Can you make dessert with onions?

by Barry Lewis

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

Onion Chocolate Chip Cookies
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
115g butter, softened
100g brown sugar
50g white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
80g chocolate chips
60g finely chopped onion (raw or caramelized)

Onion & Carrot Cake with Onion Frosting
200g plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
100g brown sugar
100g white sugar
2 eggs
120ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g grated carrot
60g grated onion

Frosting Ingredients
200g cream cheese
50g butter, softened
100g icing sugar
2 tbsp onion jam OR caramelized onion puree
1 tsp vanilla extract

Candied Onions
1 large onion, thinly sliced
100g sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp butter

Balsamic Onion Ice Cream Sauce
1 small red onion, finely chopped
120ml balsamic vinegar
60ml honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp butter
½ tsp cornstarch (optional)

Onion Sorbet (Banana-Based)
1 large banana, mashed
2.5 medium onions, chopped

Caramelized Onion Ice Cream (With Mix-Ins)
120ml milk
120ml heavy cream (double cream)
1 medium red onion, raw, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar

For Serving (Optional)
6 ice cream cones

Unit conversion table Print recipe

Can You Make Desserts with Onions?

I’ve made some weird things in my time, but this might just top the list. Onions… in dessert? Sounds like a kitchen crime, right? Well, I had to find out. So I put onions into cookies, cake, candied snacks, and even ice cream. Yes, onion ice cream. You’re welcome.

The results? Some surprises, some disasters, and a whole lot of “why did I do this?” moments. If you haven’t watched it yet, check out the full video here:

The Onion Dessert Experiment

I wanted a good mix of safe, weird, and completely ridiculous dishes, so here’s what made the cut:

Candied Onions – The Gateway Dessert

This seemed like a logical start. Onions already caramelise naturally, so coating them in sugar and turning them into a snack should work. And surprisingly… it kind of did? Crunchy, sweet, with a little oniony kick at the end. Would I snack on them regularly? No. But they weren’t awful.

Onion & Carrot Cake – Almost Worked… Until It Didn’t

Carrot cake is already a thing, so sneaking in grated onion alongside the carrot felt like a solid idea. The result? Not terrible! The onion actually blended in okay, but then I had the genius idea to top it with caramelised onions. That was a mistake. The extra sweetness made it weirdly overpowering, and suddenly the whole cake felt more like a dodgy pub experiment than a dessert.

Onion Chocolate Chip Cookies – Weirdly Okay?!

I fully expected these to be a crime against baking, but they were the only thing that actually worked. The trick? Caramelising the onions first so they mimic a sweet ingredient rather than just making the whole thing taste like a stir-fry. The onion-only batch was questionable, but adding chocolate chips made them surprisingly decent. They weren’t good enough to replace a classic cookie, but if I had to eat one onion dessert again, it’d be these.

Onion Sorbet – Pure Regret

This was the lowest point of my cooking career. I used the Ninja Creami’s one-ingredient sorbet hack, blending banana with raw onion, and the result was as horrifying as you’d imagine. The banana’s sweetness fought the onion’s aggressive punch—and lost. There’s no coming back from that first bite. Would not recommend. Ever.

Caramelised Onion Ice Cream – Only Saved by the Sauce

I thought I could redeem myself with proper onion-infused ice cream, but no. The base was made by soaking raw onion in milk and cream overnight, which I then churned into ice cream. Alone? Absolutely awful. The onion flavour just wouldn’t quit. But when I added a balsamic onion sauce, it almost worked. The deep, sweet tanginess of the sauce masked the worst of the onion ice cream. Still, if you need to drown something in balsamic just to make it edible, it’s probably not a success.

Final Thoughts – Would I Ever Make These Again?

Ranking them from best to worst:

  1. Onion Chocolate Chip Cookies – Surprisingly decent. Wouldn’t bake them on purpose, but I could eat one without suffering.
  2. Onion & Carrot Cake – It could have been okay, but the caramelised onion topping ruined it. Lesson learned.
  3. Candied Onions – Crunchy, sugary, but still undeniably oniony. Meh.
  4. Caramelised Onion Ice Cream – Only edible when drowned in balsamic sauce. Otherwise, no.
  5. Onion Sorbet – A crime against desserts. Never again.

If you’re brave enough to try any of these, I’ve added the full recipes below. Let me know if you do… and if you regret it as much as I did.

Watch the Full Video Here:

Watch “Can You Make Desserts with Onions ?” above, or here on YouTube

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