lisa – I’d like to have mushrooms as well, do you think I could add them to the same pan or should I cook separately?
Hi Alex – You can probably toss them in towards the end as mushrooms cook pretty fast!
Who knew onions could be so delicious? Thanks so much for sharing this!
And so sweet! ;) You’re more than welcome Tayo. Happy you loved the recipe!
Oh my, these onions look so delicious! I love caramelized onions – it’s such a delicious addition to just about anything!
Agree! And if you make them early in the week you can save them in the fridge and top on anything (and everything). ;)
I agree! There is nothing like caramelized onions atop a great burger. Love your tips on getting the onions to caramelize just perfectly!
I’m glad you found my tips helpful Patty! The perfect golden color always makes me happy. :)
Oh wow! I have made these before but with different ingredients! Yours look so tasty and delicious. Not to mention easy as well. I will put these on my too cook list!!
Yes, I’m all about the simple approach to caramelized onions. There’s really no need to make a fuss with them, just cook them low and slow. :) Hope you enjoy!
Your post mentions a step-by-step tutorial video which could be found below but I cant seem to find the link??
Thank you
Hi Lisa – It seems like the video should be there! Your ad blocker might be on, so if is, make sure to pause it on my site so you can see all the tutorial videos :)
I like to caramelize onions and then add them to my dehydrator. Once they are dry, I store them in a jar. I break them up and use them as salad topping kind of like bacon bits. Everyone loves them.
Omg, I love this idea!! Thanks so much for sharing. I’ll definitely have to do that in the future. Brilliant!
Thank you for demystifying this process. I look very forward to trying this out soon.
You’re more than welcome Amy! I hope you enjoy them!