How To Give Your Dishes Even More Flavor With Rehydrated Onions

You might be wondering why anyone would ever choose to soak dehydrated onions for up to half-an-hour when chopping one straight from the produce section takes just minutes. Well, perhaps you can't get through the dicing process without soaking the cutting board in tears (believe us; we've tried the no-crying hacks, and not all of them work). Maybe your knife skills are downright dangerous, meaning your collection of blades is no sharper than a butter-slicing utensil. But there's actually one benefit to choosing dehydrating onions over an intact bulb: They can amplify flavor, because the water you soak those tiny flakes in should be reserved and added to certain recipes.

To rehydrate, first immerse the dried onions in water that's been warmed to at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing the flakes to lounge in that bath for a minimum of 15 minutes, but it could take up to 30 minutes to fully rehydrate. Use at least a 1:1 ratio of dried, minced onions to water. And keep in mind that approximately 2 ounces of dehydrated onions is the equivalent of 3 cups of the fresh vegetable. You can then drain the water or press it out with the back of a flat kitchen implement. This is perfect if adding to a dry recipe; for instance, recreating the pungent little nubs on a McDonald's burger or building a Chicago dog toppings bar.

If you plan on making a soup, sauce, or casserole — a dish where more moisture could be a benefit — save the rehydrating liquid. Plenty of recipes instruct cooks to simply toss the desiccated onions into something like a stew alone. But that water has become something akin to an onion tea post-soak and it's packed with the essence of those flakes, amplifying the bite onion lovers crave.

One of the most obvious applications for rehydrated onions is in a homemade French onion soup complete with the delectable, melty seal of Gruyere. Though you could mash up that steakhouse classic with a humbler entree, mac and cheese, and you've got yourself a decadent special occasion dish. Or, revive a mid-century classic like liver and onion gravy by throwing some salty bacon into the mix alongside the dehydrated onions and their soaking water. This works as both a full meal when paired with dense mashed potatoes or as a modernized appetizer. The latter should turn liver skeptics into unsuspecting fans, particularly because bacon slabs can blanket bite-sized hunks of iron-rich organ meat