The tantalizing aroma of onions cooking always promises a culinary delight. There’s nothing quite like it for an onion fan! We love them caramelized, sautéed, grilled, and baked. Often baked onions are made with a sweet variety of onion, like Vidalia, Maui, Walla Walla or Texas sweet onions. But, because cooking brings out the natural sweetness in onions, we prefer to make this dish with regular yellow onions. They end up being slightly sweet anyway, but not too sweet! Topped with grated cheese, they are sure to become one of your favorite side dishes! They may be the easiest fancy dish ever!
When it comes to the cheese, we love Gruyere in this dish, but have made it with sharp cheddar, Gouda and once in a while add in a little Parmesan, too. You can really make them with your favorite cheese, so long as you can grate it. We don’t add butter, as many recipes call for, but we do drizzle just a bit of cream over the cheese before baking.
This recipe is a wonderful side dish for chicken, steak or even lamb, and if you really want to be decadent, put a slice on your burger! That is a real treat, and you won’t need to add a slice of cheese to the burger since there’s already cheese baked with ten onions.
For a larger group, just double the recipe and bake it in a 9×13 inch baking dish.
Cheesy Baked Onions
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme)
- 1/2 tsp. white pepper
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (Or gouda, sharp cheddar, or your favorite cheese)
- 2 tbsp. cream or half and half
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.
- Peel onions and slice into 1/4-1/2-inch rings. Lay the onions in the bottom of the prepared dish. If you like the look, you can gently loosen the rings to create more divots for the cheese to pool. Don’t separate them completely, just loosen them a bit.
- Season with thyme, salt and white pepper.
- Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and drizzle the cream over the cheese.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, uncovered, or until onions are tender and cheese is bubbly and golden-brown. Serve hot.
