Throw Onions In Your Smoker For A Delicious BBQ Side With Minimal Effort

Smoker season is really a year-round event. This, of course, means it's time to pile up a wide variety of meats and treats to entertain. Knowing that the sides are key to a great barbecue experience, you've probably got a laundry list of complex go-withs planned. For a side that's extremely simple to make while being an incredibly impressive addition to your barbecue lineup, look no further than your smoker and a nice-sized Vidalia onion. That's right, adding a few sweet onions to your smoker will be the ultimate pairing for your carefully curated selection of meats. The rich, smoky flavors will delight your guests and keep your effort to a minimum.

Smoked onions work well for several reasons: For one, roasted onions are a flavorful addition to almost any meal, and preparing them in a smoker only enhances the taste. The end result is a wonderfully versatile vegetable that can be enjoyed as a side or even a topping to a freshly charred burger or hot dog. The possibilities are nearly endless when you pick your favorite from a wide variety of onions and smoke them to perfection. All you need to do is peel the outer layer, cut out a cavity in the center to which you will add butter and the seasonings of your choosing, then wrap everything up in foil, keeping as much of the onion uncovered as possible, and put it in the smoker for about an hour.

To make the most out of your smoked onions, consider the meats you're preparing and what wood chips you're using. From there, you can decide what kind of onions you want to include and how you'd like to season them. Sweet onions such as Vidalia and Maui are recommended, but you can get creative and experiment with whatever strikes your fancy. Keeping in the realm of alliums, you can also smoke your onion alongside a bulb of garlic for extra flavor. The best tip is to keep your onion as exposed as possible to the smoke so that it can fully permeate during the smoking process. Next, you get to choose how to use those delicious smoked onions.

For example, if you're new to smoking meat, the fastest and easiest dish to try first is a round of smoked hamburgers. These would be made even more excellent with a generous topping of smoked onions. If you're trying a simplified dish of BBQ burnt ends using hot dogs, think of how much better it would taste with a batch of diced smoked onions mixed in. This side dish also works well to complement a variety of rich grilled vegetables and can be great as a delicious accessory to both veggie and meat kabobs too. The ease of preparation means that smoked onions are essentially a no-brainer when planning out your barbecue sides.