How to Make Lo-Cal Caramelized Onions
Making caramelized onions is not difficult, but you do have to practice a couple times to make them lo-cal. Caramelized onions can be used in a wide variety of recipes. Try them as a topping on some sizzling broiled or grilled steaks or use them on burgers for some added flavor. You can even put some caramelized onions in your favorite potato salad recipe, and they'd be great just on top of a beef hot dog. The usual method of caramelizing onions involves using a little bit of oil and sugar. The problem with that is that even just a little oil can add substantial calories to the onions. Considering that the onions are just a topping of sorts, you still have to contend with the calories that are in the food they top. This is a less easy way to caramelize them, but once you've mastered the method, the savings in calories and fat is well worth the trouble. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Put your non-stick frying pan on medium to high heat and let it get very hot. You may be tempted to add a little water, but don't. Otherwise, the onions will steam rather than caramelize properly.
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When the frying pan is very hot, throw in your onions and watch them very carefully. You don't want to burn them, but you need the high heat for good caramelization. Stir them as often as needed and be prepared to take the pan away from the heat if they start to burn.
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Continue to cook them until they soften and turn a deep golden brown. After they are cooked to your liking, remove them from the pan and add a few drop of water to the pan and scrape the bottom to pull up the cooked browned bits. There is a lot of flavor in that and you can add that to the onions if you wish.
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Tips & Warnings
You want to choose a sweet onion to caramelize, because they have a higher sugar content than regular onions do and will caramelize better and faster.
- Photo Credit Photo by Adam Hirsch.
