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
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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
I roast the vegetables until they slump and caramelize.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026
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
They will soften, and then turn golden, and then — quite a lot later — caramelize.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 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
But using flour comes with another benefit: The flour left behind in the pan caramelizes, helping to both flavor and thicken the pan sauce.
From Washington Post ● May 12, 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
I tend to order tartare whenever I see it, and Redbird’s version stands out: served over a crisp potato tosti with caramelized onion crema, egg jam, pickled pearl onion, and shaved marrow.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 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
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
It’s a little fussier than the diner original — with a bright, spicy tuna salad made with Calabrian chili mayo and caramelized shallots, plus gooey Fontina — but the payoff is pure, molten bliss.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
“Well, let me see...will it be oozing chocolate lava cake at sixteen dollars or the caramelized runny butter tarts at fourteen dollars or the...,”
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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
The steaks and onions would brown quickly and evenly, caramelizing into a sweet, deep mahogany brown.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 12, 2023
This means it's caramelizing and becoming more flavorful.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 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.
