Instant Pot Caramelized Onions are a thing but you need to know how to do it right so you don’t end up with steamed onions instead.
When I learned that we would be doing a whole series on onions, my first thought was about the various ways to caramelize onions. There’s the classic method of taking it slow on the stovetop or you could use a Dutch oven, but what about a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot?
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Are Caramelized Onions?
Caramelized onions are onions that are cooked for longer than you would to sauté onions. You need to cook them for an extended length of time over low heat in order for the natural sugars that are in onions to brown and caramelize. On the stove, this can often take about an hour, plus you have to keep an eye on them and stir.
Can You Caramelize Onions In The Instant Pot?
I thought about the Instant Pot and started doing some research. Many recipes I found seemed to struggle to get great results or had really mixed review. I knew I had to step up to the challenge and start testing!
The issue is that caramelized onions really need direct heat, slowly, to brown them. But the Instant Pot is more about steaming so it’s hard to attain that. In fact, you need to have at least 1 cup of water in your Instant Pot to make it work properly. That means you’ve got some soupy onions going on, not browning onions.
I decided that I would have to resort to using the Sauté function on the Instant Pot at some point in this process. It just wasn’t going to brown anything when there’s steam and pressure going on. But could I at least reduce the amount of time you need to be sautéing by using the pressure cooking function somehow?
I figured it out!
How To Make Instant Pot Caramelized Onions
You start by putting beef stock into the Instant Pot topped by a steamer basket. (Note that you could use water here but I love the beefy oniony-sweet broth that you get in the end and there’s no way I wouldn’t use the beef stock here). Then you put sliced onions mixed with melted butter and salt into the steamer basket.
Set the Instant Pot for a ridiculously short amount of time. Just three minutes! And pressure cook them for that long, followed by a quick release.
After that, you’re going to drain the onions (but save that liquid!!!) and put them back into the Instant Pot on sauté with a bit more butter, and two secret browning ingredients.
The two secret ingredients are brown sugar (to help with the sweetness and to get some browning started) and the tiniest bit of baking powder, which changes the chemistry and promotes browning (see more about this in our explanation of why we use baking powder when baking chicken wings – it makes the skin soooo crispy!!!). Sauté for about 10 minutes, not stirring often. And that’s it, done!
These are really amazing and are ready in a fraction of the time of traditional stovetop caramelized onions. I hope you love this new method for making caramelized onions in the Instant Pot as much as I do.
Using Caramelized Onions
Looking for dishes with delicious caramelized onions? Of course, there’s the classic French Onion Soup, but you can also try our recipes for Mujadara and this great Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Flatbread.
They also add great flavor to burgers and sandwiches, and are great on top of steaks. Or add these delicious onions to your mashed potatoes or even a breakfast quiche. There are so many possibilities!
Print
Instant Pot Caramelized Onions Recipe
Instant Pot Caramelized Onions are a thing but you need to know how to do it right so you don’t end up with steamed onions instead.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 and ½ cups 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. yellow onions, sliced 1/8 inch
- 1 cup unsalted beef stock
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 Tbsp. butter
Instructions
- Measure the beef stock into the Instant Pot. Put a steamer basket on top of the liquid.
- Add the sliced onions to the steamer basket. Sprinkle with the salt and drizzle with the melted butter. Toss it all gently with your hands.
- Set the valve to Sealing and set the Instant Pot to pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. After it has finished the 3 minutes, do a quick release by turning the valve to Venting.
- Once the steam has all escaped and the button has dropped down, remove the lid. Strain the onions through sieve with a bowl placed under it (so that you catch those delicious juices!). Note that the onions will be soft and tasty now. You can totally stop here. Or…
- Sprinkle the onions with the brown sugar and baking powder. Toss gently.
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté on high. Add the unmelted butter. Once melted, add the onions. Pat them down.
- Cook the onions without disturbing them. Every couple of minutes, scrape some up and see if there is browning underneath. If so, give them all a stir, being sure to scrape any brownings from the bottom.
- Continue to cook and stir as directed until onions have reached desired color, about 10-12 minutes.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in November 2020 and was revised and republished in October 2023.
Leave a Reply