Dry Some Caramelized Onions and Crumble Them All

I would like to think that I am the kind of person who will spend time washing, drying and chopping the various ingredients needed to make a salad, but I am not. I’m lazy, which is why I was on lettuce bags recently. These kits offer an easy way to make sure I actually eat vegetables from time to time. However, I’m not lazy enough not to joke with them, and my favorite trick at the moment is to sprinkle dried caramelized onions on every salad I eat.

While I would never call these savory little guys “vegan bacon slices” or anything equally silly, I admit they do the job of bacon slices with ease. They may not be made with pork or have a smoky flavor, but they are salty, savory, and sweet, with a deep umami that can secure a bowl of chopped kale and kale.

Besides raw vegetables, dehydrated caramelized onions are the perfect finishing touch to just about anything. I liked them sprinkled with scrambled eggs, fried right in the egg whites, mixed with mashed potatoes and sprinkled on a plate of lima beans. Mix them with sour cream and they will moisten to make a wonderful sauce. Grind them with salt and you get caramelized onion salt (use a ratio of 3 parts onion to 2 parts salt).

How to Dehydrate Caramelized Onions

The method for making dehydrated caramelized onions is right there in the name, albeit a bit out of order: first you caramelize some onions (I do this on a baking sheet in the oven ), then you dehydrate them. If you have a food grade dehydrator, just follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have a food dryer, set your oven to the highest temperature. For me it’s 185℉, but 200℉ is fine. I also used my oven’s convection setting to speed up the process.

Spread the caramelized onions in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper. Place in the oven at 185℉ until the onion is dry to the touch and can be crushed and crumbled between your fingers. (Stop too soon and you’ll have something that tastes and feels like sun-dried caramelized onion jerky, which is fine too.) I dried my last batch for eight hours in a 185-degree oven, then turned the oven off and let them to cool down inside. for another hour. They were perfect.

Once your onion is dry and crumbly, it’s time to start crumbling. Sprinkle them on proteins, vegetables, cereals, pasta, popcorn, soups, salads, sauces, and anything else that requires a dose of salty and sweet umami.