26 Recipes That Prove That Caramelized Onions Make Everything Better

October 05, 2020

Just about any recipe instantly becomes tastier with caramelized onions. Caramelized onions add a subtle sweetness that pairs well with ingredients like beef and pasta. Whether you use them in a soup or a side dish, the onions create a depth of flavor. Recipes like Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Toast and Caramelized Onion & Apple Stuffing are healthy, flavorful and a great way to use this affordable vegetable.

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Six-Onion Soup with Parmesan Croutes

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Sixteen cups of sweet onions may look like a huge amount, but they cook way down to create this very aromatic and warming recipe reminiscent of French onion soup. Parmesan croutes are a lighter topping than the traditional blanket of bread and cheese.

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Caramelized Onion & Apple Stuffing

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Caramelized onions are a sweet and savory addition to this healthy stuffing recipe. Choose an apple that becomes tender yet holds its shape when cooked--try Jonagold or Cortland.

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Caramelized Balsamic Onions

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As these onion halves cook, the balsamic mixture becomes syrupy and caramelizes the onions, giving them a bronzed caramel color and a luscious, rich flavor.

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Seared Steaks with Caramelized Onions & Gorgonzola

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In our humble opinion, steak is best topped with sweet caramelized onions and salty Gorgonzola cheese. We recommend seeking out good-quality Gorgonzola for the best flavor, but any will work. Serve with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed carrots.

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Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Toast

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Sweet caramelized onions and creamy goat cheese team up in this easy yet elegant dish that makes a great appetizer or side with soup or salad.

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French Onion Soup with Portobello Cheese "Toast"

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Roasted portobello mushrooms stuffed with cheese, herbs and breadcrumbs stand in for the traditional Gruyère toast you'd find on top of a crock of French onion soup.

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Caramelized Onions and Cavatelli

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Caramelizing onions in this recipe is the simple process of heating until natural sugars brown and caramelize, giving them an intense, mellow flavor.

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Slow-Cooker Caramelized Onions & Fennel

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These slow-cooker onions are an ideal condiment for burgers, steaks, a grilled chicken breast or sautéed fish. They also make a pleasing addition to a cheese board or topping for Brie. They're best eaten cold or warm, but not hot.

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Caramelized Onions and Potatoes

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Sweetened with brown sugar and slow cooked, these Caramelized Onions and Potatoes make a perfect flavorful side dish.

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Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onion Dip

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Sweet squash gives French onion dip a colorful nutrition boost (namely, vitamins A and E). Serve with chips and crunchy crudités.

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Caramelized Onion & Brussels Sprout Galette

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Serve this vegetarian tart recipe as a main dish or in thinner slices for an appetizer or side dish. Since you'll be pleating the dough to create a rustic look, buy ready-to-roll pie crusts rather than prepared pie shells--you'll find them in the dairy section of your market with other ready-to-bake items or near the frozen desserts.

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Caramelized Onion Flatbreads

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Fresh from the skillet, these flatbreads are perfumed with intense sweet caramelized onions. They're wonderful dipped into a little soup or to serve alongside a saucy curry. They're quite simple to make--to speed up the process use two skillets or a griddle so you can cook twice as many at once.

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Caramelized Onion Lasagna

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This unusual lasagna with portobello mushrooms, sweet onions, spinach and Gorgonzola cheese has a rich, complex flavor. It's also great with goat cheese instead of Gorgonzola, if you prefer.

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Slow-Cooker French Onion Soup with Gruyère Toasts

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Fans of French onion soup who love it for its caramelized onions, beefy broth and cheesy toast topping won't be disappointed with this recipe, which offers all those elements plus a hands-on time of only 20 minutes.

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Broccoli with Caramelized Onions & Pine Nuts

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Broccoli's impressive nutritional profile (think folate, vitamins C and A, fiber, phytochemicals) puts it high on the list of foods to eat more of, an inviting task when you toss it with crunchy pine nuts, soft, sweet onions and tangy balsamic vinegar.

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Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

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Traditional pulled pork is barbecued, which gives it a smoky flavor. But the slow cooker happens to be the absolute easiest way to cook pulled pork--and you can get a hint of smoke by adding chipotle chile. Serve the pulled pork with potato salad, collard greens and grits. Or make it into a sandwich and serve it on a bun with coleslaw.

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Caramelized Onion, Olive & Anchovy Socca

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Socca (pronounced SO-kah) is a thin chickpea crêpe popular in Italian and French towns along the Ligurian Sea (it's called farinata in Italy). In this healthy recipe, the socca is like a cross between a pissalidière and a gluten-free, anchovy-topped pizza.

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Coffee-Braised Pot Roast with Caramelized Onions

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This recipe is reminiscent of a pot roast made with onion-soup mix, but the flavors are true and pure--and nobody misses the excess sodium. (For a slow-cooker variation, see below.)

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Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Rolls

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Store-bought pizza dough is the time-saving secret to making this homemade dinner roll recipe in your muffin tin in under an hour.

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Red Lentil & Caramelized Onion Soup

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Fresh lime juice balances out the creamy, mellow sweetness of this pureed lentil and carrot soup. Caramelized onions, crisp snow peas, cilantro and sliced hard-boiled eggs are a flavorful and beautiful topping. Serve with warm whole-wheat naan or roti bread.

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Mashed Squash with Caramelized Onions

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A touch of sherry vinegar brightens up this healthy mashed squash recipe. Buttercup squash will give it a bright orange color but any 3-pound winter squash, such as butternut or acorn, can be used in its place.

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French Onion Beef Tenderloin

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We took the comforting flavors of French onion soup and turned them into an easy bistro-style steak dinner. Tender filet mignon gets smothered with sweet caramelized onions and topped by a crispy, Swiss cheese–covered crostini. To double this recipe use 2 large skillets and prepare one 4-serving recipe in each. Serve with green beans and mashed potatoes with buttermilk and chives.

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Romaine Wedges with Sardines & Caramelized Onions

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Don't be afraid of the sardines in this healthy wedge salad recipe. Sardines are extremely nutritious, and are a perfect match for winter greens. In this healthy wedge salad recipe we've made little boats out of hearts of romaine lettuce and filled them with savory sardines, sweet caramelized onions, juicy cherry tomatoes and creamy dressing.

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Beans and Caramelized Onions

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No more boring beans! In this recipe, the familiar green bean takes on an exciting new flavor. Onions, sugar, and balsamic vinegar coat the beans in a sweet, but tangy sauce.

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Seared Steak with Caramelized Onion & Blue Cheese Sauce

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It only takes one skillet to make this restaurant-worthy pan-seared steak recipe with creamy caramelized onion and blue cheese sauce.

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Caramelized Onion & White Bean Flatbread

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Here we top pizza with herbed mashed beans, sliced plum tomatoes, sweet caramelized onions and some shredded Gouda for a tasty flatbread that will have you rethinking pizza toppings.

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