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Caramelized onion mashed potatoes are a quick and easy comfort food side dish to make. This recipe is the perfect pairing for just about any protein!
What are your favorite comfort foods like?
Do you like them when they are sweet, salty, or crunchy? Or would you rather have savory, creamy, and filling foods? Of course, I will never turn away from sweet strawberries, but my favorite kinds of comfort food are meals that stick to my ribs and fill me up.
Recipes like my 15-bean soup, my beef chili, cheesy tater tot casserole, and mashed potatoes are what I crave when I want comforting food.
Or in the case of today’s recipe, not just any kind of mashed potatoes. This time, I made caramelized onion mashed potatoes.
What is caramelized food?
Caramelizing is a cooking technique that is often associated with sugar. When you cook sugar over low heat until the sugar reduces down and turns a golden/amber color, that’s caramelizing it.
Caramelized onions are onions that have been cooked over low heat until the sugar in the onions reduces down, causing the onions to turn a golden/amber color. Caramelizing concentrates the intensity of the sugar in whatever you are cooking. That’s why candy caramels are so sweet, and why caramelized onions are so much sweeter than they are when you just saute them.
These caramelized onion mashed potatoes go really well with hearty meat like ham and beef, but they are also perfect with lighter meats like turkey and chicken. When I made these potatoes, I served them with browned butter chicken. Talk about delicious! I’ll be sharing that chicken recipe tomorrow, so be sure to come back for it.
I hope your family likes this mashed potatoes recipe as much as my family does.
Total Servings 6 servings
Buttery mashed potatoes are combined with sweet caramelized onions for a hearty comfort food side dish.
15 minPrep (inc. refrigeration & rest time)
45 minCook Time
1 hrTotal Time
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large Vidalia or Walla Walla onions, diced
- 5 large russet potatoes, washed, peeled, and quartered
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less, to preferred taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (more or less, to preferred taste)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions and saute, stirring occasionally, until onions are fragrant and golden brown (about 45 minutes).
- Fill a large pot with water, add potatoes, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and boil until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork (about 15 minutes)
- Meanwhile, heat buttermilk and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Don’t let it boil.
- After potatoes have cooked to fork tender, drain the water and return them to the hot pot to allow excess moisture to be removed.
- Add warm buttermilk/butter mixture and use a potato masher to mash the potatoes by hand (my preferred method) or use the paddle attachment of an electric stand mixer.
- Stir in the caramelized onions, salt, and pepper. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Important Notes
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light
