Photo credit: Peggy Cormary for The Washington Post; food styling by Carolyn Robb for The Washington Post
When it comes to culinary drama, onions are typically relegated to a supporting role. They’re the reliable, fade-into-the-background foundation for so many tasty sauces and soups - but they rarely get top billing. That’s changed in a big way, thanks to a TikTok trend that has given the humble allium its breakout part since that bloomin’ appetizer came along.
Videos of people making "onion boils” - a misnomer, since the dish is actually a whole, peeled onion that is hollowed out, stuffed with butter and baked - have been watched tens of millions of times. The dish began showing up on the platform this summer, but it seems inescapable of late. (Of course stuffed, baked onions have been around longer than TikTok, and we know there is absolutely nothing new under that sun of ours. The videos and rebranding have definitely boosted them, though.)
After watching a handful of these clips, it’s easy to understand the appeal. First off, it has that dash of the unexpected that stunt-food-crazy social media loves (you mean you’re really going to eat an ?). There’s a visual transformation - the vegetable goes from a hard, white globe to a silky, bronzed concoction swimming in a pool of sauce, right before viewers’ eyes. And it’s wildly accessible: Most people probably have everything they need to make it on hand. The whole operation involves an onion, a knob of butter, whatever seasoning you have around and a scrap of aluminum foil.
Photo credit: Peggy Cormary for The Washington Post; food styling by Carolyn Robb for The Washington Post
And now that I’ve tried it myself (#influenced), I know that it also has the benefit of being pretty delicious. Which came as no surprise. I love onions, I love butter and the two make a great combination. I followed the super-basic steps, trimming the top and bottom of the onion and using a paring knife to carve out a well (being sure to not cut too deeply because you don’t want to puncture all the way through). Some people also make an X-shaped cut on top and stuff pats of butter in the slits - I didn’t do this on my first try, and I think it would improve the dish by giving butter more crevices to sink into.
I placed the trimmed onion on a piece of foil and stuffed about a tablespoon of butter into the hole I had created. I melted about two more tablespoons of butter and added seasonings to that - I used salt, pepper, paprika and sazon because that’s what I had - wrapped it up, making sure to crimp the foil package closed and put it in the oven. I took my cooking-time instructions (375 degrees for an hour) from several videos in which the onions appeared particularly, appealingly soft.
When I pulled the foil open, I saw the now-familiar result: a butter-drenched, nearly-gooey orb. I was surprised by how much liquid it had given up, and I plated it, as recommended, on a dish with a lip, which allowed me to pour the buttery sauce on and around it. The texture was tender, and the flavor was sweet and pleasantly mild. It reminded me of one of my favorite recipes, Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce cooked with butter and a halved onion. Her instructions call for discarding the allium once the sauce is finished, but I always snack on the melty bits instead, sometimes with a pinch of grated Parmesan cheese.
"It’s onion confit!” proclaimed my colleague, deputy recipes editor Olga Massov, as we discussed the recipe in preparation for our photo shoot.
I added a little more salt as I worked my way through the layers. I didn’t consume the entire thing, the way plenty of TikTokkers do, but I probably could have if I wasn’t planning an early dinner. As I ate, I contemplated how nice of a blank slate the dish offers, which is probably why there are so many variations online. People tweak the seasoning to their liking, with many using spice blends, including Old Bay - which is purportedly how it got the name "onion boil,” evoking the seafood boils common in the south. Some add fresh garlic to the melted butter.
I’ve seen people stuffing cheese inside the onion along with the butter, or throwing in jalapeños and scallions. One user I spotted added cooked, crumbled chorizo and cheese and ate it with a tortilla for a Mexican take. Many serve it over rice, which seems like a good way to catch the flavorful sauce.
TikTok food trends can be hit or miss. We’ve found plenty of winners, such as "tinned fish date night” or that viral baked feta pasta, and a few hard passes (I’m still trying to erase the memory of the gluey mess that was blender pasta). I’m adding onion boil to the "nice” list.
It seems right for the moment: It’s soft, savory comfort food for the hard times many people are having. It’s low-effort, perfect for folks who might feel exhausted at the moment. And unlike those mandoline-sliced cucumber salads that people went wild for this summer, there’s little danger of bodily injury - unless you burn your tongue, but that’s pretty much always a risk.
