Onions are seldom the main attraction when making a vegetable side dish. I use lots of onions, but I generally use them as an ingredient in other dishes. That’s too bad. There are some lovely onion recipes, including a 1925 recipe for Stuffed Baked Onions that I recently came across.
The Stuffed Baked Onions were tasty. They are stuffed with a delightful savory bread crumb and cheese filling.
Here’s the original recipe:
I found it somewhat difficult to remove the inside of the onions after they were boiled. I have seen other Stuffed Onion recipes that call for removing the inside prior to boiling with a spoon or melon ball scoop. I think that the inside probably could be removed either before or after boiling.
Only a small amount of stuffing is needed to fill 3 medium onions. This recipe makes a lot more stuffing than is needed. I divided the stuffing ingredients by half when I updated the recipe (except for the paprika which I reduced from 1/6 teaspoon to 1/8 teaspoon.)
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Stuffed Baked Onions
3 medium onions (They should be fairly flat so they sit evenly when stuffed.)
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated cheese + 1 tablespoon grated cheese (I used cheddar cheese.)
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
water
Preheat oven to 350◦ F. Trim the onions and remove the outer peels. Put the onions in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain. Remove the insides of the onions using a knife, spoon, or melon ball scoop. Leave 2-3 outer layers. If the bottom of the onions are inadvertently removed, take an inner onion piece and lay it in the onion across the bottom. Reserve the onion scraps. Set aside.
Chop half of the onion scraps. (The other half of the scraps could be refrigerated and saved for use in another recipe.) In a bowl mix the chopped onion scraps, bread crumbs, 1/4 cup grated cheese, salt, paprika, ketchup and lemon peel. Then stuff the onions with the mixture. Garnish with the 1 tablespoons of grated cheese. Pour a little water into the baking dish (about 1/8 inch). Cover the baking dish and put into the oven. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove the cover from the baking dish, and bake for 10 additional minutes to lightly brown the tops of the stuffed onions. Remove from oven.
These look delicious! I love a stuffed onion, and you are right they are seldom the star as a side except as onion rings!
I haven’t made stuffed onions before, but I have seen recipes for them. This sounds delicious!
Steven Raichlen has a recipe for smoked stuffed onions that sounds heavenly.
I gotta say I cheat when I make stuffed onions…. I find a couple of large onions and cut them thru the middle ( think equator) . Simmer them for a bit and pull out the innards and then stuff them. So much easier then trying to work just from the top. down into the onion. Glen and Friends video on YouTube this morning is a stuffed onion with sausage meat.
I nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award, https://tinahudak.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/sunshine-blogger-award/
They remind me of stuffed peppers. I will need to try this.
Wow! This is so timely! I was pondering what side dish to make for Easter and this will go so well with the cheesy potatoes – I can use the leftover onion in the potatoes!!
I see Onion Boil and Onion Rings are very popular on Tik-Tok these days! You can’t go past an onion I reckon to make your kitchen smell wonderful.
sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/
a grapefruit spoon works well.
I’ll bet those are delicious!