Caramelized Yellow Onions w/ Red Wine
Red Wine Caramelized Onions are a great way to use up old wine or to just spice up onions for a sweeter kick for burgers or sandwiches. Today, I made them for Venison Burgers w/ Limburger. Although quiche, pizza, or even jam or chutney are great options. I do a slow and steady version of caramelization. This takes at least 20 minutes. There are quicker versions, but you're going to have more issues with burning or perpetually needing to deglaze. Cooking on a low temperature for longer prevents this much fuss and muss! I also used yellow onions because that's what I had on hand, but you can substitute red onions or shallots for a slightly different flavor profile.
Equipment
- Skillet
- Stovetop
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion sliced or diced
- 1 tbsp. butter or olive oil
- 1/3 c. red wine or balsamic vinegar (I used chianti)
Instructions
- Slice or dice your onions.A lot of people like long, stringy pieces and not having to cry over cutting onions for quite so long. I am not one of them, though! I dice mine as finely as I can muster before I'm crying too bad to see what I'm doing. You can cut them as small or large as you like, though.
- Add all of the ingredients to a sauté pan and simmer on low for about 20 minutes, or until translucent. Make sure to stir occasionally.When you add the wine will determine how sweet they are. You can sauté the onions until translucent before adding the wine. Although adding some sugar up front can help caramelize them faster. I've also been sitting on this bottle of wine for far too long! I don't really like red wine. I just keep it around to do things like this with. So, this wine's pretty much vinegar at this point.Adding everything at once also cuts down on steps. If there's a way to simplify things without compromising on the final product? I'm going to do it!
- Serve immediately or refrigerate. Caramelized onions keep very well in the refrigerator.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- I used yellow onions in this recipe. Although you can do this with any similarly-sized onion of choice.