How you can Sauté Onions

May 15, 2025

2

In simply 10 minutes, you may make tender, completely golden-brown sautéed onions. I’m sharing all of my professional onion chopping and sauté secrets and techniques.

Sautéing onions is an easy however important kitchen ability that’s value mastering. Sautéed onions are quick, straightforward, and immediately add a layer of savory taste to no matter you’ve deliberate. In simply 10 minutes, you get tender, golden brown onions excellent as a facet dish or in sandwiches, dips, and extra.

As with every onion recipe, there’s a candy spot between undercooked and charred onion slivers. My ideas right here could have you properly in your solution to tossing, folding, and piling these sautéed onions onto your entire favourite meals.

Professional Slicing Suggestions

Slicing onions is a type of primary abilities each house cook dinner ought to grasp, if solely as a result of onions present up in so many recipes. For this sautéed onions recipe, I like to chop the onions in a method referred to as French reduce.

This ends in beautiful sliver shapes that look extra engaging than the lengthy strings you get whenever you reduce the opposite approach. Listed below are the straightforward steps:

Slice the ends off your uncooked onions, then reduce them in half. As soon as the ends are eliminated, stand the onion on its flat reduce facet and reduce it down the middle.
Together with your fingers, take away the paper and outer layer of the onions.
Place the onion on its flat facet, then reduce slices following the curve of the onion, from the tip to the basis. For a visible, go to minute 1:40 of my knife abilities video on slicing onions.

Time to Sauté

Whether or not you want a facet or a sandwich element, these fast sautéed onions solely take 10 minutes from begin to end. Listed below are the steps:

Use butter for the most effective taste, however olive oil works too. There’s one thing in regards to the wealthy, savory taste of butter that offers it the sting, however olive oil is sort of pretty much as good!
Preserve the warmth on medium-high. Should you go increased, the sliced onions will burn earlier than they’re tender.
Prepare dinner your onions till browned and tender, about 10 minutes. Style-test towards the top as you add seasoning on your sauteéd onions with black pepper and a pinch of salt. Chances are you’ll discover you wish to go a bit of longer, particularly if you happen to reheat from frozen.

Sautéed Onions vs. Caramelized Onions

So what’s the distinction between these and caramelized onions? Caramelized onions are nice, however more often than not, I do know I don’t have 40 to 50 minutes to spare. (That’s how lengthy it takes for onions to interrupt down below low warmth for that intensely candy taste.)

The onion taste in sautéed onions can also be extra pronounced in comparison with caramelized onions. If caramelized is what you’re after — they’re a should for French onion soup — I’ve tips about each stage in my recipe for caramelized onions. Persist with yellow onions over white onions for each.

High 5-Star Overview

“Thx for the onion slicing video — very useful! Additionally, I actually just like the sauteed onion choice, good taste with much less time–thanks!”

– Marsha M.

Add in Some Balsamic

I point out balsamic as an non-obligatory addition to your onions, however it’s grow to be a should in my kitchen for these and roasted onions. Add 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar about 5 minutes into the sauté. It evaporates, however leaves behind a tangy, candy essence. You can too add a splash of pink wine to infuse complexity into the flavour.

My Favourite Methods to Use Sautéed Onions

Sautéed onions are a simple, flavorful addition to so many alternative dishes. Listed below are a couple of of my favourite methods to make use of them:

Aspect dishes: Add a sprinkle of contemporary herbs like thyme, oregano, or chives and serve them with steak or pasta.
Sautéed veggies: Add mushrooms for a killer facet to steak or vegan dishes, or make traditional sautéed peppers and onions to bump up the sweetness in your bell peppers.
Grilled cheese: Add these onions to your favourite grilled cheese for much more savory taste.
Garnishes and toppings: Serve on prime of your favourite hen or steak to raise the meat’s taste, or add them as a topping on your beef, turkey, or veggie burgers.
Tacos: I really like pickled onions on my tacos, however you’ll be able to strive them sautéed on black bean tacos or vegan carnitas tacos for a candy praise to spicy and smoky fillings.
Crostini: Make home made goat cheese crostini and prime with sautéed onions to steadiness the tangy richness of the cheese.
Onion dip: Chop them finely and use them as a stand-in for caramelized onions in one in all my favourite onion dips.
Skillets: Embrace them in your stir fry or stovetop skillets, that includes your grains, like my farro with mushrooms, or a hearty breakfast skillet.
Omelets or galettes: Add them to a mushroom galette or sneak them right into a goat cheese omelet. (You’ll desire a good non-stick pan for egg-based dishes.)

Dietary Info

This recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free. Make it vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free by choosing olive oil.

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Sauteed Onion

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5 from 2 evaluations

These sautéed onions come out golden brown and tender each time for a simple, savory addition to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Writer: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Prepare dinner Time: 10 minutes
Whole Time: quarter-hour
Yield: 4 servings as a facet
Class: Aspect Dish
Technique: Sauteed
Delicacies: American
Weight loss program: Vegan

Components

3 medium yellow onions (or candy onions)
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter (or 1 tablespoon of every)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Recent floor black pepper
Elective adder: Add 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar with the kosher salt

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Directions

Slice the onions.
In a big sauté pan or massive skillet, warmth the olive oil or butter over medium-high warmth.
Add the onions and cook dinner for 4 minutes, stirring often.
Add the kosher salt and contemporary floor black pepper and cook dinner one other 4 to five minutes, stirring often.
Style to evaluate doneness and add a couple of pinches of salt, to style.

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FAQs

Why do cooks sauté onions and garlic first?

Many cooks sauté onions first as a part of their cooking course of, even earlier than the garlic, to get them all the way down to the appropriate consistency and to launch their pure sugars and aromas. Should you’re cooking with each onions and garlic and wish to toast your garlic, you can begin with the garlic.

You simply wish to make sure you don’t overcook and even burn your garlic. It cooks a lot sooner than onions! Both approach, each are an awesome savory base for dishes that profit from aromatics.

When sautéing onions and bell peppers collectively, ought to one go within the pan first?

I like cooking my peppers and onions collectively to realize an identical degree of char. Prepare dinner them each for 10-12 minutes for crisp-tender veggies or quarter-hour for extra tender veggies.

The opposite choice is beginning with onions to develop their sweetness. Sauté them for a couple of minutes till they start to show translucent, then add bell peppers to retain the feel and colour of each.

How do you cook dinner onions on the grill?

To cook dinner onions on the grill, slice the onions into wedges, leaving the basis ends intact. Toss them with olive oil and salt, and grill over medium-high warmth for a complete of 8-10 minutes till they’re tender, turning them a number of occasions. You’ll need your onions proper on the grill grates.