Joy the Baker

Whole Roasted Onions

by 86 Comments

 whole roasted onions

Here’s how this is going to go down, my friends:  whole roasted sweet yellow onions, roasted with olive oil and butter, roasted with rosemary, roasted whole, roasted to sweet submission.  

It’s cold.  I mean… really cold.  Here’s our chance to crank up the oven, throw these onions inside and lean against the oven door as they transform from sharp and bite-y to soft and sweet.  

Oh wait… you might be one of those people who think they don’t like onions.   I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong.  You exclusively like whole roasted onions.  

Now let’s carry on. 

whole roasted onions

Roasting is magic.  It’s as simple as that. 

These onions, tops removed and toasted in their jackets, become soft, smooth, sweet, and almost spreadable.  I served mine along side thin cut pork chops and salad because I’m really good at living. 

Happy Winter! 

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Whole Roasted Onions

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Joy the Baker
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 45
  • Total Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

Scale
  • 9 small and medium yellow onions
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, thinly sliced
  • coarse sea salt
  • fresh cracked black pepper
  • fresh rosemary sprigs

Instructions

  1. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Cut the tops off of each onion, but leave most of the skins on the onion.
  3. Arrange the onions in a square baking dish or a rimmed sheet pan.
  4. Drizzle the olive oil over the onions. Place a thin pat of butter on each onion.
  5. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and top with a rosemary sprig.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes until bubbling and tender.
  7. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until the onions are completely tender and the tops are browned.
  8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
  9. Remove the skins, slice and enjoy warm.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Kellie @Supperthymee

    This is fabulous….but that pan looks like a nightmare to clean…I think I’ll slip some parchment underneath when I try this…

    Reply

  8. Lynn Rohrs

    These were very good but took a LOT longer to cook than the recipe called for. I used the smallest onions I had but they were still likely bigger. I’d say it took at least an hour and 15 minutes and could have used a bit more.

    Reply

  9. Karen Aamodt

    Awesome, thanks for jump starting supper for me tonight! I often roast several onions along with whatever root veg I have on hand and I am always surprised (why???) at how well everyone loves them. I’ve combined red and white/yellow/brown onions or shallots with regular Yukon gold potatoes AND sweet potatoes, hard squashes, carrots, parsnips, and towards the end I toss in Brussels sprouts cleaved in two. Isn’t it amazing what a little olive oil, butter and herbs/spices can do? Even better with a rib-eye steak but not required. Stay warm everyone!

    Reply

  10. Sheryn Major

    We love vegetable suppers. We love baked sweet potatoes and then I’ll add a small yellow onion to go along with each serving that bakes with the potatoes the last 30 to 40 minutes. A healthy filling and easy clean up evening.

    Reply

  11. yo

    This was fun. I neither cut the onions nor baked at the second temperature, but peeled off the dry skin and baked at 375 for about an hour and a half. I laid them out with the roots sticking up which created layers the rose from the onion looking like a meat thermometer that pops up. Effortless.

    Reply

  15. h7opolo

    I tried this with large red onions. They were still basically raw after all that time in the oven. My chef instincts told me to cover the pan with foil. Maybe they’ll finish off well now that the foil is on.

    Reply

  18. Loki

    Scoop out the center (use a small paring knife and be careful) and chop the removed onion. Fry it up with some bacon and garlic. Stuff mixture back into the center of the onion, drizzle with olive oil….. then roast them.

    You’re welcome.

    Reply

  19. Lauren Turbes

    Hey I tried this and it was awesome, but I was definitely expecting it to be softer, esp. because I ended up cooking it a good twenty minutes longer than called for. I left the butter pat off because I’m dairy free. Is there anything I can do to help this carmelize better?

    Reply

  20. Kristen

    I just made these and they were amazing! i only made one though and devoured it for lunch, i have an onion obsession an this was perfect.

    Reply

  21. Donny

    My Dad used to season them similarly, wrap them in foil and throw them on the grill when he did steaks – he’d keep them on for a while before he threw the steaks on. Delicious on top of that grilled steak and over a the baked potato!

    Reply

  22. atiggerx33

    I tried making something very similar a while ago (didn’t know other people did, I just thought I was the nutty onion lover) after reading a recipe in Game of Thrones oddly enough. It mentions one of the characters eating a roasted onion covered in gravy. So while I wouldn’t suggest you cover all of your onions in gravy and potentially ruin them, next time you pair them with a meat that involved gravy maybe take a small slice and give it a little dip, see how it tastes? With just a small slice there isn’t much to lose!

    For some reason when I made them (idk if this is the norm)… well I expected the onions to taste like sauteed onions, just large and maybe just a BIT sweeter, but they tasted ridiculously sweet (their taste reminded me of how sweet air smells). Is this the norm? I didn’t have a recipe and used primarily butter instead of olive oil, would the butter make it more sweet than the oil?

    Reply

  23. Frealz

    Ugh! Comments are only food blog groupies, no one has actually tried this? Who are the people out there commenting on these things that it “looks/sounds so good” or “can’t wait to try it”? Are you all just people trying to redirect attention to your own food blogs?

    Can’t wait for someone to try it…sounds amazing…

    Reply

  24. tracie

    they do freeze beautifully! theres 4 of us I made a whole tray full and froze them in 4s, reheated in oven after defrosting and delicious. perfect for a huge sack. I also slice about 5 kg and put them in the slow cooker for a day with butter olive oil and black pepper then portion them up to freeze. caramalised onions whenever I need them

    Reply

  26. judith herring

    try boiling them, taking off skins, cut in half placein dish cover with heavy cream and parmesan cheese then bake .wow

    Reply

  27. Elisa

    Trim a little bit off the root end so that you have a flat spot for them to sit level. After you brown them on the top, flip them over for the bottom to brown, as the browned parts are the very sweetest.

    Reply

  29. Amanda

    Oh I bet this would make the best garlic-y onion bread!! Roasted onion and garlic.. Holy moly! Thank you for sharing this idea and kicking my imagination into gear! I love some of the other commenter’s ideas too! Baked potatoes! NICE.

    Reply

  32. Jenny R

    I second the comment for wanting to know how you cook thin pork chops without them tasting over dry! Pretty please tell us??

    Reply

  35. foyupdate

    I love it when you post a recipe I have all the ingredients for on hand AND it fits into my pre-existing dinner plan.

    They tasted like roasted onions you might have had in a root vegetable medly. I was hoping they would become creamier than normal roasted onions, more like roasted garlic, but alas no. They were pretty.

    Also I was impatient and they were too hot to slice thin, so I just cut one in half and put it on the dinner plate with some coleslaw, roasted butternut and hamburgers. I roasted the onions in the same oven as the squash so they were easy to make.

    Whole Roasted Onions were not bad, but not as special as they look. #my2cents

    Reply

  40. Melanie @ Carmel Moments

    I’m a ONION LoVER and I’ve never tried making whole roasted onions. Brilliancy at it’s best. These have got to be amazing. Onions are one of my favorite parts of roasted veggies.

    Hope you had a wonderful weekend Joy!

    Reply

  41. Amy

    I ran out of onions for a brief and terrible time last week. Do you know what I thought about the whole time? ONIONS. Onions are SO good for you that native Americans used to very jealously guard and claim wild onion fields for their own. They believed that onions were a sort of potent medicine. THIS recipe looks awesome, by the way!

    Reply

  42. Jen

    My sister introduced me to onion bombs – take an onion like this, top with butter and a beef buillion cube, wrap in aluminum foil and grill. AMAZING. Can’t wait to try this indoor version!

    Reply

  43. LOLA DAVIS

    No need to roast onions separately. They cook well in their skins ,tucked in – normally one per person – with any roast joint/chicken/ potatoes.Put in about half an hour to forty-five minutes (depending on size) before the end of cooking. If your chicken for example has produced a lot of juice,better to pour some off before adding the onions,so they don’t stew.

    Reply

  50. Gerlinde at Sunnycovechef

    These are the last three days in my mother’s kitchen in Germany and I have some onions left. What a good idea to use them. I just have to figure out what to serve with them, maybe some Rouladen ( rolled beef, stuffed with bacon and pickles) .

    Reply

  52. Lori

    I cannot wait to try this! I roast lots of veggies but have never thought of this. They look amazing! Love your photos!

    Reply

  53. Heather V

    I’m making this right now, and the whole house smells so delicious! I can hardly wait to shamelessly stuff my face with these.

    Reply

  56. Joanna

    No, no, no! Ok, they do look nice, possibly they are delicious (for some people) but I am an anti- onion person and eating them whole like that would be a cruel thing to do (to myself)! :)

    Reply

  59. Kimberley

    Love this! Another neat way is to slice them thick and lay them flat on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and throw them under the broiler! You can just eat them all by themselves in that tangy goodness!

    Reply

  64. Jenn

    Those look delicious! Is there a magic trick you use to clean the bottom of your dish? I love roasted veggies but hate the mess left behind :(

    Reply

  67. AnnaZed

    Of course! Leave those lovely papery skins on. Sort of a why-didn’t-I-think-of-that (?) kind of thing (but I never do). The real question is how you cook thin pork chops without creating small leathery bits of horror.

    Reply

  69. chilebeanz

    I cook at least one onion per day for the two of us, and now I will have another way to feature them! I will toss in some carrots and potatoes alongside, and that will be the highlight of tonight’s dinner! Healthy and so delish!

    Reply

  73. Greg

    Looks like your onions fit well in the pan. If they do not, would you recommend using a little aluminum foil as spacers to get them all to stand up? Also, my wife likes sweet onions. Any modification needed if I use sweet onions other then probably fewer fit into the pan?
    Looking forward to trying this one.

    Reply

  79. Kristin

    my father used to drop whole onions in my great grandmother’s simmering marinara sauce pot because he loves them so much. this would blow his mind.

    Reply

  81. ksenchan

    I am a big fan of onions, and I love how simple it is. Though I imagine it might be difficult to pair with anything other than meat?

    Reply

    • MaggieD

      They would go with lots of veggie things: nut loaf, fritatta, with a big lump of cheddar and some crusty bread, or sliced onto a pizza base would be good too, with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. Yum!

      Reply

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