TikTok's Buttery Onion Boil Is A Trend Worth Trying
Once upon a time, you'd have to travel to the local book merchant, battle parchment mites, and sift through dozens of cookery volumes to pluck but one humble recipe to bring back to the homestead. Today, recipes are served up right on social media for all your beachside, bedtime, and sad desk lunch scrolling. That means, of course, that some are going to be better than others. TikTok's viral onion boil is one that's worth a shot.
An effective riff if there ever was one, the onion boil (or baked onion) takes a lot of what's great about cooked onions and actually makes it easier to achieve. Consider a beautiful batch of caramelized onions. Their rich, soothing fragrance fills your kitchen like a hug, but they always take a lot longer than instructions imply. And that's often in active stirring time, not just passive simmering. (Although, we do have a steamy shortcut for faster caramelized onions!) What the onion boil does, instead, is pack a lot of those caramelized qualities — soft, rich, near sweetness — all into one ball of foil.
Making an onion boil at home
To recreate this trendy allium trick, you need only one large yellow onion, a few pats of unsalted butter, salt (we know, we know, the flavor is just more controllable this way), and pepper. From there, you can use additional herbs and spices as you wish, or infuse them directly into a compound butter. A bit of garlic would be nice, and even powdered should be successful in this case. You'll core the onion, then slice an X about a third of the way down from the top. Next, stuff it with the butter, likely a few tablespoons to fit. Season, wrap in foil, and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour for a hands-off approximation of what might have otherwise had you sweating over the stove for just as long.
@stephpappas Finally making an onion boil!!!🧅😍
Some OnionTok videos use other heat sources like an open flame, and many internet denizens have pointed out that the newly popular preparation shares a lot of technique with the seafood boil that they have been enjoying for time immemorial. And that would certainly make for a tasty pairing. It's also an obvious match for a butter-basted steak, as a grilled cheese upgrade, or easily slotted in just about anywhere you'd enjoy caramelized onions.