Onions, especially the “sweet” varieties, are full of natural sugars. Cooking them slowly over an extended period of time draws out those sugars and basically turns them to caramel. The result is an amazingly flavorful, sweet, onion that you can’t get any other way. Caramelized onions are fantastic on burgers, pizza, topping a grilled steak, added to dips, and more. In fact- oh my gosh I can’t believe I haven’t posted one of my most favorite dips of all time. Writing that out just gave me a flashback! Okay, that’s coming soon. Back to the subject at hand- let’s do it.

Ingredient Notes

Onions – You can caramelize any onion variety, but the sweet ones are especially fantastic: Walla Walla, Mayan, Texas Sweet, Oso Sweet, Vidalia, Mayan Sweet, Maui, etc. Keep in mind that the onions will greatly reduce in size as they cook. I usually estimate a half an onion per person if I’m topping a burger or steak. They’ll shrink to about half of the original volume.

Instructions

Start by slicing your onions. They can be thicker or thinner, it’s just important that they’re a uniform size so they cook evenly.

Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat. You’ll want a pan large enough that your onions can spread out and have contact with the bottom of the pan. I like to use a combo of butter and olive oil. I use about 1/2 – 1 tablespoon (of butter and olive oil combined) per onion. Add the butter and oil to the pan and let the butter melt. It should melt and sizzle a bit, but you don’t want your butter to brown so if that happens, your pan is too hot.

Add your sliced onions and toss them around so they’re all nicely coated with the oil/butter mixture. They should sizzle a bit.

At this point you may want to turn your pan down a little. The trick to caramelizing onions is doing it low and slow. It definitely takes patience. You don’t want them to burn or get brown right off the bat. I add a sprinkle of kosher salt at this point. The onions should slowly soften. This is after about 5-10 minutes:

You need to stir them every few minutes so they cook evenly and don’t burn. After 10-20 minutes they should be quite soft and starting to become golden. Add extra butter or oil as you go if needed so they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan:

After 20-30 the brown color increases, but don’t stop yet! I think sometimes people stop too early. you want them to be a rich amber color, these ones below aren’t ready yet. If you want to enhance the sweetness even more, add a little sprinkle of sugar at this point. Either brown or white will work and it does wonders for the flavor!

This is more like it. And I could have even cooked these for a bit longer if I wasn’t so impatient. They should be incredibly soft, sweet, and golden brown. Also, they should taste amazing. Check, check, and check.

Serving Suggestions

I put this batch on a chicken burger, which was delicious! They are perfect for burgers, wraps, on steak, in dips, etc. Here are a few Our Best Bites favorites with caramelized onions:

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make these ahead of time? It kind of depends what you’re using your onions for. Used as a topping, they are probably best made fresh. If you are using them in something like a dip, or on a pizza that’s going in the oven, you could certainly make them ahead of time and just pop them in the fridge until ready to use!

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