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Yes, you read that right — caramelized onions WITHOUT the oil. Today we are going to share with you an easy and fuss-free way to ditch the oil and still achieve that deep and rich flavor!
As a part of our January Healthy Eating Challenge, Chris and I are trying out best to avoid refined and processed foods, including oil. With this, we are going to show you some tips and tricks during the month of January to avoid these foods with oil-free and refined sugar-free recipes! 
We have a few tips for you when caramelizing onions that will help you master this process on your first try
1. If you are unfamiliar with the process just keep in mind that this will take time. Grab yourself a tall glass of kombucha, turn on some music or invite someone to join you in the kitchen to keep you company as this is going to take around 20-30 minutes. 
2. Keep in mind that you don’t need to adjust the heat during this process. You’ll be tempted to crank it up to speed things up, but medium-low is the way to go. 
3. You’re aiming for a deep brown color and not golden/blonde. You’re going to be tempted to take the onions off early because they will smell SO DANG GOOD and look pretty cooked down, but you want to make sure that you don’t take them off too early— this is called “blonding” the onions (above) instead of actually caramelizing them (below). You will know that your onions are ready when they are a deep and rich brown color and have reduced significantly in size from where you started.
4. When caramelizing onions without oil, only add more broth in once all of the previously added liquid has completely cooked off. This means that liquid should only be added once the pan is completely dry.
That’s it! You are now ready to make caramelized onions without oil at home and we are SO excited for you to try this out because it will bring your recipes to a whole new level. 
Now that you caramelized onions, what do you do with them?
- Use them to put together our Healthy Cream of Mushroom Soup (pictured above).
- Pop them into a sandwich– they work well in both our Thai Peanut Roasted Veggie Sandwich and our Vegan Meatball Sub Sandwich.
- Add them to a pizza.
- Put together our oil-free French Onion Dip— perfect for Super Bowl Sunday!
- Throw them into a burger — these are SO much better than regular old grilled onions. One of our favorite recipes on our blog is our Autumn White Bean & Pumpkin Veggie Burgers.
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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How To Caramelize Onions Without Oil!
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: ~ 1/2 cup caramelized onions
Description
An easy and fuss-free way to caramelize onions without oil and still achieve that deep and rich flavor!
Ingredients
- 1 medium white onion, halved and sliced into 1/8” strips
- ~1 cup low-sodium & oil-free vegetable broth (We recommend homemade or the Engine 2 brand)
Instructions
- In a medium pan over medium heat, add in 1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Once heated, add the sliced onions and cook down, stirring occasionally, for about 25-30 minutes. You will need to add more vegetable broth (1/4 cup at a time) as time passes to prevent burning, but the KEY to perfect caramelization without oil is to only add more broth once all of the previously added liquid has completely cooked off.
Notes
- Keep in mind that you don’t need to adjust the heat during this process. You’ll be tempted to crank it up to speed things up, but medium-low is the way to go.
- You’re aiming for a deep brown color and not golden/blonde. You’re going to be tempted to take the onions off early because they will smell SO DANG GOOD and look pretty cooked down, but you want to make sure that you don’t take them off too early.
- When caramelizing onions without oil, only add more broth in once all of the previously added liquid has completely cooked off. This means that liquid should only be added once the pan is completely dry.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
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Thank you for this recipe. I dehydrate my onions and using oil for dh shortens the shelf life of my onions.
I like to freeze homemade vegetable broth in a silicon mini muffin tray and store it in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Then I can add a cube or two to the pan when I make the onions after they start to brown the pan– it prevents me from burning the onions and I don’t add too much liquid too soon that way, The extra liquid tends to evaporate as as it slowly melts, and makes the clean up easier too since I don’t use a non-stick pan.
Thanks so much for the tip, Karen!
Try Trader Joes organic veg broth Cheaper and better flavor then E2 Id rather use H20 than E2 Also get rid of your non stick pan no matter how “Green” they say they are they are poisonous !!!!! Thanks
I can’t tell you how many people over the holidays were so perplexed as to how you can cook without oil! Such a useful resource to pass onto friends and family, thanks!
So glad that we could share Megan! 🙂
Beyond excellent. Yes, this will take a while, but it isn’t difficult, and the results are well worth the wait. Adding these onions to any recipe will give you guilt-free sweetness and umami. Honestly, I’ve been sneaking these onions into all of my recipes to give them that extra oomph that usually asks for sugar or oil. Seriously, just learn this technique and your healthy cooking style will be improved!
I can’t tell you how many people over the holidays were so perplexed as to how you can cook without oil! Such a useful resource to pass onto friends and family, thanks!