caramelize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
caramelizesimple
-
caramelizessimple
-
have caramelizedperfect
-
has caramelizedperfect
-
am caramelizingprogressive
-
are caramelizingprogressive
-
is caramelizingprogressive
-
have been caramelizingperfect progressive
-
has been caramelizingperfect progressive
Past
-
caramelizedsimple
-
had caramelizedperfect
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was caramelizingprogressive
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were caramelizingprogressive
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had been caramelizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of caramelize
Explanation
To caramelize is to slowly cook a food until it turns sweet, nutty, and brown. You can also caramelize pure sugar, or cook it until it melts, becoming golden-brown, sweet, and thick. When a cook caramelizes chopped onion, she gently cooks it in butter or oil, usually for a long time at a low temperature, until the sugars in the onion begin to brown and become very sweet. She caramelizes sugar by cooking it until it melts and reaches a certain temperature. The verb caramelize comes from caramel, or "burnt sugar" in French.
Vocabulary lists containing caramelize
Blanch, Poach, and Scald: Cooking Methods
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Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet
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When Clouds Touch Us
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Party wings are another reliable crowd-pleaser: Farmer Focus wings come pre-split, grill quickly and only need a coating of Tabañero BBQ sauce near the end so it can caramelize and get sticky.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
These ingredients don’t just sweeten—they caramelize, forming that coveted glossy, crackly crust.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025
Zucchini, on the other hand, with its high moisture content, needs plenty of roasting time for the juices to condense, then caramelize.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2024
The crushed cane and fibers are dried and fuel the fire used to boil the juice, evaporate the water and caramelize the sugars.
From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2024
Laughing as they chop onions and caramelize them with garam masala and turmeric and ginger and garlic, trying to replicate my nanni’s kheema.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
The sugar in glazes caramelizes in the oven, adding deep sweet-savory notes and intensifying browning.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023
A classic Korean dish of beef marinated in some combination of soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger, the meat is then grilled until the sauce caramelizes and condenses, turning salty and sweet, zingy and umami-rich.
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2023
The whole shebang caramelizes and solidifies once baked, creating the classic flavor that has been cherished for years on end.
From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2022
In doing so, the sugar in the sweetened coconut caramelizes for a greater depth of flavor, and the crisp texture it adds plays nicely with the soft and fluffy cake and frosting.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2022
The amber maple both dyes the bread a gorgeous hazelnut color and caramelizes into an exterior that you actually want to eat.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2022
The breadcrumb shards that blackened and caramelized at the edges of the sheet pan.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
A caramelized garlic steak bowl sells for $17.95, and a garden cobb salad is $15.75.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026
Shredded raw red cabbage and roasted sweet potato coins, caramelized at the edges.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
Lotus’s caramelized cookies are a ubiquitous traditional treat back home in Belgium, where they have long been known as speculoos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
The Tribeca Grill serves caramelized endive with poached lobster.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Using an enameled skillet, Syd shows T.J. how to brown the meat along with the onions, then adds tomato paste, explaining that caramelizing it enriches the sauce.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2025
Roasting, grilling or caramelizing can bring out natural flavors in foods.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
The near-direct heat chars the peaks of the skewered meat, and the valleys catch little pools of caramelizing sauce.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
By lowering the pressure of each successive pan, he lowered the temperature needed to boil the juice, which prevented the sugar from caramelizing.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 26, 2022
When sugar is caramelizing, it reaches a high temperature.
From School and Home Cooking by Greer, Carlotta Cherryholmes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
