caramelize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
caramelizesimple
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caramelizessimple
-
have caramelizedperfect
-
has caramelizedperfect
-
am caramelizingprogressive
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are caramelizingprogressive
-
is caramelizingprogressive
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have been caramelizingperfect progressive
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has been caramelizingperfect progressive
Past
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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:
I like to caramelize yellow onions with butter and a pinch of salt before adding a clove or two of fresh garlic, stirring continuously to prevent them from burning.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
Brown it deeply, until the edges caramelize and the fat renders into the pan.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026
They will soften, and then turn golden, and then — quite a lot later — caramelize.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 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 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
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
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
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
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
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
Another pasta, this time a chicken spaghetti smells like Sunday afternoons in the South: sweet onions softening in olive oil, bell peppers and celery faintly caramelizing, mushrooms releasing their earthy perfume.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 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
Time in a hot oven transforms food — concentrating and deepening its flavors, caramelizing it and creating crispy surfaces, while cooking gently enough to slowly bring proteins to the perfect temperature.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 29, 2022
Is any of the injurious substance formed in caramelizing sugar present in Caramel Sauce?
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.
