If you’ve never caramelized onions before, consider this a strong urge to give it a try. If you have, you know that this is where the magic happens. Finishing off with a touch of smoky bourbon is just the cherry on top!
Five pounds sounds like a lot of onions. That’s because it really is a lot of uncooked onion. A night in the slow cooker reduces onions to less than half of their original volume, leaving you with about four cups. I portion one cup into four plastic bags and freeze them flat so they’re ready to defrost and use as needed.
Slow cooker caramelized onions will be softer and have less bite than stovetop caramelized onions because the lid traps extra liquid. This doesn’t really matter if you’re using the onions in soup or finely dicing them, but you can always give them a quick sear in a skillet to reheat them and remove excess moisture.
Tossing in a pinch of salt before using the caramelized onions really brings out their sweetness. It’s better to salt the onions as you use them rather then salting the entire batch during cooking, so you can omit it in case your dish is already a little on the salty side.
This couldn’t be easier to throw together! Just slice up a bag of onions, leave them overnight, and enjoy the flavor boost for everything you add them in.
Slow Cooker Bourbon Caramelized Onions
Ingredients
- 5 lb. yellow onions
- 1/4 cup butter sliced
- 1/4 cup bourbon
Instructions
- Peel onions, cut in half pole-to-pole, and slice thinly.
- Transfer onions to slow cooker and top with butter and bourbon.
- Cook on low for 12 hours, until dark brown.
Leave a Reply