In culinary school we had a test day where we were to complete various dishes/sauces for grading, I knocked everything else fast and saved french onion soup for last (just the way it worked out) my classmates didn't think I was going to get the browning I needed in time, so I used this method to cook the onions quickly and it turned out amazing.

A secret tip I learned from a French chef is adding a little baking soda to the onions. Quickest and prettiest browning you'll ever get.

For better flavor, instead of water I either use white wine or chicken or beef stock as it does exactly what this video entails but also adds incredible flavor to the onions.

I realized that adding any kind of liquid helps onions caramelize faster, so I do this whenever the opportunity presents itself. Less work, and a smaller time frame to mess them up in. Makes my life so much easier, because I love cooking with caramelized onions

Use ur favorite beer instead or water , u will not b disappointed. I promise you

I did this for years but all the advice was always to never add any additional liquid because you're trying to get rid of liquid, but I swore it made caramelizing faster. Finally, Cooks Illustrated has me vindicated!!!

I've been doing this for a while now. I don't own a microwave so I warm up my food in a pan. I realized that adding water to my food created steam to cook my food faster and keep it moist and not dry out. Thanks for this video. Now I know I'm not a weirdo for doing this. 💁🏻‍♀️

I have to add caramelised onions to everything. I discovered this trick a few years ago when I accidentally spilled some water vapor from the lid of my other pot to my frying pan. Been using it everytime ever since, works like magic. Thanks for sharing.

My dad taught me this when I was a kid, he does this with onions and bell peppers. Makes me proud to have a dad like that sometimes.

I'm going to miss butter, but this way of caramelizing onions is much healthier. Thanks for the tip!

I add a bit of ginger ale sometimes, the sugars make it caramelize even faster, and the ginger flavour makes it have almost an onion jam vibe 💗

ATK always gives the best advice; and explainations why.

My grandma taught me that when I was small. I remember being in the kitchen with her before I even started kindergarten. Wow that was five decades ago.

Hahaha, thanks for explaining this in depth. It was something I was taught to “just do. Because it’s faster” as a cook in the kitchen for years. Caramelised onions? Yeah, onions, water, lid, steam, reduce, turn, reduce, turn, reduce, turn, done! There were plenty of things I asked “why?” about but for some reason this wasn’t one of them. 😂😂😂

If you liked this, you should go watch the whole thing. SO much good information.

Useful tip! I will defo be using this as I don't really like using oil/butter.

You can also add an 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda with a little water into that stage after the steaming. It changes the PH of the onions and they brown in about a minute.

Those are lovely! So even! This is why I love ATK and have the Cook's Illustrated magazine subscription and the online subscription. I enjoy the food science SO much, for both the baking and pastry (which is my career) and the other side (which I obviously have less mastery in). The product reviews are really good too.

This woman displays sheer brilliance. 😆

Pressure Cooker Onion Soup Recipe Ingredients: 4 large onions, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 cups beef or vegetable broth Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, for caramelizing) 1/4 cup dry white wine (optional) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 bay leaf 4 slices of crusty bread 1 cup shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese Instructions: Set your pressure cooker to sauté mode and heat olive oil. Add thinly sliced onions and cook until they become translucent and start to caramelize, stirring occasionally. This should take about 5 minutes. If desired, add a teaspoon of sugar to help with caramelization. Stir occasionally until the onions turn a rich golden brown. Add minced garlic to the onions and sauté for an additional minute until fragrant. Pour in the dry white wine (if using) to deglaze the pot, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom. Turn off the sauté mode and add the beef or vegetable broth to the pressure cooker. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss in a bay leaf for flavor. Close the pressure cooker lid and set it to cook at full pressure for 10 minutes. Once the cooking time is complete, carefully release the pressure manually. Open the lid and remove the bay leaf. Using a ladle, separate the liquid from the onion material. In a separate pan, heat a bit of olive oil and add the caramelized onion material. Sauté for a few minutes until the onions get an extra layer of deep flavor. Reunite the caramelized onions with the separated liquid in the pressure cooker. Stir well to combine. Toast slices of crusty bread under the broiler until golden brown. Ladle the onion soup into oven-safe bowls, top each with a slice of toasted bread, and sprinkle generously with shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese. Place the bowls under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly, creating a delicious golden crust. Carefully remove from the oven, let it cool for a moment, and serve your quick and savory pressure cooker onion soup!

You can use the same principle when sautéing mushrooms to get their water released faster.

So happy to hear you talk about how water condensing on the onions warms them up by transfering its latent heat of condensation to them!

I get them wilted in 5 mins just by salting and mashing them. Mashing breaks down their cell walls and salt draws out the water inside of the cells via osmosis causing them to rupture. This allows the onions to steam and wilt in their own juices and u don't have to wait for all the extra water to evaporate off, allowing for a quicker transition into browning

I will definitely try this, as carmelized onions can be a critical step or garnish for many dishes. I am wondering if using a slightly salted white cooking wine might work to impart a bit of flavor and use both the steam to cook and salt to draw the existing liquid out of the onions.

It's nice to see what you automatically do in the kitchen whether it be instincts or general impatience or habit be featured as a legit hack haha. I feel validated. 😌

The way you explained the process of the onions steaming is me trying to explain anything while high lmao

Loved this tip from however many years ago I read this In ATK. I do it most of the time to this day. It's such a helpful time-saver!

I was always told we were trying to remove the liquid from the onions and not to add water. This has convinced me to go against that advice and give it a go. If I could do this in 30 minutes instead of 1 hour and change that would be amazing.

I kind of figured this out on my own like 10 years ago and it’s nice to see others figuring stuff out too and sharing it!

As an onion lover, this video has been an answer to my prayers. Thank you!

Add a touch of baking soda (not powder) at the start. Not much, like a pinky nail size heap. This creates a basic (anti acidic) environment that speeds up the caramelization and maillaird reactions that contribute to the browning.

So smart. So simple. Love this tip.

You still have to baby sit the onions in not so high heat wait for all those natural sugars in the onions to caramelize. No short cuts if you consistently good caramelized onions. Don't salt the onions till they are almost done. The salt makes them release water and it takes longer for them to brown.😄

I have been doing it this way for years. I'm not a great cook, but this just made sense to me.

NGL I drooled a bit when you had the last shot. YUM

:) thats how we prep onions before dehydrating them. Delicious! Crumble them up and sprinkle savoury goodness to even the simplest dishes.

Very true and utterly shocked how many people don't cook with adding a bit of water. The steam from that helps to properly and quickly distribute high heat without burning. Water is your friend and great for reheating and makes the perfect eggs!

Worked in the restaurant when I was younger. We used to microwave onions five minutes on high to pre-cook them - then add them to the skillet and you had caramelized onions in record time.

Also helps to add salt and baking soda. I mix them in with the onions once the water is boiling, and then turn it low. Helps promote moisture loss and browning.

Adding some salt and pressing on the onions while the water heats up also speeds up the process immensely. Secret cheat tip, if you use a touch of sweet teriyaki it has everything you’re looking for to start breaking down and Carmelizng the onions

This works well with peppers in my morning scramble too ! ! -KJ

Julia Child's "French Onion Soup" recipe tells you how to caramelize your onions perfectly and you don't add the water, but you do steam them for 15 minutes. If you leave your onion alone to steam without the added water, you get a toastier and more flavourful onion.

I just tried this method today and came out great! Just do not slice onions so thin as you normally would,, otherwise onions become kind of mushy

This works. Tried it and it cut cooking time by 2/3’s! Thnx!

I've done this for years! Also put a piece of parchment (cut in size of skillet) with a hole in the center. They pretty much carmelize themselves. Add some salt & a bit of sugar in the beginning (just on top on med low heat). They're perfect every time

Thank you! Just in time for some French Onion Soup I'm making today

Water is a miracle. I use this technique for frying potatoes too. Speed’s everything up.

worked really well thank you ❤

I'm blown away! I always thought I wasn't adding enough butter and have never truly had success with caramelized onions

My grandma and mama have been doing this since before and after my birth… no wonder I’ve been doing the same and now I got an explanation to something I never questioned but always did following the family foot steps in cooking 😝

thank you so much most people just add salt and sugar , I never thought about adding just a bit of water

I’ve always done this. I use water for most things instead of oil. It makes a lot of difference. If you’re cooking chicken, adding some milk or heavy cream will help make the chicken tender and juicy.

Salt is better. It draws up the moisture from the onions themselves. It makes them brown faster, just salt and oil on the bottom of the pan.

I culinary school, my teacher would have said you have too much onions in that pan

You can do the same thing with mushrooms. Also adding salt to the water and stirring initially helps pull more water out of the vegetables faster.

I've tried water and I've tried just using a lid and using a lid alone works much better. Too much juice the water causes, just gums up the pan. Pork fat is really a good addition to wilting onions. I always keep a little home rendered with salt in the fridge. It doesn't take much pork fat-- less than probably any other kind of fat and the onions get more translucent faster. I use some butter, too.

I tried your method a few days ago and it saved me a lot of time, and the onions turned out great! Thx for the tip!

This is a game-changer. It's the only way I caramelize onions anymore. Well sometimes I might sprinkle on baking soda, or steam them in MGD instead of water.

I absolutely love that she's explaining the processes behind this.

Ah, if only I saw this last night before I caramelized onions! Thanks for the tip!

Add a half teaspoon of baking soda, the slightly raised pH will make the caramelization happen even faster.

Yup, when I do onions for a patty melt I just fry em in butter on the flattop for 7-10 mins. If I'm in a rush tho, I butter em, hit em with water, and place the iron press on top, brings them to the same level of caramelized, in 2-4 minutes.

This is exactly how I’ve always caramelized onions.

“Cook onions for ten minutes until caramelized” is a LIE! Love ya, Lan. You’re a genius, thanks for the tip. (I like Todd’s tip to use beer, he’s a genius too)

Thank you she is a genius! I needed this, I needed one person to do what I do instead of everyone telling me I have to do it the way it has been done always! Sometimes tradition is not the best way.

What’s Eating Dan and Techniquely are my favorite ATK segments. More of them please 😊

My dad taught me this method when I was about 10. Sadly he passed 6 years later, but I’m grateful for all he taught me while I had him here in the physical.

Can we all stop and appreciate how form-fitting and nice that Apron is???

Thank You So Much For This Beautiful Cooking Tip And Beautiful Advice Thank You So Much For Sharing Your Beautiful Video 👍👍❤️❤️

To make it faster I do add water after it starts browning try it it takes less thatn 10 minutes on high heat keep stirring the onions and when it start browning add hot boiling water if possible and it will instantly turn brown evenly and you can do that 2 or 3 times. You can do it on low heat to but it will take 15 to 20 minutes and I feel it has a slightly better texture and taste and the onion brown slowly just in oil and then wen you add the water it browns evenly.

Great tip! Am going to try this.

I’ve done this my whole life. But thank you for letting others who didn’t know this trick!🥰

I do the lid as well!!! But i do mine with a tbsp of butter and a bit of garlic while im searing and caramelizing . So good

This saved me so much time...thank you!

Something my grandma taught me when I was a teen 😅

That's crazy. I always thought of it as "cooking the water out" so it would have never occurred to me to add water. Thanks.

I’ve been trying to find a good method all this week! Thank you!!!

Instead of water use whiskey, or stock, it gives a wonderful flavor, I put a little whiskey or rum and a splash of chicken stock (or whatever stock I have on hand) also throw in a pinch of sugar and don't forget to salt them, salt helps draw out the moisture, sugar helps to caramelize them

I was taught to do it that way by my grandmother in the 70s. It’s not a new technique, but the younger generations grew up with convenience foods. Videos like this are great for them. My son is 27 & just started showing interest in family recipes and how to properly cook.

Same thing we do for bacon cooking them in a little water. I never thought though to do it with Onions. This is why I love ATK and CC so much.

Wow I’m glad SHE found this out. No chef would have ever known!!!! I’m sure every chef is shook!!!

Thank you so much. Going to try this today.

I did this (bc I followed my sense of logic) and my fellow chefs were appalled and then I was ashamed. I should have just followed my heart. Thanks for letting the way

I like to put a splash of Worcestershire sauce in my caramelized onions. Just a flavor choice. My family and friends like it.

I was a cook and used to put cover over the veggies and a bit of water to start them wilting. Then you crank it up and brown them.

What I learned from watching all those caramelizing videos weather it’s butter, sugar, onion, or anything is that you have to start sloooow then you gradually increase the heat to medium and keep an eye for them because once you turn your back it’s a charcoal party😂

45 min in instant pot?

Yup. I don't even turn the heat down. I needed them yesterday, yo. I probably put less water than you. Sometimes, they burn a bit. But always add cold water and stir it again, cover and walk away. Running back in 2 minutes to stir and see if I burned them, and need to add water again. About 4 runs back and forth, depending on the volume of onions, they are perfect. Definitely saves a bunch of time.

LAN, if you say it, I’ll swear to it.

Pro tip: skip the water, add a bit of oil, SALT the onions and put on the lid. The salt will draw the moisture out of the onions, just like steak, and will create the steam. No need to add extra liquid which needs to now cook off before you can get the browning you want. I do this all the time.

I'll definitely try this. Thanks. All the very best frm England

You also don’t need to wait for the water to boil to add the lid, it’s not baking so the 10 minutes isn’t crucial. As long as they don’t burn, you can add a splash of water on the bottom or just use the residual water in the onions to pick up the fonde.

I've been sound this for more than 30 years.

I just realized how the onions shrinked in size

If you really want to get this done quickly, cook the onions with a little water in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. When the onions are soft and translucent, put them into your fry pan on a medium low heat.

I immediately season them with salt, which help to draw out the water so it wilts faster and caramelize better

i know this isn’t the point but they’re so pretty

The best way to put carlalized onions for home cooked southern gravy. Delicious!

I love this lady. So many useful tips.

Tears work, too.