How to quickly caramelize onion (without baking soda)
Learn how to make quick caramelized onion (no baking soda) in less than 20 minutes! Easy and vegan-friendly recipe with only 3 ingredients (onion, oil, and brown sugar)!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 to 2 large onion, sliced pole to pole (about the thickness of a pencil)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of oil (or butter)
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- Pinch of salt (optional)
Instructions
- On a large non-stick skillet, add the sliced onion without adding any oil and turn on the heat.
- Cook the onion without stirring for 3 to 4 minutes on medium-high heat until they are lightly brown in color.
- Stir occasionally and continue to cook onion until the onion pieces are sticking to the pan, about 7 minutes.
- Add the oil to the pan and sprinkle brown sugar on top of the caramelized onion.
- Continue to caramelize the onion with frequent stirring until it's deep rich brown in color.
- Remove from heat and add a pinch of salt if desired.
Notes
- It is very important to start cooking the sliced onion without any oil or salt in the pan. Just heating onion in the pan is what quickly caramelizes the onion.
- I recommend slicing the onion pole to pole.
- If you cut your onion thinner, it will caramelize quicker.
- Please refer to the tip section above for more helpful tips.
