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Caramelized Onions

By Lora Brody

3.8

(33)

Cooking Time: 12 to 14 hours on LOW
Slow Cooker Size: 4 quart

This recipe made me fall in love with my slow cooker and recognize its potential for dishes other than beef stew and chili. Caramelizing onions in the slow cooker eliminates the possibility of burning them that exists when you cook them on the stove top. An added bonus is the heady broth you end up with, which can be used in other dishes along with the onions.

Use the onions and liquid to flavor soups, stocks, and stews. They make a wonderful addition to risotto, a perfect pasta sauce, and the world's best pizza topping (for this use you will have to drain off the liquid first). The onions can be served on their own as a vegetable to accompany fish, meat, or fowl. Cook a very long time until they are a deep mahogany color.

Notes:

While this recipe calls for Vidalia onions, you can use other sweet onions such as Maui, Walla Walla, or Texas 1015s. If you have a large slow cooker, you can double the onions. It is not necessary to increase the amount of butter.

Don't blanch at the amount of butter called for here. When you drain and chill the onions, the onion-flavored butter will congeal on the surface of the cooking liquid. Skim it and use it when you sauté other vegetables, over pasta, or in risotto.

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