Fat-Free Onion Cream

I’ve been experimenting with a new base for fat-free sauces and dressings, and it has opened up so many new possibilities to me that I wanted to share it with you before I start inundating you with recipes that use it. It contains 3 ingredients, no soy or nuts, and is gluten-free.

It’s called Fat-Free Onion Cream and is so easy to make that a video can sum it up. So I made one.

It’s ridiculously easy and ridiculously good (if you like onions–more about that in a minute).

Let me be clear that I did not come up with this idea. I believe that honor goes to ChefSteps, though I found it on Food52. ChefSteps also has a cool video, but without my dirty oven in it.

Onion Cream is not a neutral sauce, so please don’t try to use it in sweet dishes. It tastes like onions. When you roast them, your whole house will smell like onions. So if you have onion-haters, tell them to get the heck out of the house while you’re making this. I love onions and the smell of roasted onions, so I was pretty much rolling around my kitchen floor like my cat Loki in a catnip garden.

So far I’ve used onion cream in Fat-Free Onion Ranch Dressing and an amazing Comeback Sauce, and I have many more bright ideas for this cream that I’ll be testing. But while I’m playing with it, I thought you could be too. So here’s the recipe. Be sure to leave a comment letting me know what you do with it.

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5 from 2 votes

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Fat-Free Onion Cream

Though any type of onion will do, for the whitest cream, use white onions. Roasting sweetens onions, so if you use a sweet variety, you will probably need to add more lemon juice to offset it.

Course Condiments

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 47 minutes

Servings 8

Author Susan Voisin

Ingredients

• 4 medium onions
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking dish with parchment paper, if you like, to make cleanup easier. Place the onions in the dish and bake until soft all the way through. If you’re using a metal pan with no parchment, 45 minutes may be enough but for ceramic dishes, be prepared to add more time. Onions should be darkened on the outside and almost squishy.
• Allow the onions to cool until they’re comfortable to handle. Peel onions and discard peel and any discolored parts. Place onion “innards” in a high-powered blender along with lemon juice and salt. Blend until silky smooth. Check flavor and add more lemon juice or salt if necessary.
• Use to add creaminess and flavor to soups (such as tomato soup) and other dishes or as the base for salad dressings and sauces, like my Fat-Free Onion Ranch. Makes about 1 cup.

Notes

I used 4 onions that ranged from small (3 ounces) to medium (6 ounces). If your onions are different sizes as mine were, they will probably cook at different speeds so be prepared to take each one out as it becomes soft.

You can increase the richness by blending in a few cashews, but then it's no longer fat-free.

One serving is 2 tablespoons.

Adapted from Food 52.

Nutrition Facts

Fat-Free Onion Cream

Amount Per Serving (2 tablespoons)

Calories 22

% Daily Value*

Sodium 75mg 3%

Total Carbohydrates 5.25g 2%

Dietary Fiber 1g 4%

Sugars 2.3g

Protein 0.6g 1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional info is approximate.

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