Tennessee Onions Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Which onions are best for cooking? ›

Yellow Onions: The general cooking onion. Usually relatively cheap and plentiful, they're the go-to onion when cooks get cooking. The flavour is strong but mild, with an onion flavour that isn't overpowering. They often have a bit of sweetness to them, they caramelize nicely and they hold up well when cooked.

Keep them in the fridge all week and add them to your meats, or pizzas, or casseroles. Make an Onion Soup out of them. Take a couple and pickle them to add to other foods, such as tacos, burgers and salads. And, you CAN freeze them for up to six months.

Red onions are sweeter and great for eating raw or in salads. Yellow onions are not as sweet and are more often used in cooking. There are also white skinned onions that are great eaten raw and in salads.

You can caramelize any kind of onion, but yellow or Spanish onions tend to offer the most balanced-sweet-savory flavor profile and are the most versatile for different dishes. Sweet onions, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla work too, but keep in mind that their flavor will become even sweeter once caramelized.

Since slicing and dicing releases the odor and flavor, the more finely you chop an onion, the more flavorful it will be. On the other hand, a process like boiling an onion will break down the enzymes that spur the chemical reactions creating a less pungent flavor. Different levels of heat can control levels of flavor.

Then you just have to wait long enough for the vinegar to do its job, rinsing away the harsh sulfurous compounds, softening the onion, and giving it a pleasantly tart pop of flavor. If you use red wine vinegar, my personal favorite, the onions also turn an amazing hot-pink color.

Eating onions, especially raw onions, can have a few side effects, including: Gas and bloating. The same substances in onions that feed the healthy bacteria in your gut can be hard for some people to tolerate. Onions are among foods that sometimes cause trouble for people with irritable bowel syndrome.

Whole onions and shallots are best stored in a cool, dry, dark and well-ventilated room. Ideal places include the pantry, cellar, basem*nt or garage. Peeled onions can be stored in the fridge for 10–14 days, while sliced or cut onions can be refrigerated for 7–10 days.

Onions are a natural source of prebiotics, which are necessary for optimal gut health. Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers that serve as food for the beneficial gut bacteria, promoting their growth and encouraging a balanced gut flora.

While you can start the cooking process at medium heat, low and slow is the name of the game when it comes to caramelizing onions. Once your onions begin to soften and take on a golden hue, you'll want to reduce the heat from medium to medium-low or even low for the remainder of the cooking process.

What is the trick to caramelizing onions quickly? ›

Our Test Kitchen likes to use butter when caramelizing onions, as it offers the richest flavor. If you avoid dairy or don't have butter, you can caramelize onions in other fat such as margarine or olive oil. Add the onion slices. It's okay if they overlap a bit here because they'll shrink as they cook down.

Bottom line. So, is a yellow onion better than a white onion, or vice versa? Both yellow and white onions have a place in your kitchen and can be used interchangeably in a pinch. But generally, use yellow onions in cooked dishes and white onions in raw preparations.

Yellow Onions

They're severe when raw but mellow when sautéed, roasted, or caramelized. Because they have a relatively high starch content, they won't dissolve to mush even after long cook-times, which makes them a great all-purpose cooking onion.

Here's our rule of thumb: use white onions raw, yellow onions for cooking and red onions for pickling or grilling.

For salads, salsas, and anything raw preparations, we recommend red onions because of their color and mild flavor. But if it's for cooking and adding flavor to dishes, yellow onion is the perfect choice because of its sweet flavor. In fact, it gets sweeter when cooked for longer.