Why do my caramelized onions always end up like this?
I swear I’m on 10 about this. Why. Does. This. Always. Happen. Why. I have them on low heat, I stir them, I put oil in the pan and yet without fail they cook unevenly. Someone please help.
by ka002
34 Comments
taco_bandito_96
Not nearly enough onions. I’m not being a dick i literally mean it. The extra moisture and volume keeps them from burning
shadybrainfarm
Cook them in some broth or wine, make sure they are cut evenly.
jessmaddy
Evenly sized pieces might help a bit too.
Pizza_For_Days
You could just have a super powerful stove honestly on top of not having a ton of volume of onions in a large pot.
I’d try a smaller pan/pot for that amount. One tip I’ve been doing lately is to cover with a lid and put in a splash of water to create steam. The extra moisture wilts the onions evenly and faster along with letting them caramelize quicker if you keep the heat low. It would also help them not to brown so quickly.
If you find its still too hot on low, I’d take it off the burner and let it cook in the natural heat of the pan for a bit than put it back on the stove for some more heat while keeping an eye on them to make sure they’re not browning too much.
CombinationNo5828
i’m guessing it’s not low and slow enough and depending on the destination, baking soda helps
epidemicsaints
You need a shallow pan, and you are probably moving them too much. You need a lot more onions. They shrink down to like a quarter by the end.
Even layer, and stir when there is browning. I deglaze with splashes of water when the pan gets really brown, it dissolves all the browning and puts it back on the onions, and cuts the time in half. Water or wine is the big cheat. Need to walk away? Add water. Stuck to the pan? Add water. Got too brown? Add water. Just enough to basically boil off immediately, about the size of one normal swig.
Ambystomatigrinum
More onions, less heat, add a tiny bit of liquid if things are browning and sticking instead of caramelizing.
Successful-Basil-685
If they come out uneven, it’s because you’re not watching. Any time you sauté anything you should be stirring, moving the pan off the heat with your other hand, tilting, getting a little wrist shifting.
Also more oil will keep it from burning, and cooking at a lower temp. But keep it moving unless you *want* to crisp something.
I normally like my ground beef and corned beef hash to get crispy.
j12340987
more onions, lower heat & cover while they’re cooking. sometimes a little extra fat (oil, clarified butter etc) can also help with a more even cook. i’m sure you did this but a sprinkle of salt will help draw more moisture out as well
BeginningBus9696
Should take about 7.5 hours to do it correctly, likely need to lower the heat and cook longer. It’s a marathon, not a race
Jmar7688
Gonna sound crazy but try adding a small amount of water, it will help the onions cook evenly, and just read add a bit of water when it evaporates off and the onions start drying out
WiseSpunion
More onions and add all sorts of things along the way (beer, wine, butter, stock, bourbon, water, meat). I make french onion probably every two weeks starting now until early spring. You got to add more onions and a medium
AcanthisittaSea5422
Did you put a lid on
Greymeade
A few problems that are visible from the image:
1. Your onions aren’t cut evenly. We can see that the more thinly sliced pieces have caramelized nicely, while the larger ones have not. If you cut them all the same size, you’ll have more consistency.
2. You don’t have enough onion in the pan. As others have said, caramelizing onions is much easier when you’re working with more onions.
Not enough onions, not enough consistency in size of slices, not enough moisture, too high heat.
jointdestroyer
Maybe cook on lower heat
& if you’re using butter maybe try using some olive oil
fancychxn
What are you cooking that requires such a tiny amount of caramelized onions? If you’re gonna go through the trouble, buy a 5 lb bag of onions (or two) and cook all of them down. The extra volume and moisture will help them cook more evenly. Any extra at the end, just save in the fridge or freezer.
mslashandrajohnson
I think others who said too few onions are correct, but that pan’s sides look too tall.
For sautéing, use a much flatter pan. I tend to salt the onions, to encourage loss of moisture.
I’m afraid that tall pan is holding moisture above the onions, preventing them from drying out.
workswithidiots
CARAMELized
Yzarcos
Yeah definitely not enough onions. I just made soup yesterday and loaatthhe caramelizing, but for me it never worked with a small amount of onions. This was always the result. A side question: if I wanted to have the onions just to have, would it benefit flavor to deglaze with wine before storing? Is that what you normally do for just caramelized onions? I’ve only ever done it for soup.
TheDarkKnight003
I put a little oil at the bottom if there isn’t enough onion but the more onion the better as always
FriiSpirit
Uneven slices, try to slice them all the same thickness so the thin ones aren’t burning while he thick are still undercooked
notyourmomslover
Salt them. Draw that water out. More onions will def do the trick but I have made caramelized onions with half an onion in that size pan. Keep them moving as well. You can also add some water and steam them a bit to soften then keep stirring.
Sufficient_Ball9586
My first rec will always be to preheat the pan well, and dry sear the onions without oil added until some caramelization has started to occur; but do add some salt to help sweat the onions. From your pic, i see various slice sizes; I think you could cut your onion up more evenly to help mor evenly cook it.
But hey, as a home cook, this still looks really good and personally I wouldn’t ‘sweat’ it. Gimme that pot as is plz
Coming back to say; if you are only doing a small batch, you will also need to compensate with more stirring! Another reply explains why! But large batches can certainly be “left to burn” in between stirs
Erafir
More onions and sneak some water in while they cook.
lTSONLYAGAME
Low and slow, low and slow (and more onions)
stompANDsmash
Needs more moisture
Tortuga_cycling
Heats is too high. Also onions will continue to cook down until they burn so you should always use at least double
VivaltusVertuo
looks like you dont deglase it properly
RTZLSS12
You don’t need to make them in a Dutch oven unless you’re making a bulk batch. Temp control on those can be tricky
ClintonPudar
It’s hard to cook them evenly. You may do better in the oven so there is some hot air around it. You can also try cutting the pieces a little thicker so they don’t burn so easily. I find I am shooting for an acceptable range of doneness rather than 100% consistency.
34 Comments
Not nearly enough onions. I’m not being a dick i literally mean it. The extra moisture and volume keeps them from burning
Cook them in some broth or wine, make sure they are cut evenly.
Evenly sized pieces might help a bit too.
You could just have a super powerful stove honestly on top of not having a ton of volume of onions in a large pot.
I’d try a smaller pan/pot for that amount. One tip I’ve been doing lately is to cover with a lid and put in a splash of water to create steam. The extra moisture wilts the onions evenly and faster along with letting them caramelize quicker if you keep the heat low. It would also help them not to brown so quickly.
If you find its still too hot on low, I’d take it off the burner and let it cook in the natural heat of the pan for a bit than put it back on the stove for some more heat while keeping an eye on them to make sure they’re not browning too much.
i’m guessing it’s not low and slow enough and depending on the destination, baking soda helps
You need a shallow pan, and you are probably moving them too much. You need a lot more onions. They shrink down to like a quarter by the end.
Even layer, and stir when there is browning. I deglaze with splashes of water when the pan gets really brown, it dissolves all the browning and puts it back on the onions, and cuts the time in half. Water or wine is the big cheat. Need to walk away? Add water. Stuck to the pan? Add water. Got too brown? Add water. Just enough to basically boil off immediately, about the size of one normal swig.
More onions, less heat, add a tiny bit of liquid if things are browning and sticking instead of caramelizing.
If they come out uneven, it’s because you’re not watching. Any time you sauté anything you should be stirring, moving the pan off the heat with your other hand, tilting, getting a little wrist shifting.
Also more oil will keep it from burning, and cooking at a lower temp. But keep it moving unless you *want* to crisp something.
I normally like my ground beef and corned beef hash to get crispy.
more onions, lower heat & cover while they’re cooking. sometimes a little extra fat (oil, clarified butter etc) can also help with a more even cook. i’m sure you did this but a sprinkle of salt will help draw more moisture out as well
Should take about 7.5 hours to do it correctly, likely need to lower the heat and cook longer. It’s a marathon, not a race
Gonna sound crazy but try adding a small amount of water, it will help the onions cook evenly, and just read add a bit of water when it evaporates off and the onions start drying out
More onions and add all sorts of things along the way (beer, wine, butter, stock, bourbon, water, meat). I make french onion probably every two weeks starting now until early spring. You got to add more onions and a medium
Did you put a lid on
A few problems that are visible from the image:
1. Your onions aren’t cut evenly. We can see that the more thinly sliced pieces have caramelized nicely, while the larger ones have not. If you cut them all the same size, you’ll have more consistency.
2. You don’t have enough onion in the pan. As others have said, caramelizing onions is much easier when you’re working with more onions.
not enough water and they’re burning. too high temp also. check this out. adding water is one way
https://youtube.com/shorts/ImzHlWdalhc?
Temp too high, not uniform cuts
Not enough onions, not enough consistency in size of slices, not enough moisture, too high heat.
Maybe cook on lower heat
& if you’re using butter maybe try using some olive oil
What are you cooking that requires such a tiny amount of caramelized onions? If you’re gonna go through the trouble, buy a 5 lb bag of onions (or two) and cook all of them down. The extra volume and moisture will help them cook more evenly. Any extra at the end, just save in the fridge or freezer.
I think others who said too few onions are correct, but that pan’s sides look too tall.
For sautéing, use a much flatter pan. I tend to salt the onions, to encourage loss of moisture.
I’m afraid that tall pan is holding moisture above the onions, preventing them from drying out.
CARAMELized
Yeah definitely not enough onions. I just made soup yesterday and loaatthhe caramelizing, but for me it never worked with a small amount of onions. This was always the result. A side question: if I wanted to have the onions just to have, would it benefit flavor to deglaze with wine before storing? Is that what you normally do for just caramelized onions? I’ve only ever done it for soup.
I put a little oil at the bottom if there isn’t enough onion but the more onion the better as always
Uneven slices, try to slice them all the same thickness so the thin ones aren’t burning while he thick are still undercooked
Salt them. Draw that water out. More onions will def do the trick but I have made caramelized onions with half an onion in that size pan. Keep them moving as well. You can also add some water and steam them a bit to soften then keep stirring.
My first rec will always be to preheat the pan well, and dry sear the onions without oil added until some caramelization has started to occur; but do add some salt to help sweat the onions.
From your pic, i see various slice sizes; I think you could cut your onion up more evenly to help mor evenly cook it.
But hey, as a home cook, this still looks really good and personally I wouldn’t ‘sweat’ it. Gimme that pot as is plz
Coming back to say; if you are only doing a small batch, you will also need to compensate with more stirring! Another reply explains why! But large batches can certainly be “left to burn” in between stirs
More onions and sneak some water in while they cook.
Low and slow, low and slow (and more onions)
Needs more moisture
Heats is too high. Also onions will continue to cook down until they burn so you should always use at least double
looks like you dont deglase it properly
You don’t need to make them in a Dutch oven unless you’re making a bulk batch. Temp control on those can be tricky
It’s hard to cook them evenly. You may do better in the oven so there is some hot air around it. You can also try cutting the pieces a little thicker so they don’t burn so easily. I find I am shooting for an acceptable range of doneness rather than 100% consistency.
I can’t find a single problem with this.