The Unconventional Trick Bobby Flay Uses When Grilling Onions

Summer means it's grilling season. If you're grilling onions to add to a cheesy Juicy Lucy burger or a chopped salad, the best way to grill onions may not be how you think. It might be easier to grab a page from Food Network's Bobby Flay, who doesn't remove the peels of onions before he grills them. The Iron Chef explains in a Food Network clip (via Instagram) that he keeps the skins on onions so they remain in circular form as they grill, then he removes these peels after the onions have charred and turned smoky and caramelized. The peels can be eaten, but if they've really blackened under the grill heat, they might not taste so good.

To prep red onions for the grill for his eggplant salad, Flay just sprinkles a little salt and pepper on each onion round and brushes them with Canola oil so they don't stick to the grill. It's super easy. But the skin serves another person: In another Food Network clip (via Instagram) where he is prepping Vidalia onions to top burgers, Flay explains that keeping the skin "intact" also makes it a lot easier to flip the onion slices.

Bobby Flay's barbecue grilling tip is a game changer, but there's more to grilling onions. Regardless of that thin skin allowing the onion to keep its form as it cooks, your onion slices still need to have a little bit of thickness to them so they don't fall through the grates, so keep them at least ½-inch thick. Depending on how thick you make them, you can expect between five and six slices from a large onion.

Onions soften and caramelize rather quickly over direct heat, so be vigilant, especially if you're multitasking. Four to five minutes per side is plenty of time to achieve those coveted black grill marks. Use your grilled onions to help a homemade salsa outshine everyone else's, elevate fajitas, change a ho-hum sandwich into a gourmet meal, or add a sweet and delicious element to a favorite homemade pizza.