Classic Oven Roasted Onions

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At Our Southern Odyssey we cannot get enough of our Classic Oven Roasted Onions.  Sliced roasted onions have a soft mellow sweet flavor that goes well with meat dishes.  We love to top our steaks: filet mignon, flat iron, sirloin, ribeye, and hamburger steak, with these tender light golden brown roasted onions that melt in your mouth.  They really do elevate any red meat dish.  

The four most common onions that we use in our house are: sweet onions (Vidalia), yellow onions, red onions and finally white onions.  Yellow onions are the best as well as the most popular option used in cooking.  Basically the yellow onion is an all-purpose onion.  Did you know that onions are the most widely used food in cooking?  That makes a lot of sense and I can see that as being true.  Just thinking about all the dishes that we prepare, over half of these dishes contain onions.  

When onions are raw they have a sharp heat to them and their texture is crisp and crunchy.  Raw onions also have a very noticeable smell to them that can bring the most unemotional person to tears.  However, when onions are cooked the sugars that are hidden in the raw onions began to breakdown exposing the sweetness of the onions.  Whether the onions are cooked on the stovetop or the oven, it is the heat that brings out the sweetness and caramelizes the onions.

This might be hard to believe, it is for us.  Until recently we had never roasted onions in the oven before.  Basically, what happened was we had purchased several bags of organic yellow onions; because, we had intended to make a series of soups and stews in the coming week.  However, we all know that sometimes our plans don’t always turnout like we want them to.  So long story short, the onions started to go bad as well as they were starting to sprout.  So, in a somewhat disgusted attitude at ourselves for not using the onions for what we had intended to use them for, we started to think about what we could do with the onions before we lost them.  Well, that night we were going to have steak and we thought why don’t we take a few of the onions, slice them and roast them in the oven.  Well, we did and they were delicious.  However, you know those times when you have went for to long without eating and your stomach is growling; because, you are really hungry and it does not matter what you eat you think that it is the best thing in the world.  Well, we were having one of those days when we thought our stomach was touching our backbone; therefore, we were not really sure that the onions were as good as we thought.  So you guessed it!  We had to make the onions again just to see if they were really delicious.  Needless to say, it did not take long for us to use all the onions in the onion basket.  We had not intended on roasting all the onions, but they were just that good not to mention simple to make.  Now it seems like we have roasted onions at least once a week.  It’s amazing how something so simple to prepare has became one of our new favorite foods.

Instructions:

First the recipe requires three large onions.  One large onion will be enough for two people.  Therefore, three large onions will be enough for six people.  Organic olive oil, pink Himalayan salt and fresh ground pepper is all the seasoning that is needed.  

Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).  We want the oven to be at temperature before placing the sliced onions in the oven.  Place either one to two pieces of parchment paper on a large baking pan (12” x 16” or 304.8mm x 406.4mm)  Be sure to use a baking pan with a rim all the way around the edges.  Do not use a cookie sheet or anything that is flat on the edges.  We will be coating the sliced onions in olive oil.  

Pick out three large firm organic yellow onions.  Take a cutting board and chef knife and peel and slice the onions.  Don’t slice the onion too thin because as they cook they will get smaller.  We would say that the onions need to be cut maybe a half-an-inch thick (12.7mm).  After all the onions are peeled and sliced take and place them on the large baking pan.  If all the onions will not fit on the baking pan it is perfectly okay to stack some of the onions on top of each other.  Refer to the step-by-step guide for a visual.  

After all the sliced onions are on the baking pan take and drizzle olive oil over the top of the onions, next sprinkle the onions with salt and pepper. Again use the step-by-step guide for a visual.  Place the onions in the preheated oven for twenty minutes.  After the timer sounds take and remove the pan from the oven, leaving the oven on, and place the baking pan on a potholder on the counter.  With a spatula take and flip the onions over and salt and pepper the other side of the sliced onions.  Place the baking pan back into the oven and cook for an additional ten minutes. 

Here is just a friendly reminder, make sure that the potholder on the counter that the baking pan was sitting on is still on the counter and not stuck to the bottom of the baking pan that is now in the oven.  Always, make sure of this when setting anything on a potholder that is going to go back into the oven.  

After the ten minutes are up remove the baking pan from the oven and turn the oven off.  The onions should be light golden brown around the edges and they should be an off white toward the center.  The beautiful tender golden onions can be eaten as a side dish or they can be added to another recipe such as onion gravy.  Like we said before, this is a really easy recipe that goes well with any red meat dish.  We hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.