How to Caramelise Onions (No Sugar) - Eat Like An Adult (2024)

In this post I’m going to show you how to caramelise onions the healthy way – with no sugar.

I like to do this once a week to set myself up with the most delicious caramelised onions that are sweet, sticky and have a depth of flavour I LOVE.

Let’s get into it.

Caramelised onions are truly worth the time. They’re so good on steaks, sausages, in soups, stew and of course burgers. They’ll keep in a sealed container in the fridge for a week, no problem.

Oh, and to treat yourself do a rocket (arugula) goat cheese salad on sourdough bread and top with these caramelised onions.

Just thinking about that makes me want to get in the kitchen 🙂

if that’s not enough, these caramelised onions can be the start of an incredible french onion soup.

Oh, they are fantastic in this in place of the balsamic caramelised onions.

A few pointers before we get started:

• Brown/yellow onions will give you the best caramelised onions. You’ll get beautiful sweet caramelised onions, even without sugar.
• Slice the onions in half, root to top. Remove the skin and the first layer, to get to the freshest layer.
• Then slice the onions again root to top. Alternatively use a food processor with julienne blade to speed up the process.
• Low and slow is really key. It should take 30 to 50 minutes. Better to start off too low with the heat because if you go too high too soon, it’s makes it much more difficult to get a successful batch.
• If you’re working at too low of a temperature you won’t get any browning. If that’s the case, turn it up until you do.
• Leave for 1 to 3 mins at a time between stirring.
• Get a large sauté pan so the onions can move around.
• Salt will draw out the moisture and help soften the onions.
• Stages of development are soft -> juicy – browning -> caramelised.
• Add some balsamic vinegar right at the end.
• You’ll see some people add sugar to the recipe, which is done to speed it up. Doing this is caramelising the sugar, not the onion. The onions get plenty sweet enough on their own if you take your time with it. From a health perspective it’s much better not to add extra sugar.

Caramelised Onions Recipe

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Can Your Freeze Caramelised Onions?

You can definitely freeze caramelised onions. They’re a wonderful thing to have on hand to add to burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, soups, stews and braised meats.

Related: 9 Impressive Health Benefits of Onions