How to Make Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions

With their deep color and they’re surprisingly sweet and appealing taste, you really need to know how to make slow cooker caramelized onions!

I distinctly remember the first time I tried onions. My brothers and I were spending the summer at my grandparents house in Mississippi and, like a lot of nights, we were gathered around their large table eating supper. Like any self-respecting southern woman, Granny had prepared cornbread. I remember Gramps using his to scoop up onions; I turned my nose up at the combo.

He gave me the same response I’ve now given my own children a few hundred thousand times: “How do you know you don’t like it if you’ve never tried it?” I wasn’t a particularly adventurous eater as a kid (okay, fine, I was ridiculously picky), but for some reason I grabbed myself a serving of diced onions and ate a bite. Yup, just onion. No cornbread. I was surprised to discover I actually liked them.

It wasn’t until years later, though, that I first tried caramelized onions. They’re surprisingly sweet and mild, the opposite of the sometimes harshness onions are known for. That unexpected flavor is the perfect way to win over the onion haters in your life.

Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions

Ingredients

4 onions
2 tbs olive oil or melted butter
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cut each onion into quarters and then cut each quarter into slices. Place the sliced onions in the slow cooker, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Gently toss the onions to distribute the oil. Cook the onions on low, with the lid on, for 8-10 hours, until onions are dark brown.

Notes

• You can use as few or as many onions as you’d like, but your slow cooker is going to work best when it’s about 3/4 full. When I cook only two onions in my 4-quart crock pot, they usually take around 13 hours to reach the color in these photos.
• True caramelized onions should be very dark in color, as pictured in this post. However, you feel free to cook yours for the time and to the color that you prefer.

What to use caramelized onions for? Make this dip or this grilled cheese!

Like this? Check out 5 Foods You Should Be Making at Home.

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