Balsamic Caramelized Onions | The Best Caramelized Onions Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to caramelize onions? ›

As soon as the onions start sticking to the pan, let them stick a little and brown, but then stir them before they burn. The trick is to leave them alone enough to brown (if you stir them too often, they won't brown), but not so long so that they burn.

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.

I usually stick with balsamic vinegar because the flavor complements the onions perfectly. Not only will deglazing pull up tasty sticky bits, it will add even more flavor to your caramelized onions. Continue stirring the onions until they have reached the color you like.

Add the sugar and vinegar to give them a sweet, slightly sharp chutney flavour. Keep cooking on a low heat for another 5 mins, stirring occasionally until the mix is sticky, the sugar has dissolved and the vinegar has reduced. The onions are now ready to serve, or use in a recipe.

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.

Brown sugar is simply cane sugar with molasses added to it. Therefore, you are adding even MORE sugar, and more brown color, to your onions. Thus the caramelization is so much better and faster! If you don't have brown sugar, feel free to use regular cane sugar or even panela when caramelising onions.

No! Onions already contain natural sugars, which is why they're so perfect for caramelizing. This process brings out those sugars to make them more prominent. Adding more sugar would make them too sweet and mess with the flavor.

You definitely want the flavor of butter in your onions—but butter has the tendency to burn. For insurance, use a combination of butter and oil, which has a higher smoking point. But how much do you use? Depending on the consistency you want your onions, you can use more or less fat.

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.

Unlike mushrooms, which shouldn't be salted until after they've browned, you should always salt onions before you start cooking them. Onions won't begin to caramelize until all the water in them has evaporated, and using salt will speed up that process, Caicedo explains.

How often should I stir caramelized onions? ›

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.

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.

You don't need the balsamic vinegar, which is only there to add some flavour. The caramelization — the browning of the sugar in the onions — will take place just fine without the vinegar. Apparently you can make them with honey. Onions caramelize because they contain sugar.

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.

Why are my caramelized onions bitter? It's likely you are cooking them too fast/on too high a heat, which results in burned, not caramalized, onions. The trick to caramelizing onions is low heat and slow cooking. It can take a while, especially if you start with a big batch.

If you need to caramelize onions quickly, adding sugar or a pinch of baking soda (to raise the pH level and help them brown quicker) can help to speed up the caramelization process but truly they aren't a dish that cooks up quickly. If using baking soda I'd suggest about 1/4 tsp per pound of raw onions.

Stirring the onions and scraping down the sides of the pan often to ensure no strand darkens faster than another is key. A heatproof rubber spatula is the tool for this job; it's stiff enough to scrape the bottom of the pan and flexible enough to clean the sides.

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.

So using baking soda will speed up the process. But you have to be careful. If you add too much, it will impact the flavor. Different recipes recommend anywhere from ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon per pound of onions (aka about 3 large onions).