Melted Onions Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

How do you melt onions? ›

Melt the butter in the stockpot over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions. Keep your eye on the onions and stir often at the beginning to allow all the slices to have contact with the bottom of the pot so they start to release their liquid. In about 45 minutes they should have released a good amount of liquid.

We love caramelized onions for their deep, savory-sweet flavor. Try them atop sandwiches, tossed into salads, baked in tarts, and more in these recipes.

Onions lose their bite and melt in your mouth when they're sliced and roasted with butter and fresh herbs and then tenderized further by braising in broth. Serve alongside roasted chicken or cook them in vegetable broth for an easy, elegant vegetarian side dish.

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.

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.

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.

Submerge Them in Cold Water

Soak them for at least 15 minutes (longer is even more beneficial), properly drain, and eat away! Submerging them in cold water takes away that intense, sharp bite from the raw onion. The cold water helps the enzyme that causes onions to have their pungent flavor to leach out.

Sweet Onions – Walla Walla and Vidalia are the most common kinds of sweet onions. These onions lack the sharp, astringent taste of other onions and really do taste sweet.

What is the best way to soften onions? ›

To soften the taste of raw onions, slice them thinly or cut them into larger chunks and soak them in very cold water for about 15 minutes. This will soften the taste, making them ideally suited for a salad.

Instead of spending 15 minutes trying to soften onions in a pan (only to scorch them!), try this microwave method. Pop chopped or sliced onions in a bowl, add a spoonful of water, cover with a plate and microwave on high for 3-4min. Carefully remove (the bowl will be very hot) and uncover.

Yes, you can cook onions in the microwave without any oil or butter. Onions naturally contain a high water content, so they will steam and cook in their own moisture. This method is a healthier option and can still yield deliciously cooked onions.

Slice the onions to about ½ inch thick, try to make them the same size so they cook evenly. Melt 4 TBS butter in a pot over medium heat and add the sliced onions. Cover partially and let them simmer, soften, and reduce for about 25 minutes. Stir every few minutes and reduce heat if they start cooking too quickly.