When it comes to culinary drama, onions are typically relegated to a supporting role. They’re the reliable, fade-into-the-background foundation for so many tasty sauces and soups - but they rarely get top billing. That’s changed in a big way, thanks to a TikTok trend that has given the humble allium its breakout part since that bloomin’ appetizer came along.
Videos of people making "onion boils” - a misnomer, since the dish is actually a whole, peeled onion that is hollowed out, stuffed with butter and baked - have been watched tens of millions of times. The dish began showing up on the platform this summer, but it seems inescapable of late. (Of course stuffed, baked onions have been around longer than TikTok, and we know there is absolutely nothing new under that sun of ours.
The videos and rebranding have definitely boosted them, though.) After watching a handful of these clips, it’s easy to understand the appeal. First off, it has that dash of the unexpected that stunt-food-crazy social media loves (you mean you’re really going to eat an ?).
There’s a visual transformation - the vegetable goes from a hard, white globe to a silky, bronzed concoction swimming in a pool of sauce, right before viewers’ eyes. And it’s wildly accessible: Most people probably have everything they need to make it on hand. The whole operation involves an onion, a knob of butter, whatever seasoning you have around and a scrap of aluminum foil.
And now that I’ve tried it myself (#.