Ingredient

Red onion Recipes

37 recipes with red onion for weeknights, meal prep, and quick ingredient searches. Choose by time, cuisine, and what is in your kitchen.

37 recipes

Nigerian Beef Suya with beef sirloin, roasted peanuts and cayenne pepper — Nigeria recipe

🇳🇬NigeriaMedium

Meat Dishes

Nigerian Beef Suya

Suya is Nigerian street food at its most elemental: thinly sliced beef, threaded on skewers, coated in yaji — a dry spice mix built on ground roasted peanuts, cayenne, ginger, and paprika — then grilled over high heat until the edges char and the spice crust sets. It originated with the Hausa people of northern Nigeria and has become a national dish. The yaji goes on twice: once as a marinade before cooking, once as a dry finish sprinkled over the hot meat right off the grill. That second application is what separates suya from ordinary grilled meat. Serve with raw onion, tomato slices, and another pinch of yaji. Newspaper optional but traditional.

45 min320 kcal4 serves

🌾Gluten-free💪High protein🌶️Spicy

Birria Tacos with Consommé (Mexican Quesabirria with Beef and Chile Broth) with beef chuck roast, beef short ribs and guajillo chiles — Mexico recipe

🇲🇽MexicoAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Birria Tacos with Consommé (Mexican Quesabirria with Beef and Chile Broth)

Birria tacos with consommé are crispy red corn tortillas filled with shredded chile-braised beef and melted cheese, served with a small bowl of the rich red braising broth for dipping. The dish originated in the Mexican state of Jalisco as a goat stew (birria de chivo); the modern beef quesabirria taco version exploded from food trucks in Tijuana around 2018 and became the most viral Mexican street food of the early 2020s. Three dried chiles do the heavy lifting: guajillo for fruity tang and red colour, ancho for raisiny earthiness, and a couple of chiles de árbol for heat. Active work is 30 minutes, the braise handles 3 hours of transformation. Serves 6 with 16 tacos and consommé to dip.

210 min750 kcal6 serves

💪High protein🌶️Spicy🌾Gluten-free

Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cotija, Lime, and Chili) with corn, cotija cheese and mexican crema — Mexico recipe

🇲🇽MexicoMedium

Salads

Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cotija, Lime, and Chili)

Esquites (from Nahuatl ízquitl, "toasted corn"; also sold as elote en vaso, "corn in a cup") is a Mexican street snack of charred corn kernels dressed with mayo, Mexican crema, lime juice, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro and crumbled cotija, then dusted with chili powder or Tajín. It is the off-the-cob version of elote: the same flavours, eaten with a spoon. Street vendors across Mexico sell it in small cups. The method rests on one move: charring the corn until about half the kernels show black spots, which turns boiled corn with mayonnaise into something smoky and layered. Ready in 20 minutes; serves 6 as a snack or 4 as a side for grilled meat and tacos.

20 min220 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Watermelon Feta Mint Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing with watermelon, feta cheese and mint — Mediterranean recipe

🌊MediterraneanMedium

Salads

Watermelon Feta Mint Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing

Watermelon feta mint salad is the classic Mediterranean summer dish where sweet cold watermelon meets salty creamy feta, lifted by fresh mint, cucumber, and a honey-lime dressing. The combination dates back at least 2000 years across Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, where karpuz peyniri (watermelon with white cheese) is a daily summer staple. The trick is contrast: salt amplifies the watermelon's sweetness, watermelon water tames the sharpness of feta, and mint plus lime cut through the heaviness with brightness. Active work is 15 minutes — no cooking, just precise prep and a few small techniques that separate a great version from watery mush. Serves 6 as a side dish for grilled meats, fish, or as a light starter.

15 min180 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Panzanella (Tuscan Bread and Tomato Salad) with stale bread, tomatoes and red onion — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Salads

Panzanella (Tuscan Bread and Tomato Salad)

Panzanella is a classic Tuscan salad of stale bread and ripe summer tomatoes, dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar, with red onion and basil. It is a summer dish of central Italy (Tuscany and around), and a clear example of cucina povera — a way to use up stale bread, like its relatives Pappa al pomodoro and Ribollita. The name comes from pane (bread) and zanella (a deep bowl), reflecting its humble roots, and the dish goes back to the Middle Ages and the Tuscan countryside. A curious fact: the first panzanella had no tomatoes at all — it was made with bread, onion, and purslane, and the tomato only became the central ingredient in the 20th century. Unlike ordinary salads, panzanella is built on bread as its base: pieces of stale bread soak up the tomato juice, olive oil, and vinegar, turning soft but springy — never soggy when made correctly. The technical keys: stale bread, not fresh; soak and wring it out rather than toasting it (the authentic Tuscan way); ripe seasonal tomatoes whose juice becomes part of the dressing; red wine vinegar, not balsamic; and a 15-30 minute rest so the flavors come together. Served at room temperature as an antipasto or a light summer meal, it is summer on a plate — and best eaten the same day it is made.

30 min280 kcal4 serves

🌱Vegan⚡Quick

Insalata di Finocchi e Arance (Sicilian Fennel and Orange Salad) with fennel, oranges and black olives — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyEasy

Salads

Insalata di Finocchi e Arance (Sicilian Fennel and Orange Salad)

Insalata di finocchi e arance is a classic Sicilian salad of thinly sliced fennel and oranges, dressed with olive oil, salt, and black pepper, with black olives. It is the contrast of sweet, juicy orange and crisp, anise-scented fennel — bright and refreshing. It comes from Sicily, where most of Italy's citrus is grown, and the orange salad is a legacy of the Arab rule of the island (9th-11th centuries): it was the Arabs who brought citrus into Sicilian cooking. It is a winter dish, since oranges (especially blood oranges, tarocchi) are in season in winter, served as an antipasto or contorno through the cold months. The salad is a fine example of Sicilian agrodolce, sweet and salty: the sweetness of the orange balanced by salty black olives and crisp fennel. Technical keys: peel the oranges to the flesh, cutting away the bitter white pith; slice the fennel very thinly; let the acidity come from the orange, not vinegar; black olives for the agrodolce contrast; blood oranges for the classic Sicilian version; and good fruity olive oil, since there are few ingredients. Save the orange juice that runs out — it is the base of the dressing. Serve at room temperature, the best winter citrus, sliced thin, with excellent oil.

15 min180 kcal4 serves

🌱Vegan⚡Quick🌾Gluten-free

Verdure alla Griglia (Italian Grilled Vegetables) with eggplant, zucchini and bell peppers — Italy recipe

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Verdure alla Griglia (Italian Grilled Vegetables)

Verdure alla griglia is a classic Italian dish of seasonal vegetables grilled until charred, then dressed with olive oil, garlic, herbs, and a little acid. It is a summer dish, a symbol of the Italian summer: families gather around the grill, and the vegetables are one of the season's great pleasures. It is served as an antipasto or a contorno alongside meat or fish. The classic grigliata vegetables are eggplant, zucchini, and sweet peppers (red and yellow are best), often with red onion, fennel, radicchio, or mushrooms. The principle is seasonality: use vegetables at the peak of summer, as fresh and ripe as possible. The grill brings out their natural sweetness — the sugars caramelize and a smoky, lightly charred flavor develops. Technical keys: slice the vegetables evenly, about ½ cm; dry them thoroughly, since water is the enemy of caramelization; salt only at the end, never before or during; use high heat and let the char marks form before turning; dress with EVOO, garlic, herbs, and a little acid, before grilling, after, or both; and let the vegetables rest so the flavors come together. Simplicity is the point — a few vegetables, good oil, garlic, and herbs. A celebration of the summer harvest that needs no complicated techniques, served warm or at room temperature.

40 min160 kcal4 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free

Sisig (Filipino Sizzling Pork) with pork belly, chicken liver and calamansi — Philippines recipe

🇵🇭PhilippinesAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Sisig (Filipino Sizzling Pork)

Sisig is the Philippines' most famous sizzling dish — a bold, addictive tangle of crisp-edged chopped pork and chicken liver, brightened with calamansi, sharpened with raw onion and bird's eye chili, and served screaming hot on a cast-iron plate, often crowned with a raw egg stirred through at the table. Born in Pampanga as a way to use every part of the pig, it's sour, savoury, fatty, and spicy all at once — the ultimate pulutan to eat with cold beer and rice.

75 min560 kcal4 serves

💪High protein🌶️Spicy

Iceberg Lettuce Salad with Blue Cheese and Herbs with iceberg lettuce, blue cheese and buttermilk — USA recipe

🇺🇸USAMedium

Salads

Iceberg Lettuce Salad with Blue Cheese and Herbs

Iceberg gets dismissed as the lettuce with nothing to say, which misses the point entirely: it isn't there for flavour, it's there for cold and crunch. Cut into thick wedges and left whole, it stays icy and snapping under a thick buttermilk and blue cheese dressing that would flatten any softer leaf. Chives, dill, cherry tomatoes, and raw red onion do the talking. It's a steakhouse salad that needs both a fork and a knife.

25 min290 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌾Gluten-free

Ají Criollo with fresh ají amarillo, ají limo and huacatay leaves — Peru recipe

🇵🇪PeruMedium

Sauces and Dips

Ají Criollo

Ají criollo is the emulsified chilli sauce that sits on every table in a Peruvian chicken house and next to every charcoal grill in Lima. Fresh ají amarillo is deveined and softened, fried with onion and garlic, then blended with fresh cheese and evaporated milk while oil is streamed in to build a thick, glossy emulsion, with huacatay and coriander folded in at the end for the herbal edge. It is a condiment rather than a cooking sauce: nothing is simmered in it, and it goes onto roast chicken, anticuchos, boiled potatoes and fried cassava after they leave the fire. Ají amarillo itself carries far more fruit than heat, so the sharpness in a good version comes from the ají limo added separately.

20 min150 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian🌾Gluten-free🌶️Spicy

Fraldinha with fraldinha, cassava flour and red onion — Brazil recipe

🇧🇷BrazilMedium

Meat Dishes

Fraldinha

Fraldinha is the Brazilian name for the bottom sirloin flap, a long flat muscle with coarse fibres and a loose grain that sits between the flank and the sirloin. It is one of the pillars of churrasco, cooked over charcoal with nothing on it but coarse salt, because the cut already carries enough fat and connective tissue to season itself. What makes or breaks it is not the fire but the knife: the grain is unusually visible and unusually coarse, and slicing along it instead of across it produces meat that no amount of chewing will get through. It is served with vinagrete and farofa, both of which are made while the coals come up to temperature.

45 min620 kcal4 serves

💪High protein🌾Gluten-free

Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma with boneless chicken thighs, garlic and lemon juice — Lebanon recipe

🇱🇧LebanonAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma

This home-oven shawarma trades the vertical spit for a fiercely hot sheet pan and a final pass under the broiler. The chicken thighs stay juicy while their thin edges blister and char, which gives the platter the roasted spice flavor people expect from shawarma. Serve it with warm pita, toum, pickles and chopped vegetables, or turn the same chicken into a rice bowl.

300 min515 kcal6 serves

💪High protein

Ingredients

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tomato garlic cucumber onion chicken zucchini lemon parsley avocado lime mint eggplant