Stuffed Onions

Why We Love This Recipe

• These are one of the best traditional Turkish dishes, so we feel at home when we make these.
• They have an incredibly well-balanced middle eastern flavors. All of the ingredients in this recipe create a seamless balance of savory and sweet flavors.
• These make a much fancy looking dinner.
• You can make this recipe ahead of time. Because they can take a while to make, this is the perfect recipe to make ahead of time and they store very well.
• They make incredible leftovers. You can either store them in the fridge or freeze them for up to three months!
• They also make a perfect snack or appetizer, but can also be served as an accompaniment or main dish.

About The Ingredients

• Onions: Use either purple or white onions. We love the color of purple ones when baked, so we prefer them.
• Meat: We traditionally use ground beef for this recipe, however, you can use any type of ground meat you want. Try some ground lamb, pork, chicken, or even a combination of these meats.
• Rice: Although there isn’t a strict rule about the type, we love to use Turkish osmancik rice for stuffing veggies. Osmancik rice is a type of long-grain rice that is easy to cook. It is sold as stuffing rice (dolmalık pirinç) or pudding rice (sütlaç pirinci). Short-grain or medium-grain rice works fine too. Alternatively, you can use a combination of rice and bulgur as we do in our stuffed dried eggplant recipe.
• Spices: We use black pepper, red pepper flakes and dried mint in the filling. You can substitute paprika or sweet chili powder for red pepper flakes. We love using dried mint for all of our dolma, stuffed vegetable recipes, so do not leave it out. It adds an incredibly delicious and refreshing flavor that cannot be matched by any other spice. We even use it in the sauce we pour over stuffed onions when baking.
• Tomato paste: We use homemade sun-dried tomato paste both in the filling and in the sauce for the richest flavor. Try to use a good quality tomato paste. 
• Herbs: We only use fresh parsley in the filling but you can add fresh mint and basil too.
• Olive oil: Use a good quality of olive oil. The quality of olive oil matters especially if you plan to make it vegetarian. We want to feel the flavor of olive oil more when there is no meat in stuffed vegetables. We even serve them with an extra drizzle of olive oil.
• Optional lemon juice: We sometimes use fresh lemon juice in the filling or serve the dish with a wedge of lemon on the side. If you want to add some sour touch on these, include a lemon in your ingredient list.

How To Make The Recipe

This recipe is much easier than it looks and once you get the hang of the stuffing process, you can whip it up in no time! These baked stuffed onions will add a very classy look to your dinner table and make excellent snacks, accompaniments, or an entire meal on its own.

First, prepare the filling: Heat the olive oil over medium heat and fry the onions until they become translucent. Add the tomato paste and cook it for about a minute. Lower the heat and add the ground beef.

Make sure to break it apart so that there aren’t any chunks.

Then, add the cooked rice and the spices for the filling. Cover the mixture and allow it to cook for 5 minutes. Remove the filling from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley.

Second, prepare and stuff the onions: Peel the onions and remove the tops. Cut one side from top to bottom straight into the center of the onion, but not all the way through.

Cook the onions in boiling water for about 10 minutes or until they become tender. Drain them from the water and allow them to cool enough. Then separate the layers of each onion. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Place a tablespoon filling in each onion layer.

Wrap it loosely around the filling. The rice should have some space to rise.

Place the onions you stuff with the rice and beef filling in a baking pan or in an authentic clay pot.

Third, make the sauce and bake the onions: To make the sauce, simply combine tomato paste, dried mint, water, and olive oil. Pour the sauce over them.

Now bake them for 30 minutes, until the top of the onions start to brown and the sauce has reduced.

Remove the onions from the oven and allow them to rest for 15 minutes. Serve them with some reduced sauce and if you want, some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Tips

• It is extremely important to not overcook the rice. When you are making the ground beef and rice filling, do not completely cook the rice. It will continue cooking in the oven when it bakes.
• When you are preparing the onions, do not cut them in half. You only want to slice them into the center from the top of the onion to the bottom. And don't worry, the layers will easily separate once they have been boiled.
• You can cook these stuffed onions in a pan on the stove-top too. You have to add half of the sauce when you start and the remaining sauce later if it's needed. Make sure to use medium heat to prevent the onions from cooking too fast and burning.
• These stuffed onions can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days! This means you can easily store any leftovers (if you are lucky enough to have any) or you can make this dish in advance. Alternatively, you can freeze these stuffed onions for 3 months.

FAQs

More Recipes With Onions

• Sumac Onions Salad
• Caramelized Onions
• Roasted Red Onions

More Stuffed Vegetables

• Turkish Cabbage Rolls Vegetarian
• Stuffed Grape Leaves Dolma
• Stuffed Dried Eggplants
• Stuffed Artichokes In Oven