Basic Onion Sauce Recipe

November 9, 2008 by Mansi

Onion Sauce is a base for most Indian Curries and Italians Pasta dishes. Onions also hold an important place in several other styles of cooking and types of cuisine – in fact, its hard to imagine a dish without that! It’s most versatile too, sauteed, caramelized, used as a base, served as a garnish, dried and crushed with garlic and herbs, eaten raw in salads, or used to make onion-sauce with other additives, Onions have a fan-following of their own. Here are a few recipes for variations of Onion Sauce, which can be used fresh for curries or to flavor pastas, casseroles and more! [image courtesy – wikimedia]

There a million different ways you can modify or adapt a Basic Onion Sauce Recipe. Like for a Garlic Onion Sauce, mince some garlic and add it to the buttered pan along with onions. For a Caramelized Onion Sauce, use slow heat to caramelize your onions and add some brown sugar and paprika. For an Onion Wine Sauce which goes great with Pasta, add some Marsala or other flavored wine to the sauce while cooking. You can also combine this with additives like Chives, Parsely, Button Mushrooms or different types of Cheese to make any Onion Sauce variation that you fancy. Here’s a basic recipe and some other inspirational recipes to get you on board the Onion Sauce train!

Basic Onion Sauce Recipe

Ingredients
Makes about 1.5 cups onion sauce

2 white onions, chopped finely
4 tbsp butter (divided, 2 + 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper – to taste
3 tbsp heavy cream

Method
Cook the onions in 2 tbsp butter until they are very soft (about 12 minutes). They should turn pinkish-brown, not too dark brown or burnt.

In a saucepan, melt the other 2 tbsp of butter and incorporate the flour, stirring over low heat for about two minutes.

Gradually whisk in the milk, blending well after each addition. Cook the sauce over low to medium heat until it thickens and comes just to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the cooked onions and heavy cream.

At this point, you can proceed with any other variations you might have.

Interesting Recipes with Onion Sauce Variations
Farro with Asparagus & Green Onion Sauce – 101Cookbooks
Ravioli with Onion-Tomato-Basil Sauce – Fun and Food
Goat Cheese Crepes with Sweet Onion Sauce – Recipeland
Red Pepper Onion Cream Sauce – Sarah’s Food

Its always nice to have a basic Onion Sauce recipe at hand that you can rely on all the time. But one always looks for flavor variations to customize your pasta, a batch of savoury crepes or more. Hope the ideas above help you find your flair!