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Photograph of Caramelised Onion Gravy with Marsala Wine and Maple Syrup

Caramelised Onion Gravy with Marsala Wine and Maple Syrup

Sweet, yet savoury, caramelised onion gravy cooked with olive oil and butter and flavoured with Marsala wine and maple syrup. You can serve it in many ways - our favourites are with sausages, Toad in the Hole, chicken, and with a nut roast.

Course Dinner, Lunch, Supper
Keyword caramelised onion, maple syrup, marsala wine
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 650g onions (4 - 5 medium sized onions), peeled and sliced
  • 3 - 4 teaspoons maple syrup or honey
  • 4 tablespoons Marsala wine (or extra stock plus extra maple syrup or honey)
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 60g plain/all-purpose flour
  • 1 litre/4 cups beef, vegetable, chicken stock or potato/vegetable cooking water
  • ½ - 1 teaspoon salt (This will depend on how salty your stock or vegetable cooking water is.)
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook until a medium to dark brown and very soft; this takes between 20 – 30 minutes. Stir the onions from time to time and keep an eye on the temperature, you may need to turn it down the longer you cook.

  3. Add the Marsala wine and continue to cook, scraping all the sticky bits up from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, until reduced by half.

  4. Add the butter to the pan and melt. Butter can burn easily, so keep an eye on it.

  5. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.

  6. Add all the stock and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon until the stock is evenly incorporated and there are no lumps. Add the ½ teaspoon salt, the pepper and half of the maple syrup. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Reduce the temperature and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, with a wooden spoon.

  7. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary – you may need more salt or maple syrup. The amount of salt you need will depend on the how salty the stock or vegetable water is as well as your own personal taste. Serve either as it is or you can strain the sauce through a sieve to remove the pieces of onion. The gravy will be quite thick – add additional stock or water if you prefer a thinner consistency. 

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • chopping board and knife
  • measuring spoons
  • measuring jug/cups
  • large frying pan
  • sieve (optional)

Quantity:

Even if I am cooking just for Andrew and me, I always make this amount of gravy - enough for 8 people. I then freeze whatever is left over for future use.

Optional extras:

You could also add 3 - 4 stems of thyme when cooking the onions. Remove before you serve the gravy

Likewise you could add 2 bay leaves when cooking the onions. These should also be removed before you serve the gravy

You could also add a couple of cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed. Add to the onions a couple of minutes before you add the butter.