Caramelized Onions - Ready When You Are!

Although it has taken us years to appreciate the taste of onions, my husband and I now absolutely love them!  I cook everything with onions!  We have found grilled onions are the perfect topping for many of our favorite foods - hamburgers, steak, smoked sausages, gravy etc. 

There is nothing more disappointing that to have one of our favorite dishes almost ready and then realize that I forgot to get the onions cooked! 

Today, I found the solution:  Caramelized Onions in a Crock Pot!  Onions can be cooked in the crock pot (takes 5 minutes to get them ready), slow simmered all day, then portioned into small containers for the freezer, ready to pull out at a moment's notice.

Here are the directions with some fabulous tips found at Shockingly Delicious

Dorothy’s Crock-Pot Caramelized Onions

• 6 large regular yellow onions (3-4 pounds)
• 2-3 tablespoons good quality olive oil

Peel onions and cut them into thin slices; you should have about 6 cups (exact amount is not crucial, though). Mist the inside of the ceramic insert for the slow cooker, place onions in cooker and drizzle the oil over the slices. Cover and cook on high 10-12 hours, until the onions caramelize. They will have a deep brown color.

Leftover caramelized onions may be refrigerated, covered, up to a week or two. They may be frozen up to 6 months.

Makes 3 cups.

Advice

• Portion out the caramelized onions into little freezable containers, label them and freeze for future use. I usually have 1 opened container in the refrigerator, and the onions find their way into many things as I’m cooking during the week. When I use those up, I can just reach for another small container from the freezer and I’m ready to go again.
• You may use butter instead of olive oil. I skew to olive oil for health reasons, but butter is what you would use if you were doing them in a skillet.

I've got a slow cooker full of these simmering right now!