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
-
was caramelizingprogressive
-
were caramelizingprogressive
-
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
When the chicken is done, slather it in Sanders BBQ Supply Co Sticky Icky Peach Wing Sauce and let it caramelize for a few minutes over the heat.
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025
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
The milk solids underneath start to caramelize and turn chestnut brown.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 19, 2023
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
Then, and only then, does Smith fry the patty, obsessively ladling rendered beef fat over the meat until the surface caramelizes to wring out that Maillard reaction.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
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 cream caramelizes, you lose track of where its butterfats end and the egg whites begin, and everything is so delicious it makes you forget all deep existential concerns.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2022
A final coating of brown sugar and honey, speckled with mustard seeds, caramelizes onto the ham in the oven.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
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
Winter really does need these tiny pockets of sweetness to brighten the bite, and whether you choose something caramelized and dense or something juicy and sharp, that contrast makes the whole thing sing.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
The best salads mix the cooked — a little caramelized onion, roasted red pepper, maybe a chopped artichoke heart — with the crisp rawness of shaved fennel, scallions or celery.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
The Tribeca Grill serves caramelized endive with poached lobster.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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.
