Italian Red Onions in a Sweet & Sour Agrodolce | Celebrating the Humble Onion
These Italian red onions in agrodolce are a wonderfully simple example of sweet and sour Italian cooking. Slowly cooked red onions are finished with red wine vinegar and honey to create that classic agrodolce balance, where the sweetness and acidity complement one another without either taking over.
This is another recipe in my Celebrating the Humble Onion series, where I am taking one of the simplest and most affordable ingredients in the kitchen and showing just how much we can do with it.
Agrodolce simply means sweet and sour, and it is a particularly important part of the cooking I grew up with in Sicily. Here I cook the onions gently so that they soften while still retaining some texture, before adding the vinegar and honey and allowing everything to reduce into a lovely glossy sauce.
I like to finish mine with parsley, thyme and a little chilli. You can eat these onions warm, but I actually think they become even better as they cool and the flavours have time to settle. Keep them in the fridge and they are wonderful the following day.
We will be eating ours with salmon cooked on the barbecue, but these onions are also lovely with chicken or pork, spooned onto rustic bread, or simply served as a condiment alongside other dishes.
It is inexpensive food made from very ordinary ingredients, but with a little patience they become something quite special.
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Ingredients
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) red onions
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
Red wine vinegar, 3 dessert spoon
Honey, 2 teaspoons (or 1 level tablespoon, to taste)
Water, 2 teaspoons for the agrodolce, plus a little extra as needed while cooking
1 bay leaf
Fresh parsley, to taste
Fresh thyme, to taste
Chilli flakes, to taste
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
For a plant-based version, replace the honey with maple syrup. You can also use sugar if you prefer.
Method
Cut the red onions in half and slice them quite thickly, approximately 1 cm (⅜ inch), so that they keep some of their shape and texture as they cook.
Add a little olive oil to a saucepan and put in the onions with a good pinch of salt and the bay leaf. Mix everything together, cover with a lid and cook over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, check the onions. Add a little water if the bottom of the pan is becoming dry, then continue cooking for approximately another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little more water whenever necessary rather than allowing the onions to catch on the bottom.
While the onions cook, prepare the agrodolce by mixing the honey, red wine vinegar and water until the honey has dissolved.
Chop the parsley and remove the leaves from the thyme. Mix these with the chilli flakes and some freshly ground black pepper and keep them to one side.
After approximately 25 minutes, taste one of the onions. I like mine soft but still with a slight bite. If you prefer very soft onions, simply cook them for a little longer. Check the seasoning at this point and add more salt if necessary.
Pour the agrodolce mixture into the onions and increase the heat slightly. Stir for around 2–3 minutes as the liquid reduces. The vinegar will smell quite strong initially, which is perfectly normal. Continue until that sharpness settles and you have a little glossy sauce coating the onions rather than allowing all the liquid to evaporate.
Turn off the heat and add the parsley, thyme, chilli and pepper. Mix everything together, cover with the lid and allow the flavours to settle.
You can serve the onions warm, at room temperature or chilled. They are particularly good after resting and, in my opinion, even better the following day.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Italian Red Onions in Agrodolce
00:56 Preparing the Red Onions
02:00 Making the Agrodolce
02:57 Slowly Cooking the Onions
05:49 Adding the Sweet & Sour Sauce
07:24 Tasting & Serving Ideas
#ItalianFood #RedOnions #Agrodolce #SicilianFood #OnionRecipes #ItalianCooking
11 Comments
Agrodolce is one of those wonderfully simple ideas in Sicilian cooking: sweetness and acidity balanced so that neither takes over. I love these onions with fish, meat or simply some rustic bread, and I think they taste even better the following day. What would you serve them with?
This is a must! Thank you.
Hello Francesco
Agrodolce looks delicious thanks Francesco
After totally enjoying your pickled onions, this recipe, too, looks wonderful and will be tried as soon as possible. With many thanks and all good wishes from Germany.
Lo sciroppo d'acero, ma quando mai! Ciccu, dimmi che stavi solo scherzando! 🤌🏻 j/k 😁
As I watch all these wonderful videos and make promises about cooking dreams including making a list of food in refrigerator (from a previous video) I realize I better start pacing myself! I believe cooking at home is a lifestyle of eating fresh. We eat mostly all meals at home. I intend on adding in all these ideas I’m getting. The truth is we building a condominium in the nearby town for my granddaughter next year for after graduation. It along with our other involvement with her other activities has us quiet busy! Thank you for sharing these calming recipes with us!
This reminds me of the start of onion soup which I've cooked. Very good – thank you.
This looks really good I pickled cucumbers last week added olive oil and herbs and ate on sourdough open faced they were very good. So I think this on bread would suit me too. I am going to the Indian supermarket tonight and that’s where I buy onions ,eggplants,milk,flat breads(naan,panini) always cheaper and fresher than American supermarkets, the Korean markets have the best quality vegetables,and fruits. I can get fennel in Korean markets and Korean sweet potatoes,the American markets in my area don’t sell them.
Yum
What the what?!?!? I can't wait to try this one, thank you!!❤