caramelize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
caramelizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caramelized,
past participle, past
-
caramelizing
present participle
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:
You can caramelize the corn in a skillet, but if you prefer it with a late-summer-smoky-char, cook the shucked cobs on the grill before cutting off the kernels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Samin Nosrat breaks down onion transformation in "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat": “The longer you cook onions, the deeper their flavor will be. But you don’t need to caramelize every onion you cook.”
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2025
The sun-dried tomatoes caramelize, while the fresh cherries burst, rounding out the acidity with a backbone of umami.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 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
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 latter involves building a “cheese wall” around the perimeter of a cast-iron skillet, which crisps and caramelizes while baking in a very hot oven.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
The sugar in glazes caramelizes in the oven, adding deep sweet-savory notes and intensifying browning.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023
Grilling brings out the sweetness and caramelizes the natural sugars in the peaches.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2023
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
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
We ate hot beef sausages served on split buns and slathered with whole-grain mustard, followed by deep-fried knishes stuffed with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Have a listen while you’re caramelizing or grilling the corn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
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
Is any of the injurious substance formed in caramelizing sugar present in Caramel Sauce?
From School and Home Cooking by Carlotta Cherryholmes Greer
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.
