Caramelizing onions

[baking fool]

When I caramalize onions they don't seem to come out right. Usually when I'm out & I see them they're uniformly brown all the way through but when I do them myself they're more brown on the outside. If I try to cook them more on the inside the outside will go black. What am I doing wrong?

 

[bullseye]

It takes a while to properly caramelize onions. It sounds as though you have too high heat or too little butter. A large batch can take 20ish minutes or more on a medium-low flame. Be sure to salt.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I agree with what bullseye said - it sounds you're trying to rush it and probably cooking your onions at too high a temp. It takes about 20 minutes to do it right - and you need to stir them about every 2-3 minutes or so.

 

[baking fool]

It takes a while to properly caramelize onions. It sounds as though you have too high heat or too little butter. A large batch can take 20ish minutes or more on a medium-low flame. Be sure to salt.

I can believe that; I remember last time I did it there wasn't a lot of butter. I'll remember all that for next time

 

[baking fool]

update: more butter, more patience, less heat did the trick. thx for the tip

 

[Zzinged]

If you have a little spare time... try this method. Take one large onion, peel and wash it. Halve it and slice it up. Spread the onions across a pan of your choice. Place over very very low heat for about 20 mins. Once the onions start to turn translucent, gather all the onions up and push it into a pile at the edge of the pan. Leave over very very very low heat for about 1 hour. Check occasionally, mix the pile around and add a little bit of water if it looks too dry. This gives the best caramelised onions I've ever tried. All natural too with no other added ingredients. By low heat I mean very low :P If you're using a gas stove, don't use the 'low' setting. Instead, turn the nob till it's very close to off.

 

[Guts]

I cut them up, put in crock pot on low stir one time. then put in baggies and freeze till I need them. This makes easy browning. and a good way to use up onions that are going bad. also good for soup.

 

[Laury]

Hey Zzinged - that sounds great. How much butter and salt do you use? I'm dying to try this technique.