A pantry shelf of jars, tins and bottles — onion

In the pantry · 301 uses

onion

The base under most of this library. How you cut it decides what it becomes: thin and slow is sweetness, chunky and fast is texture. Undercooked onion is the most common reason a decent pan sauce still tastes raw.

291

dishes and drinks that need it

more where it is worth adding

47%

of those are under 30 min

Ingredient transformation map

What heat, time, and handling can turn onion into

This is not a recipe. It is a map of useful states for this allium so the ingredient can become a component instead of waiting for one exact dish.

Handling onion

Third-party video. Opens in a new tab — nothing is embedded and nothing is fetched from a video platform until you click.

Reviewed video for the prep and the technique this one turns up in.

What it is usually standing next to

Nothing dominates: the most common companion, tomato, appears in only 25% of them, so this is an ingredient that gets around.

Counted off required ingredients across the whole library. A companion listed here is one these dishes are built from, not one we are recommending.

If you have twenty minutes

Quickest dish · 8 min

Bagel and lox

Schmear, salmon, a lot of dill, thin onion. Capers if they are there. Open-faced is honest.

Built on it · 291

Take it out and the dish is something else. Fastest first.

Worth adding · 10

These work without it. They work better with it.

Out of onion?Rank this against my whole shelf Open onion in the Flavor Lab Back to the pantry

Three moves. Then cook.

Start with the meal, not the database.

How to get around