TikTok's Viral "Onion Boil" Has Been Taking The Internet By Storm, And I'll Be Honest — It's 100% Worth Trying
I'm all about quick, easy, and tasty recipes; I have ADHD, and a lot of my homemade meals are the result of what I call "survival cooking," more popularly known as "girl dinner." Thankfully, Mimi Baretela on TikTok shared one of her favorite snacks that is not only delicious but good for you, according to her.
tiktok.com / Via tiktok.com
Her follow-up video addressing how "normal" this snack may be to people or not, however, actually went viral. Commenters had a LOT to say on this onion-centric dish.
Of course, other delicious versions of this recipe have gone viral as well. User Big Papa Hannah "brought out her whole kitchen" and added Tony's Creole seasoning, Old Bay, Simply Spicy Spice's garlic herb lemon pepper seasoning, and parsley. Continuing in the spirit of seasoning however you like, Soogia is another user who made hers based on "feelings and emotions." As the founder of her own gochujang brand Soogia Foods, she added her Go-To Jang (great name) to her version, which is inspired more by Hannah's recipe. Both created divots for their main fat, which was butter, then wrapped their onions and cooked it for longer.
We've already had a cucumber salad phase, which is all fine and good for the summer, but now, with Cozy Season in full swing, it's the perfect time to try an onion boil!
Just to clarify, there is no actual boiling involved. It's more baking than anything, or maybe a broil if you so choose to!
Basically, Baretela's recipe is to season the shit out of an onion with whatever you have. Easy!
I like recipes like these because they're accessible. As Baretela assures, it's really "working with what you have." There's no need to get every single ingredient listed for fear that the whole dish will fall apart.
"You can season this how you like. There's no wrong or right way," she said. Thanks, queen!
Her recipe calls for pouring whatever oil you have (hers is vegetable oil) onto the onions, then seasoning with garlic salt, garlic powder, paprika, turmeric, and black pepper, and then hitting it with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute. After massaging the onion with the various seasonings, she adds a pat of margarine on top. She then puts them in her air fryer on the bake setting (huge sigh of relief for me, who does not have an air fryer) at 350°F for 25 minutes.
If you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby, look for other brands available at your local grocery store that have a similar spice mix. I truly lucked out — mine had three more spices than TJ's!
Unlike Baretela, my eyeballs immediately started sweating as I cut into my jumbo yellow onions. Still, I persevered; after removing the skins, tops, and bottoms from each onion, I had two gorgeous globular vessels ready for at least 24 different spices, herbs, and fats to board.
Next, I seasoned the onions. I made up some measurements, which would leave you a good amount of leftover sauce. (Pro-tip: I used the remaining sauce as a dip for each deeper layer when I ate the onion after.)
Francesca Rivera
• 2 large yellow onions
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp multi-spice mix (again, at least 20 to cover all your bases!)
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Then I made a little tin foil dish on my baking sheet to hold some of the sauce so the onions could bake in them a little bit. Following Baretela's instructions, I put my onions in at 350°F for 25 minutes.
Francesca Rivera
Voila!
Francesca Rivera
Here you can see how it baked almost all the way through. The outer layers were cooked through and had some of the seasoning infused. The very center was still fairly white, retaining a bit of a snap while still warm and softened.
After eating through the first few layers, I can say that the following image is an accurate depiction of how I feel about eating this: two HUGE thumbs up.
The very outer layer on one of the onions was a bit tough and probably should've been sloughed off when I was preparing, but the seasoning distracted me from how tough it was. After that first layer, however, I was really transported to a flavor heaven more involved than Dr. Pepper but less than Baskin Robbins (again, the 20+ spices).
It was indulgent, but I didn't feel guilty about it because I was literally eating a vegetable. How can a vegetable be bad for you??
After eating a few more layers and dipping unseasoned parts into my remaining sauce, I considered the ways I could improve this dish. Turning to Baretela's comments, there are already some good suggestions about how to get more flavor inside from the get-go.
If I didn't wrap the onions, I would bake them longer than 25 minutes and turn the onion over midway through baking. While I love da spice and da heat... da heat does not love me, so I would bake it longer to make it sweeter. But if you like it crunchy and hot, 350°F at 25 minutes is perfect.
Other commenters pointed out how baking an onion is already a reliable dish in other cultures, sharing the way they prepare them.
I'll definitely be adding lemon juice to my next boil, to cut the fattiness of the oils and the savory umami flavors.
Overall, this is a delicious snack that I will definitely be trying and incorporating into my meals, livening up even the whitest rice, plainest chicken, and saddest solo salmon.
What do you think of this viral "onion boil?" Sound off in the comments — whether or not you've tried it for yourself yet.
