These Roasted Onions are an incredibly quick and easy recipe to make and are packed with deliciously sweet and umami flavors.
This is one of the side dishes that is served with traditional Turkish kebabs. Onions are roasted on a charcoal grill along with kebabs and served together. If you are looking for more delicious red onion recipes, you can try our sumac onions salad, which is another side for kebabs. Also, you can make stuffed onions made with flavorful rice and ground beef.
We love roasting onions, especially red onions so much that we even use them in veggie kabobs. They always add an amazing sweetness and richness to any dish.
Can you cook red onions in advance? Yes! These roast onions can save you a ton of prep time, especially when making large mezze platters with loads of components. Let’s learn how to roast onions and enjoy it in several ways.
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Why We Like This Recipe
- This is one of those easy and simple recipes with red onions that can be whipped up in less than 40 minutes.
- These roasted onions go well with any main dish because of their well-balanced sweet and sour flavors.
- It can be made ahead of time.
- It is very easy to store leftovers!
About The Ingredients
Onions: You can use any type of onion that you’d like including red onions, yellow onions or white onions. We often prefer using red or purple onions for their bright and beautiful color. You can also use little red onions.
Pomegranate molasses: For this recipe, we use homemade pomegranate molasses. It is an incredibly popular Turkish ingredient that can be found in your local Middle Eastern market or online. It's a very thick concentrated sour syrup made from pomegranate juice. You can substitute it with lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, although these will change the flavor.
Sumac spice: It is a delicious spice with a lemony flavor with an earthy tanginess. It adds incredible depth to your onions and there isn’t a substitute that can do it justice!
Dill: We like to use fresh dill, but you can also use some fresh parsley or thyme.
Additional Flavors to Add
Brown sugar is an excellent addition to red onion cooking and it will help your onions caramelize faster. It will also add a deeper and much richer flavor.
Another fantastic addition is garlic. Garlic adds a very powerful savory flavor to the roasted sliced red onion that can help balance the sweetness.
You can also easily add a ton of other vegetables. Some of our favorites include mushrooms, green onions, and bell peppers. Try to choose vegetables that will take more or less the same time to roast.
How To Make
These flavor-packed baked red onions are incredibly quick to make. You can substitute any of the ingredients and even add some more if you’d like! Cooking red onions has never been this easy!
Preheat the oven and prepare the onions. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Peel the raw red onions and yellow or white onions and leave the papery skin on. Remove the root end and cut them into onion wedges. You can also make thick rings if you are using large red onions.
Pack the onions. Place the red onion slices or quarters inside a baking dish or roasting tray in a single layer. Drizzle the onions with olive oil and sprinkle over some salt. Stir the onions with a spoon to ensure they are well covered.
Roast the onions for roughly 30 minutes or until they are soft and caramelized. Once the onions have completely cooked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool slightly.
Add the remaining ingredients. Stir in the sumac, pomegranate molasses, and fresh dill. Serve the onions warm or at room temperature.
To store the leftovers, place them in an airtight container inside the fridge, and reheat them when you need them again.
Tips
When cooking with red onions, make sure to layer the onions in a single layer with none of them overlapping. If they overlap, it will make steamed onions instead of roasting red onions. For this red onions recipe, you want caramelized onions with that delicious sweet and sticky flavor and texture.
You can store any leftover roast red onion inside an airtight container. Keep them inside a refrigerator for up to 4 days before serving them again. To reheat, either bring them back to room temperature or reheat them inside a pan with a bit of oil.
Do not allow the roasted red onions to sit at room temperature for more than an hour. If they do, they will start to smell bad and won’t be appealing to look at either.
Be careful not to overbake the onions. If you overcook them, they will lose their sweetness, become very dry, and they might even burn.
Serving Suggestions
These roasted red onions are traditionally served as an easy side dish for Turkish kebabs at kebab restaurants. However, these are only some of the popular mezzes that are served alongside them.
You can create your very own delicious kebab platter including these baked red onions, shepherd salad, spicy ezme, and cacik or haydari meze dip.
When it comes to choosing which kebab you are serving it with, there isn’t a wrong answer! Because of the simplistic flavor of these over roasted onion slices, you can pair it with many chicken dishes and meat dishes.
You can serve it alongside our famous kofta kebab or Adana kebab. Both of these meaty kebabs are packed with spices and delicious lamb flavors that will pair amazingly well with the sweetness of the roasted red onion.
But, if you are looking for kebabs that are slightly easier to make (or at least require less work), you can always try our delicious shish lamb kebabs or this refreshing chicken kebabs recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this recipe, we cut it in quarters after peeling because we find it easy. But this is not the only way. You can also cut it into thick rings. If the onions are not huge, you can even roast them whole.
Most vegetables including onions are perfectly roasted at 400F/200C.
No. If you cover them, onions will be steamed and won’t have that caramelized flavor.
Yes. You can roast any onion you have on hand. Red onions, white onions, yellow onions, brown onions all work fine. Although they might have slightly different flavors or sweetness, they all taste amazing when roasted.
As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!
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Roasted Onions Recipe
An easy roasted salad or side dish with roasted red onions, yellow onions, fresh dill, sumac and pomegranate molasses.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 6 medium sized onions (red and white mixed)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 1 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 400F/200C.
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Peel the onions and cut them into quarters.
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Put them in a baking dish in a single layer.
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Sprinkle salt and drizzle olive oil over them. Stir well with a spoon.
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Roast in the oven until soft and caramelized, for 30 minutes.
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Remove from the oven and let them cool down.
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Add in sumac, pomegranate molasses and fresh dill. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
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Make sure the onion wedges are not overlapping. Put them in the baking dish in a single layer to have the best result. Otherwise, they will be steamed.
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You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days. Then it’s better to bring it to room temperature or to reheat in a pan.
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Don’t let the roasted onions sit at room temperature for more than an hour. Otherwise, they start to smell bad.
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Don’t overbake the onions. Otherwise, they might lose their sweetness and juiciness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 96
- Sugar: 7.3 g
- Sodium: 406.2 mg
- Fat: 4.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.1 g
- Protein: 1.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Khalifa says
This has become our go-to side dish to serve with our bbq chicken kebabs. Love the combo of onion-sumac-pomegranate molasses. YUM!
Roxana GreenGirl {A little bit of everything} says
i have tried sumac only on bread and in pilaf but never thought of pairing them with onion.
the mint salad sounds refreshing!
Peggy says
I'm definitely intrigued by the sumac rub on the onions! I bet it was delicious =)
Monet says
What an unusual idea! Thank you for sharing with me. I hope you are having a relaxing weekend with family and good food. Many blessings this week, my friend!
Aggie says
I love onions and roasted onions are a favorite.I have yet to try sumac but would love to. this looks delicious!
Kristi Rimkus says
I would never have thought to serve roasted onion in this manner, but it sounds wonderful. As you say, roasted onions are so sweet, and I love the tender texture.
Zerrin says
I'm sure you will love it!
The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time says
The freshness of both of those dishes is wonderful. I love roasted onions but have never had them with sumac on them. The simple salad of mint, parsley and radish is gorgeous.
Zerrin says
Sumac and onion are always great companions! Do try it!
Christine says
This sounds and looks good.