Since discovering I can make perfect caramelized onions in the slow-cooker, my culinary world has changed. I can cook up a large batch of onions overnight, while I sleep, any night of the week, and then keep them on hand in the fridge. With such riches, I can be quite cavalier about when and where I choose to toss a few caramelized onions into a recipe. Or, I can lavish them onto a delectable snackie like this roasted beet bruschetta. (Go ahead, use them with abandon. It’s so easy to make more!)
Onions, by the way, along with other members of the allium family, seem to be one of the best foods you can add to an anti-inflammatory diet. What a bonus that they also taste amazing when slowly caramelized in omega-3 rich olive oil.
Onions caramelized in the slow-cooker.
If you’re dairy-free, this bruschetta would be just as scrumptious with mashed avocado in place of the soft goat cheese.
Roasted Beet Bruschetta with Caramelized Onions
1 loaf whole grain bread of your choice, sliced into about 24 pieces
2 beets, roasted and cooled to room temperature*
about 2 cups caramelized onions, cooled to room temperature**
3 oz. soft goat cheese or 1 ripe avocado, peeled and mashed
balsamic vinegar to taste (I used blackcurrant-infused)
fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, or lemon balm), chopped
*To roast beets: Preheat oven to 350 F. Trim the root end and stem end of the beets, but do not peel. Drizzle with olive oil, and seal in a foil packet along with a pinch of dried herbs or a few sprigs of fresh herbs, if desired. Place the foil packet on a baking sheet and roast for an hour, until beets are tender when pierced with a fork. Let cool, and then peel away the skins with the tip of a knife.
**Slow-cooker caramelized onion recipe at Shockingly Delicious.
Slice the cooled beets into thin slices. Spread goat cheese or mashed avocado on each slice of whole grain bread. Top with a slice of beet. Mound the caramelized onions on top. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste, sprinkle with fresh herbs, and serve.
Thanks for trying my Slow-Cooker Caramelized Onions! So glad you like them and are inspired by their versatility. Your “snackies” look fabulous!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Dorothy. Your slow-cooker method really has changed my cooking life for the better!
Always looking for slow cooker recipes. I’ll head over to Dorothy’s site for the onions. Yum! I wish I liked beets. I’ve tried and tried, and tried. They always look so beautiful. But I bet this would be just as good without them
I’ll confess, this bruschetta is really all about the caramelized onions, so you could certainly leave the beets out or replace them with something else (don’t skip the balsamic, though — it provides such a nice tangy counterpoint to the onion’s sweetness).
I just purchased some lemon white balsamic vinegar from my local oil/vinegar company (my budget will regret finding this place so close to home I think). I am planning something special with it, but I think it would make a nice substitute here, too, I think. Tart lemon vinegar with carmelized onions. Yum.
Just let me know when to be there for dinner. 😉