Tangy, smoky & sweet, you need just 10 minutes + pantry staples for this Hot Dog Onions recipe! Make your dogs 100% New Yorker-approved with this onion sauce! Or use it in omelets, on burgers, sandwiches, wraps, steak and more!
Sauté onions: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and barely golden in color, about 8-10 minutes. (Note: Reduce the heat as needed to prevent the onions from browning.)
Add aromatics: Add the garlic, paprika, chili powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper to the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add tomato and sugar: Add the tomato paste and sugar to the pan. Cook, stirring constantly until the tomato paste is caramelized, about 2 minutes.
Add broth and hot sauce: Add the broth (or water) and hot sauce to the pan. Stir, scraping up any brown bits off the bottom of the pan.
Cook: Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the onions to a rapid simmer. Immediately reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very tender and the liquid is almost evaporated, about 20 minutes. (Note: If the heat under your pan is too hot and the liquid evaporates too quickly, simply add more broth or water to the pan as needed.)
Add vinegar: Stir the vinegar into the onions and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 5 additional minutes, or until the onions are meltingly tender and the sauce is thick, Taste and adjust for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar, or hot sauce as desired.
Serve or Store: Serve over your favorite hot dogs, burgers, wraps and more! Or allow the hot dog onions to cool completely to room temperature before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
Onions: You can use white and yellow onions interchangeably in this recipe. For rings and half-moons, I recommend cutting your onions to be about ¼-inch-thick. Any thinner and they fall apart; any thicker and they aren’t as pleasantly palatable.
Rings: To cut into rings, peel the outer layer of the onions back to the root end; however, do not remove it. Leaving this attached helps give a little handle to hold the onion while you cut. Use a sharp knife to slice across the onion into a ¼-inch thickness.
Half-Moons: Cut the onion in half, tip to root, making sure each half retains half the root to hold the layers of the onion together. Peel and remove the outer skin layer. Cut the halved onion across into ¼-inch half-moon shapes.
Chop: The quickest and easiest option, which also happens to be the easiest to eat, is to roughly chop your onion in a medium to large dice. Selecting Onions: When shopping, choose onions that are firm like baseballs, don’t have soft spots, and have a taut outer skin. They should feel heavy for their size and shouldn’t have any small green sprouts coming out of their top.
Liquid: You can use water or unsalted beef or chicken broth, depending upon your preference or what you have on hand. The broth will add a richer flavor. However, I’ve made these onions both ways (water, beef broth and a combination of both) and it’s not a dealbreaker to use water!
Recipe yield: enough for 10-12 hot dogsNutritional information is an approximation based upon 12 servings. Exact information will depend upon the brands of ingredients and precise measurements used.