10 Ways to Use Onions That’ll Have You Cryin’ for More!

Okay all you onion lovers- if you’re anything like me you probably already know how you like your onions. Onions can obviously be cooked and prepared in various ways, but sometimes they have more uses that’ll have you shedding tears of disbelief! 

1. Caramelized  

Growing up, my mom always made caramelized onions over angel hair spaghetti. Now it’s become a staple in my house. Nothing is better than the taste of sweet, brown, caramelized onions. Most recipes will tell you to cook on low for up to an hour, but my mom always did the “cheat method,” and let me tell you - it’s JUST as good! For quick, perfect caramelized onions, add sliced up onions into a pan with oil over high heat - yes high-. Stir the onions around continuously until they start to brown (if you don’t stir them continuously, they WILL burn!). Once the onions start to loosen up and change to a medium brown, turn the heat on ultra low, cover, and let simmer for about 25 minutes (or until your desired texture). 

2. Raw

Slice ‘em or dice ‘em, throw them in a salad, or on a sandwich and bon appetit! 

3. Pickled

Pickled onions are one of my favorite additions to fish tacos, wraps, and many other meals. Here is a great, easy recipe to pickle your onions! 

4. Grilled

Something about grilled onions to go along with some other vegetable favorites in the summer just hits different. I personally love using a vegetable cage to enclose my cut veggies on the grill in the summer, but you can just grill a full onion right on the grill itself as well! 

5. Roasted

Especially in the colder months, I love to cut up an onion, drizzle with oil, add it to a baking sheet, and roast them in the oven! I personally like roasting my onions at a high heat (like 425) for about 20ish minutes (I just eyeball it and check on them regularly). 

6. French Onion Soup

French onion soup is surprisingly one that I have not made myself, but will definitely give it a whirl in the soup season to come. It is one of my all time favorite soups, because…duhh onions of course! Here is the recipe that I’ll try out!

7. Onion Rings

Can you say yum?! What better way to indulge in onions! I mean - who doesn’t love a thick, crispy onion ring? -Now I’m hungry. Try out an easy onion ring recipe here!

8. Soothe your burns & insect bites

I don’t know about you, but by the end of summer, I am loaded with mosquito bites. I hate it! If this is you too, try using an onion to give you some relief -yes an onion! Those onion juices might give you unpleasant tears while you’re cutting them, but you’ll be crying tears of joy when you experience the relief that they give you on bites and burns! Just apply a sliced onion to the burn or bite for a few minutes, and watch the magic happen. The juices act as an anti-inflammatory, which helps immensely if the burns or bites are irritated, itchy, or infected. So cool!

9. Remove Your Splinters

I can’t say I’ve tried this one personally, but I sure am going to try this trick next time either myself or one of my kids gets a splinter! Apparently, all you need to do is tape an onion slice to where the splinter is for a few hours or overnight and the splinter should eventually work its way out. Genius!

10. Cleaning the grill

Sick of a dirty grill? Try cleaning it with an onion! All you have to do is heat your grill to a high temperature (the heat will also help remove excess debris), cut an onion in half, pierce it with a fork, and rub the cut side along the grill gates. The onion juices will do its thing until it’s good as new!