Cheesy Onion Casserole Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What does the binder of a casserole do? ›

The binder, a liquid that holds the other ingredients together. – Fat-free milk, broth, fruit juice, soup, eggs, or a thickened Béchamel/White sauce.

The key to a good casserole is the sauce or broth that binds those ingredients together as they bubble in the oven, allowing the flavors to meld together into a harmonious, comforting meal. This can be something as simple as the McCormick Brown Gravy Mix used in this tasty Hamburger Casserole dish.

Yellow onions are perfect for stews, soups, barbecues, roasts and sauces. Avoid eating them raw as they have a strong flavour.

Sweet onions get their own category. Vidalia onions are a particularly mild yellow onion grown around Vidalia, Georgia. Crunchy and sweet, they're excellent served raw in salads and salsas. Walla Walla sweet onions are another brand of sweet onions, grown in Walla Walla, Washington.

Let's talk anatomy: A standard dinner casserole usually includes a protein, a starch, a vegetable, a sauce (or other binding ingredient), and cheese. But making a casserole is not an exact science, and you can definitely break away from this formula. Check out some fun side-dish casseroles and desserts below!

Liquid for casseroles

Bone stock is good for beef casseroles, but failing that plain hot water enriched with a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and mushroom ketchup makes a handy instant stock. Red or white wine will add extra flavour of its own, and its acidity will actually help to tenderise the meat as it cooks.

In the United States, a casserole or hot dish is typically a baked food with three main components: pieces of meat (such as chicken or ground meat) or fish (such as tuna) or other protein (such as beans or tofu), various chopped or canned vegetables (such as green beans or peas), and a starchy binder (such as flour, ...

Not every single casserole has all of them, but as a rule of thumb, here's what to look for: a starch, a binding agent or sauce, and a protein or vegetable. Many casseroles also have both vegetables and proteins, as well as a crunchy element to give some textural contrast, and cheese.

...or as a flavor base for sauces, soups, and stews. Yellow onions are the most common variety you should cook with. They have thin layers of white flesh and a tough, brownish-yellow skin. They're very astringent — astringency is that sharp, almost spicy flavor that onions are known for — but also have a lot of sugar.

What color onion is the strongest? ›

White Onions: A stronger, spicier, more pungent flavour than yellow onions. More oniony, for lack of a better term, than yellow onions. They don't hold up as well when cooked, as they tend to fall apart. Red Onions: The salad onion.

You should. Traditionally, a mirepoix is made: diced onion, carrot, celery. Cooked SLOWLY in a sauce pan until the start to sweat, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or so, stirring often — then added to the soup.

Red onions

All types of onions are good for you, but this dark reddish-purple variety, sometimes called purple onion, has especially high levels of quercetin and other helpful plant compounds known as flavonoids. Flavonoids give many fruits, vegetables, and flowers their colors.

Yellow Onion

With a balanced flavor that's not too sweet and not too sharp, yellow onions work well in a variety of cuisines and dishes, including an Indian stir-fry, an Italian-style red sauce, and, yes, a Spanish paella. If a recipe simply calls for an onion, a yellow onion is the one to use.

Vidalia sweet onions taste great sliced or chopped on a salad, grilled on a burger, stuffed with sausage and baked, sautéed with chicken or stewed with squash. We think you get the idea! The Vidalia onion season runs from mid-April to early August.

Primarily, a blender is used to puree or crush ice. Use a blender if your final product is something you can drink, such as a mocktail or protein shake, drizzle or dip. In addition to pureeing, a food processor can slice, grate, shred, dice and more.

Bind/Binder

To add a thickening ingredient such as an egg, flour or cornstarch, to hold ingredients together in soups, sauces or gravy.

Binding may be related to its ability to coagulate and form gels, but in essence, it holds other ingredients together. This binding action mainly benefits product structure, texture and mouthfeel.