the instapot magic of caramelized onions
the secret to every good dinner is in the onions
Onions are the difference between a glob of ingredients and a meal. A caramelized onion—just some oil, a little salt and anything in the onion family—is a thing of beauty. They give a meaty flavor to tacos, a sweetness to tomato sauce. They take almost no active cooking time and they last for about a week in the fridge.
At our house we call them “vegan caviar.”
Caramelized onions
Onions - literally as many onions as you can chop
Oil - neutral flavored
Salt - just a pinch for each onion
Cooking times:
15 Minutes = Blonde Onions
30 Minutes = Browned Onions
45-90 Minutes = Caramelized Onions
Here I cooked them on a new pan from a company that should absolutely sponsor me.
Every recipe lies about the onions. Mirepoix, sofrito, the weekly NYT recipe—even those startup meal kits with the sunny, domain-available names—all lie to you for no reason about how long onions cook. “Caramelize the onions—five minutes, at least.”
A friend turned me onto The Big Onion Lie in 2019 and it made lockdown that much easier.
The article by Tom Scocca digs into the recipe treachery of pretending caramelized onions are quick at all.
As long as I’ve been cooking, I’ve been reading various versions of this lie, over and over. Here’s Madhur Jaffrey, from her otherwise reliable Indian Cooking, explaining how to do the onions for rogan josh: “Stir and fry for about 5 minutes or until the onions turn a medium-brown colour.” The Boston Globe, on preparing pearl onions for coq au vin: “Add the onions and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until golden.” The Washington Post, on potato-green bean soup: “Add the onion and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.”
When I got to my thirties I realized I had made other people’s meals for half my life and never quite learned how to make dinner at home. I told myself that I had family meal at work and then a dinner out on my night off (for, like, research purposes?). Yes, every dish I knew required slow-cooked onions. But did I need to start over every night?
In this weather you don’t want to have to invent a new recipe every night. Sometimes caramelized onions on toasted bread are the entire meal. Sometimes they just get you 45 minutes closer to eating dinner.
Lately I’ve been making a big batch when I have time and spooning them out when needed.
Summer Instapot Caramelized Onions
Onions - literally as many onions as you can chop
Oil - neutral flavored
Salt - just a pinch for each onion
Preparation:
Set Instapot to “Sauté.”
cut onions in big onion-ring sized chunks
add onions to the sautéing instapot as you slice them, until you fill the pot
Set Instapot to “Slow Cook”
15 Minutes = Blonde Onions
30 Minutes = Browned Onions
45-90 Minutes = Caramelized Onions
Currently my favorite time is 60 minutes. That gives a mocha-brown onion with a bit of aldente cellulose for the right kind of bite.
I started buying the 10 pound bag of onions at Costco. They fill a large Le Creuset pot. I start them on the stove top while slicing and them put them in the oven at 350 for about 3 hours. Divide them up into zip locks or plastic containers they’ll pop out of easily and freeze. You can slice off the amount you need and save time and mess when throwing together a meal.