How to Make Onion Marmalade (2024)

Onion marmalade is delicious as part of a ploughman’s lunch, or any cold spread with meats and cheese. This recipe for onion marmalade is simple to make and a great place to start if you have no experience with chutney and preserves.

Onion Marmalade

Despite the name, onion marmalade is a savoury relish, albeit one with plenty of natural sweetness in the mix. More akin to a chutney than a marmalade, it is ideal with all manner of savoury dishes. We especially like it with a ploughman’s lunch – cheese, cold meats or traditional pork pies. Classic British stuff.

Unlike a chutney, onion marmalade is ready to eat as soon as it is made. There’s no need to let it mature, so you can whip this up at short notice.

My recipe for onion marmalade is easy to make, even if you have never made preserves before. My hints, tips and tricks will soon have you making perfect onion marmalade with minimal hands on time!

Why Make Onion Marmalade?

• It is delicious!
• This recipe for onion marmalade is seriously easy to make. It does require a bit of time, and you do need to stir it now and then. The hardest part, however, is slicing the onions, so anyone can make this recipe!
• This onion marmalade recipe is adaptable and doesn’t require any specialist ingredients, equipment or knowledge of preserving.

Pork Farms – Perfect Pork Pies

A generous spoonful of onion marmalade goes perfectly with a traditional pork pie. Pork Farms makes a range of pork pies, from traditional pies to miniature and Melton Mowbray.

Melton Mowbray Pies

The Melton Mowbray pie is a Leicestershire speciality that carries a PGI protected status. The distinctive golden bow-walled hot water crust pastry is shaped by hand and baked free standing rather than in a mould. The uncured pork filling is seasoned with pepper and has the colour of roast pork rather than the ham pink of other pies, and the filling is moist and surrounded by a traditional jelly. The meat content of the pie must be a minimum of 30 %.
The protected status ensures that Melton Mowbray pies are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, as well as being baked in the Melton Mowbray area.

Pork Farms takes great pride in their traditional product. The company has its origins in master baker Ken Parr’s first Nottingham pie shop, where he began making pork pies in 1931, and Pork Farms carries on his legacy today.

The company uses only succulent British pork in its pies, perfectly seasoned and wrapped in delicious hot water crust pastry.

We think they make a wonderful traditional pie with options for every occasion starting from the two or three bites sized mini and snack pies; the mini pies are also available in pork and pickle and Branston pickle topped versions.

Large pies are sized for sharing from original sized pies (weighing about 300 grams) to medium, and large pies at 450 grams – large enough for eight slices!

Onion Marmalade Ingredients

To make this effortless onion marmalade recipe, you will need:

• Onions – I’ve used white, but you can swap in red, or use a mixture. You can even add in some shallots. A red onion marmalade will give a darker, warmer colour.
• Garlic – Regular garlic cloves here.
• Butter – Whatever you have to hand. But please use proper butter – no fake butter spreads, full of refined fats and oils. If you don’t have or eat butter, use some extra olive oil instead.
• Olive Oil – You cook the onions very slowly so I use extra virgin olive oil as it is unrefined as I try to eat as few refined oils and fats as possible. But use what you have.
• Sugar – I have used a soft brown sugar. Any brown sugar will do, however. The darker the sugar, the more treacly and molasses-rich the flavour in the finished onion marmalade.
• Balsamic vinegar – My go-to Balsamic vinegar is from Belazu. It is sweet and nicely sticky, but is reasonably affordable. You could use more of a thinner balsamic.
• Cider Vinegar – I like a good quality vinegar that tastes of apples. You could also use a red wine vinegar or make this entirely with balsamic.

Other & optional (not pictured)

• Port or red wine – You can replace some of the vinegar with the same volume of port or wine.
• Dijon Mustard – A spoonful of mustard adds another flavour dimension.
• Herbs – A pinch of dried oregano or thyme both work well.

Onion Marmalade Recipe: Step by Step

First, gather your ingredients.

Step One – Peel and slice the onions, about ½ cm (¼ inch) thick.

Step Two – Put the butter and oil in a big heavy pan (I use a heavy cast iron casserole dish) and melt over a low heat. Stir in the onion to coat it thoroughly with the oil and melted butter.

Step Three – Sauté the onions on a low heat, stirring from time to time until they are sticky and soft. The key here is to go slowly. You want to soften rather than fry them.

Don’t be tempted to turn the heat up and rush this stage, which takes at least 20–30 minutes. Using a good solid pan will really help to prevent hot spots, so that the onions cook evenly.

Step Four – Add the rest of the ingredients and stir in. At this stage you may think there is too much liquid, but don’t worry. It will all cook down to make a lovely sticky final marmalade.

Turn the heat right down and leave it to do its thing. Stir from time to time, swiping the spoon all over the bottom of the pan to check that nothing has stuck. Again, do not rush this stage, which can take up to an hour.

Step Five – The onion marmalade is ready once the onion is a rich dark brown, shiny and sticky with no liquid in the pan. You can test it by drawing a spoon across the bottom of the pan, where it will leave a clear trail for several seconds.

Remove from the heat and transfer to clean sterilized jars and seal. Once cool, keep in the fridge and eat within 2 -3 weeks.

This post has been sponsored by Pork Farms Ltd. All recipes and opinions are our own.