Linguine With Melted Onions and Cream Recipe (2024)

I had a brisket in a 275F degree oven and came across this recipe. Started the onions on the stove in a 14” cast iron skillet. Covered with a circle of patchy paper and transferred to the oven. They were perfect at about 90 minutes. Cooled the onions, refrigerated for a couple days. Reheated gently and finished the recipe. Lovely. Will likely make this any time that I have something else roasting low and slow.

I used this recipe as a way to use up some of the wild mushrooms that fill my freezer. I simply added the mushrooms to the finished product to make more of a full meal out of what seemed like a side dish. The only other thing I used was a light sprinkling of cayenne pepper (I add hot pepper to everything.) It worked perfectly and was incredibly delicious.

OMG. If you have the time---and just cooking the onions takes the FULL 1 ½ hrs. no matter how thin you slice the onions---make this pasta dish. It's incredible. As written.

I have made onions to "melting" texture successfully in a crock pot set to low for 8-10 hours or overnight. Stir them now and then.

I’ve been cooking these onions, which I sliced verrrrry thin with a mandoline, since the Carter Administration, and they are still not melted. Is this recipe a hoax?

I took the advice of the recipe and puréed. Added a random shallot. Keep and eye on the pot, and use one that evenly distributes heat and is nonstick. I went with a cast iron for the onions and it just kept getting too hot. You want to melt the onions - not toast or caramelize. Liked the tomato paste a little toasted - so you may choose to add past directly to pan, or mix in with cream. Luscious dish. Ps like every other recipe with cream: don’t sub out for 1/2 and 1/2. That’s not living.

I used an Instant Pot to melt the onions - quick, easy, and delicious! Melt butter on the sauté function, add onions, salt, and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes, then pressure cook for 20 minutes, release steam, open lid, and sauté for 10 more minutes. The onions were melted to perfection. I puréed the onions in the Vitamix before adding them to the skillet with the cream. This pasta was decadent and a crowd pleaser!

We cut the onions in a food processor, which was quick and easy, but resulted in some thicker slices. We cooked the onions for about 2 hours in all. By the end, much of the liquid had dissipated during the many stirrings or had blended into the pale gold onion purée. We found that a generous 2 tsp. of tomato paste provided the right balance. Despite the cooking time, this recipe is quite easy, if you are going to be in or around the kitchen anyway.

Decadent and delicious... once it finally got done. I cooked my onions for 2.5 hours (on #2 on my electric cooktop) and they were still just getting there. Raised the heat to #3 and 30 minutes later, they were golden and gorgeous. Wished I had remembered someone's suggestion of a pinch of cayenne with the cream and tomato paste. I saved some of the pasta cooking water to thin the sauce a little which was needed. Definitely a winner and will make it again once a year - yum!

See Marcella Hazan’s Classic Italian Cooking for a version of this sauce. Have made it dozens of times with excellent results.

I violated my rule of make a recipe the way it is written. BUT, had extra mushrooms that needed to use or would go bad. I cooked the onions on level 2 on induction cooktop (actually moved between 1.5 and 2.5 and things progressed nicely). I “toasted” the tomato paste, as suggested by others, threw into the onions at the 60 min mark w/ Baby Bella mushrooms & splash of white wine. Drained the pasta and threw the pasta in the onion skillet. Sooo yummy. I’ll cook again. Thanks to others 4 ur notes.

Question: Could the onions be done the day or night before in a slow cooker?

I cooked the onions for 90 minutes, then mashed them with the back of a spoon and let them go about 5-10 minutes longer before adding the cream. The mashing really accelerates the final melting.

Good. Don't know whether it was the type of onions I used or what, but they gave up so much liquid when steaming that at two points during cooking, I removed the lid, turned the heat up to high and let the liquid reduce before covering and reducing the heat again. I did add lemon juice at the end to balance out the sweetness. The results, however, were excellent and I'm now eating last night's leftovers. I can imagine other tweaks, thyme, for example.

I wonder if I could do the onions in an instant pot in slow cooker mode? Thoughts?

I do a version of this but without cooking the onions into a purée. Instead of the tomato paste the sauce uses Honeycup honey mustard (the best honey mustard but I can never find it in stores), cognac and thin strips of salami. I am going to try this recipe now, it sounds delicious.

Insane! Will make this decadent winner monthly. Used a non stick pan for the onions and had no problems. 90 easy minutes of tending to with half an eye. Not sure it would have turned out for me with a steel pan or Dutch oven, just given my experience with melting onions. Absolutely perfect.

I used three large onions for this recipe, four wouldn't fit in my skillet. I was also a little worried with how "large" they were supposed to be since there isn't a weight or cup measurement listed in the recipe. Sliced the onions very thin with a mandolin and followed the melting instructions without variation. I reserved a cup of pasta water just in case I needed to thin out the onion/cream mixture at the end and I'm glad I did. Would definitely try this recipe again!

I took the “very low” heat too seriously and finally dialed it up for 30-40 mins to get the color and texture I expected. Think of it as medium low at the coolest. I added roasted mushrooms and it was a very good meal. Used only 12 oz pasta and that was still 5 servings.

I took some frozen mixed seafood -- heated 2-3 minutes on each side with avocado oil and crushed garlic and grape tomatoes slightly crushed -- then added the cooked seafood mix to the onion sauce when it was melted. I let it sit for 15 minutes while getting other things ready, and it came out amazing. Adds protein and variety to the really good sauce and cuts down on the sweetness of the onion.

This recipe is *delicious* but needs something more to feel like a complete meal. Next time I would toss raw spinach in with the pasta and sauce. Other reviewers mentioned mushrooms which could be good as well. I would also note that we hand sliced the onions and it definitely took a full 2 hours and some manual mashing to get them to a pureed state. I would use a food processor if you have one, or prepare for it to take 2-2.5 hours. The extra time doesn't require any extra work though.

I followed this totally. The onions cooked for hours on 2-3 on my electric stove. Even after 4 hours, they had not really melted until I turned it up. But, really wonderful. Can’t wait to have it again. I used 3 Visalia’s and 1 yellow onion, because that is what I had. Used a mandolin to cut them.. still wondering if it was the type of onion that took so long to melt

I made the recipe exactly as written and was looking forward to sharing it at a dinner party we were hosting. Fortunately, I tested it ahead of time. My husband enjoyed it; I did not. It was far too rich, between the sweetness of the onions and tomato paste and the heavy cream. As another reader noted, Marcella Hazan published a similar recipe. The differences are that she advises a heavier caramelization and doesn't add the cream and tomato paste. Marcella rules in my house!

Thanks to others for the tip about pressure cooking the onions for 20 minutes - that did a great job! Adding cayenne was also good. Tempered the cream with some of the hot onion instead of of microwaving it and added pasta to the sauce instead of the other way around. It was a popular dish here. Next time, I would add some kale and olives for color and saltiness.

This recipe sounds delicious! I will probably try making a large pot of the onions in a crockpot. If the sauce is as good as some of the notes indicate, melted onions would be worth keeping in the freezer. Has anyone tried this recipe using truffle butter?

Absolutely delicious. Definitely added extra tomato paste. Put a little Pecorino Romano in with the Parmesan cheese. Very enjoyable dish

It is tasty, but for us it was too greasy and rich (and I like rich food.) I think this would work if you just eat a small portion of it alongside other foods. If I were to do it again, I would reduce the butter and oil and add some other flavors to brighten it up. Even just chile flakes could make a good difference.

I agree with cooking the onions ONLY on the stove top — do not use Instant Pot for this recipe! Instant Pot will make a pot of onion soup (pale soft onions in cups of onion liquids) in pressure setting rather than the beautiful caramelization of onions on stove top. Unless you are looking for puréed onion mush, stove top is the right way to go.

Made this last night...delicious. I added petite peas and one fennel sausage. Although it takes quite some time for the onions to "melt", it is worth it. If short of time in the evening, I will make the onions in the morning or even the days before and just reheat.

I made this for the 2nd time tonight for my husband and I for dinner. It is SO good! Yes, it does take time to cook down all those onions, but it is SO worth it! I added a bit of chopped garlic and about 2 ounces of spicy Italian hard sausage chopped up into tiny bits a few minutes before tossing with the pasta, plus we added some chipotle flakes to top it off in our bowls. Make it; you won't be disappointed!