Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions

Slow cooker caramelized onions – for those times when you don’t want to spend an hour caramelizing them on the stovetop – these cook while you sleep!

I’m head-over-heels in love with caramelized onions. If I’m at a new restaurant and I see a menu item with caramelized onions, there’s a very good chance that’s what I’ll be ordering. They’re like candy, so sweet and flavorful.

But when it comes to making my own caramelized onions, I’m often hindered by the fact that they take a good 45 minutes to an hour to prepare, with some amount of babysitting and monitoring.

My neighbor and I were sitting outside discussing this the other day and we decided I would try making them in the slow cooker. Same idea, right? Low, slow, gradual process.

So I turned on my slow cooker before I went to bed and woke up to the smell of onions. (Possibly one drawback of this method, but I was okay with the smell.)

I also woke up to caramelized onion….soup. Okay so, we’re almost there. One of two things can happen next:

• Continue to cook for 3-5 hours with the lid ajar to evaporate some of the liquid.

OR

• Drain them and be done with it.

I continued to cook my slow cooker caramelized onions for about 5 hours more to achieve a nice thick consistency, almost jam-like. I’m really super happy with the result! They’re not 100% the same, so if you’re a purist, this recipe might not be for you.

I used these onions for baked chimichangas and you can’t tell the difference one bit. They are delicious topping this homemade French onion dip. 

Used in this recipe: 

• 6-qt slow cooker – I have a KitchenAid

Have an abundance of onions?

I love it when onions play a starring role in a recipe, don’t you? Here’s a few more recipes that you might like:

 

• Vidalia onion tart with bacon, kale, and feta
• How to pickle red onions (so easy!)
• Homemade onion soup mix

 

Verdict: I was super happy with how these turned out. I’m not giving up the traditional way of preparing them, but this is a fantastic alternative (especially if you want to make a large batch).
Husband’s take: He had these slow cooker caramelized onions in the baked chimichangas and I heard no complaints. He’s picky about his onions too, so it’s a good test.
Changes I would make: None!
Difficulty: Easy.

PS: Try the caramelized onions in this pumpkin macaroni and cheese!