I always joke that if I could make a custom Yankee Candle, it’d be sautéed onion-scented. It may sound odd, but in my opinion, there are few smells more enticing than that of onions (and garlic while we’re at it) cooking down. For most of my childhood, that meant something was happening in the kitchen, and something good at that.

These days when I cook for myself, I don’t do the traditional meal prep, but I do like to prepare some components to help me iterate on lunches and dinners throughout the week. One of the most frequent things I do is make a big batch of caramelized onions for two reasons. The first is that everything is better with caramelized onions; chicken, burgers, dip, quesadillas—you name it.

The second reason is that truly caramelized onionstake a long, long time. Luckily, I found a hack that cuts the time down by half and even makes them weeknight-friendly, meaning you have a delicious, cheap dinner upgrade in your back pocket any time you need it.

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