28 Savory Onion Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated February 21, 2019
Credit: © John Kernick
Not only are onions the perfect foundation for just about any savory recipe, but they also shine in starring roles. Here are our favorite sweet-salty, onion-centric recipes that make foolproof side dishes and main courses.
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Baked Onions with Fennel Bread Crumbs

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These simple, incredibly flavorful onions from chef Nancy Silverton are baked in the oven until they’re falling-apart tender. Fennel seeds punch up the crispy breadcrumb topping.

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French (Canadian) Onion Soup

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Hugue Dufour makes a pork broth for his French onion soup using bacon for smokiness and a pig's foot for richness. Omit the pig's foot for a lighter broth.

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Onion-Fennel Gratin

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Look for small, young, tender organic fennel bulbs.

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Grilled Peach, Onion and Bacon Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

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The secret to this salad is using big, juicy sweet onions like the Vidalias that Linton Hopkins favors, which get nicely charred on the grill.

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Fennel-and-Sweet-Onion Pizza with Green Olives

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At Harry's Pizzeria, Miami chef Michael Schwartz uses brown ale and whole-wheat flour to flavor his chewy crust. Toppings can range from potato and house-cured bacon to this pie, made with Pernod-braised fennel, caramelized onions and Trugole, a semisoft Italian cheese that melts beautifully.

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Creamy Spring Onion Soup

Credit: © John Kernick
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This fresh-tasting soup can be prepared with scallions or green garlic (which is harvested before the cloves have matured and has a subtle garlic flavor). A swirl of buttermilk mixed with fresh goat cheese at the end adds a nice tang.

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Chicken Livers with Caramelized Onions and Madeira

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Rich-tasting caramelized onions combined with Madeira make a spectacular sauce for chicken livers. Serve with rice or over toast so you won't miss a single drop.

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Free-Form Onion Tart

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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At Cavallo Point, school director Kelsie Kerr teaches the basics of preparing seasonal recipes. The buttery dough for her savory onion tart, for instance, is great with all kinds of fillings, like fruit.

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Caramelized Onion Dip

Credit: Tina Rupp
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The onion dip can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Serve with potato chips.

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Three-Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Pimientos

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Fontina, Roquefort, and Parmesan form the sassy cheese trio here. Their piquant flavor blends delectably with the pimientos and sweet golden onions.

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Fontina, Prosciutto and Caramelized Onion Pizzas

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For their delectably crusty and chewy pizzas, Top Chef contestants Betty Fraser and Cliff Crooks adapted a bread recipe from star chef Jamie Oliver—a recipe Fraser had memorized—then covered it with slices of nutty Fontina cheese, prosciutto and sautéed onions.

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Crispy Onion Rings

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"There's nothing better than a simple tempura of a primo vegetable," states Peter Hoffman. For this sensational version, he coats thick onion rings in an ultralight batter and quickly fries them.

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Gorgonzola-Roasted Mushrooms and Onions

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Roast for about 30 minutes, until tender, tossing once.

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Slow-Roasted Sweet Onions with "Licorice" Powder

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One of Michel Bras's favorite garnishes is a sweet-savory combination of ground almonds, dehydrated olives and demerara sugar (a coarse, raw cane sugar with a subtle molasses flavor); the taste reminds him of licorice. Here it serves as a topping for buttery-soft, slow-roasted whole onions.

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Pickled Wild Onions with Honey and Wild Rosemary

Credit: © Kate Mathis
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Chef Joshua Skenes of San Francisco's Saison employs a full-time forager to find ingredients like the wild onions Skenes pickles and serves alongside house-made rabbit terrine. The garnish: wild rosemary blossoms and fried foraged greens—chickweed, oxalis, miner's lettuce. The recipe here is a simplified version.

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Cheddar-and-Onion Smashed Burgers

Credit: © Marcus Nilsson
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Inspired by the sliders at White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey, Adam Fleischman creates beef patties by flattening balls of ground meat on the griddle.

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Frothy Lettuce Soup with Onion Custard

Credit: Tina Rupp
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This stunning recipe calls for a head of Boston lettuce per person, resulting in a soup with pure, intense flavors that is then poured over a delicate custard. It's a riff on petits pois à la française, the classic French dish of peas, lettuce and spring onions braised in butter and chicken stock.

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Truffle-Infused French Onion Soup

Credit: © Frances Janisch
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This version of the soup calls for truffle-infused pecorino cheese (sold in any good cheese shop), which is melted to form a marvelously gooey topping for the oniony broth.

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Pull-Apart Cheesy Onion Bread

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This recipe is as fun to eat as monkey bread (little balls of yeast dough that are baked in a pan together, then pulled apart at the table) but a lot less time-consuming to make. Grace Parisi spreads her buttery biscuit dough with a savory onion-Gruyère mixture, stacks layers of it sideways in a loaf pan, then bakes it until golden and fluffy.

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Blood Orange and Red Onion Salad

Credit: © Marcus Nilsson
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Mike Price drizzles blood orange slices with a Greek olive oil called Iliada. Pressed from kalamata olives, the oil's gentle fruitiness and lack of bitter finish make it ideal for salads. If blood oranges aren't available, navel oranges or tangerines are excellent substitutes.

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Balsamic-Glazed Cipollini with Lemon and Bay Leaves

Credit: © John Kernick
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Called cipollini agrodólce in Italian for their sweet-and-sour vinegar glaze (agro means sour; dólce, sweet), these soft and tangy onions are a fantastic accompaniment to any rich roast meat.

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Pearl Onions au Gratin

Credit: © Maura McEvoy
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Inspired by the pickled pearl onions that became a family tradition ("Mom just served them straight out of the jar and threw a toothpick at them"), chef Barbara Lynch bakes fresh pearl onions in a mixture of cream, garlic, shallots and bacon, then tops it all with a crispy panko crust.

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Grilled Gruyère and Sweet Onion Sandwiches

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F&W's Grace Parisi reinvents the classic grilled cheese.

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Creamed Edamame and Pearl Onions

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
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This clever riff on the classic creamed peas and pearl onions combines onions with edamame (soy beans) and a topping of panko (Japanese bread crumbs). To make the crumb topping extra crispy, the dish is quickly toasted under the broiler before serving.

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Sausages with Grilled-Onion Chowchow

Credit: TINA RUPP
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Chowchow is a sweet-and-sour relish. The chowchow here is studded with pieces of charred and crunchy onions, which have a smoky flavor that's delicious with grilled sausage. The chowchow is perfect with all types of grilled meat or poultry or as a hot dog relish.

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Garlicky Mushroom-Onion Toasts

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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Grilling guru Francis Mallmann is a master of efficiency. Here, he creates a delicious first course using only a cast-iron skillet, first toasting the bread in it, then quickly searing the mushroom, onion and garlic toppings right after.

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Caramelized Red Onion Rice with Tamarind

Credit: Eric Wolfinger
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In Fresh India, Meera Sodha uses sweet-and-sour tamarind paste to turn plain rice into a show-stealing side. The tamarind is essential here; find it at well-stocked grocery stores and Indian markets.

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Grilled Pork Chops with Malt and Burnt Onion Glaze

Credit: © John Kernick
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Chef Jim Christiansen likes grilling rich pork collar or blade chops because they stay nice and juicy. To make them sweet and sticky, he glazes the chops on the grill with a deeply flavored onion ash and barley malt syrup.

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