The crockpot is full of sliced onions

[eleny]

I could fit almost 2 bags of onions in there along with some butter. So now we wait until they caramelize.

I read the old threads about this last night so I guess it could go until midnight or maybe even noon tomorrow since I put them in a little after noon today.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Yup, longer is better

Let 'em get really, really brown.

What kind of onions did you use? While? Yellow? Spanish? Sweet?

[eleny]

2. I used the yellow onions that come in the small mesh bags

What I'm not sure about is how hot to keep them. The crockpot goes from 1 to 5. I started at 5 then after it got to sizzling I turned it down to 3. I've never caramelized onions before. But it seems to be doing fine so far as at level 3.

They're starting to get a little clear.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Those are probably yellow onions.

We do this in the oven in a cast iron dutch oven. 350 oven for hours. So your crock pot at medium is probably about right.

[eleny]

3. P.S. Do you ladle out some of the onion juice along the way?

I removed about a cup and left just a little on the bottom of the crockpot. I hope this is okay. It seemed that the onions were potting in all that liquid.

I'm going to freeze the onion juice to use in my next soup.

[Warpy]

4. Wow, if it had been caramelized at all, I might have added a little sherry

and sucked it right down!

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Actually, they'll caramelize even with a lot of liquid in there

Are you making the onions for soup or just to have as an ingredient? If for soup, that juice is what you want. If for an ingredient, then you can take off as much as you wish.

[eleny]

8. Probably both since I'll have a lot

They're looking good. I'll leave them on low overnight.

[Mira]

7. I slice them, put them in the crockpot, drizzle them with EVOO, mix them up,

and keep them in the crockpot on low for a min of 10 hours.
I use them for French Onion soup, never thought to do anything else with them.
I'll keep reading to learn what else to do.

[Vinca]

9. I never thought of doing this. What a great idea for onion soup!

[The empressof all]

10. The original recipe includes a stick of butter

When I first read about doing this it had you slice the onions very thinly and fill the crock pot with the onions and a stick of butter :wow: :wow: :wow:. Of course I did it...had to do it right before you dink around with it. The onions were brown and luscious like no other I have tried. Now I do it with as little as a Tablespoon of EVOO or butter. I have also found adding a pinch of salt enhances the flavor.

[eleny]

11. I read your posting in the earlier thread and also used the butter

Not a whole stick but still. I also added some salt and a little black pepper. And I filled the crockpot to the brim. They soften and collapse pretty quick.

They turned out great. But oh did the house smell of onions. I was going to let them go a full 24 hours. But before I went to sleep around midnight I had to open the kitchen window and pull the plug on the crockpot. And it was maybe 5 degrees outside!

The house cleared out of the aroma pretty quick, maybe 5 minutes. Actually, it was the pungent effect on the eyes that I wanted to ease and it worked out fine. Now I have a good sized tub of onions to bag up and freeze.

[tigereye]

12. hmm, I was thinking that this might be the secret of a great soup base, eh?

[The empressof all]

13. Easiest way to make Onion Soup..

You never get that sear that true French onion soup needs but you can always finish the cooking on top of the stove to get them really dark dark brown. I make about a pot of these a month and pack in small amounts to last us a few days in the fridge. Then I defrost as I need them. We love onions on our Boca burgers so they go pretty quickly around here.

For a lovely and easy chicken dinner just nestle a boneless breasts in a pile of the onions wrap in foil or parchment and bake until chicken is cooked through. You can also add bacon or cheese as you like.

[eleny]

14. I love fried onions on a hamburger

we usually make them with ground turkey these days and the onions take them right over the top. Tonight I'm broiling some pork chops and will add some of these onions on top in the broiler to finish them off the last minute or two.

I've always like some fried onions on top of mashed potatoes, too. Now I'll have a stash.

[katkat]

15. Benecol

I feel a tad weird recommending this, because heaven only knows what's in it, pine extract or something, but I use Benecol in place of butter in just about everything. Dropped my cholesterol 40 points.

[BarbaRosa]

16. I did that some time ago,

divided it up and froze the packets. Last week I put a beef roast, can of cream of mushroom soup, frozen onions, seasoning in the crockpot. Great tasting gravey.

[pengillian101]

17. can of cream of mushroom soup

Glad I'm not the only one! A can of cream of mushroom soup is considered a staple to me and cooking, lol.

As for a quick-cheater's gravy - mix 1/2 can chicken or beef broth into 1 can of can of cream of mushroom soup, add a few seasonings like garlic salt, parsley, etc. Really makes a good consistency gravy. :-)