Buckle up, cuz you’re about to be WOW’d by these Lebanese Roasted Stuffed Onions. Onions baked until they’re soft and mellow with each layer cradling a savory, herby filling of ground meat (or hey, a vegan beef substitute for my plant-based pals).
And the best is that they’re surprisingly easy to whip up! Cooking for a cozy dinner at home or prepping for a glamorous dinner party? Either way, these onions are a show-stopper.
Why These Stuffed Onions Are So Good
- Effortlessly Easy: Who said impressive dishes have to be complicated? The cooking process for these delicious stuffed onions is simple and straightforward. From the rice and spices to the wrapping process, each simple step leads to great flavor.
- Spice Symphony: It’s a melody of warming spices: a pinch of allspice, a dash of cinnamon, and a sprinkle of coriander. The spices come together to create a symphony in your mouth, and a depth and warmth with each bite.
- A Dinner Party Darling: Looking for a great recipe to dazzle your next gathering? These roasted beauties are not only delicious but also look stunning on a plate. Truly a statement piece kind of dish.
- Versatile Vibe: Whether you’re craving a side dish, an appetizer, or a hearty main, these stuffed onions are your go-to. They’re a wildly versatile stuffed vegetable.
Ingredients
- Onions
- White rice
- Tomato paste
- Spices: cinnamon, allspice, ground cumin
- Coriander
- Ground meat (the original recipe uses lamb)
- White wine vinegar or cider vinegar
- Sugar
- Olive oil
How To Make These Stuffed Onions – Step by Step
- Soak your rice in a bowl of cold water.
- Bring a large pot of water (enough water to cover a whole onion by 1″) to a boil.
- Cut off the very top and bottom of each onion. With a sharp knife, make a cut down one side of each onion, ensuring that cut reaches the center of the onion. Add the onions to the pot, and let them cook for 10 minutes or until the layers soften and separate easily.
- Drain the rice completely. In a large mixing bowl, add the drained rice, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cilantro or parsley and ground meat. Mix well.
- When the onions have finished cooking, remove and drain from the boiling water. Let cool and separate out the layers of the onions individually. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the meat filling into the middle of the onion layer, wrapping it around the filling, but not too tightly, as you should allow the raw rice to expand during cooking.
- In a large, oven-safe saute pan over medium-high heat, swirl in the olive oil. When pan is hot, place the filled, soft onions cut side down. Let cook for 2 minutes until the bottoms have browned slightly. Add vinegar to the pan and sprinkle the top of the onions with sugar. Cover the pan and turn the heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes or until the meat and rice are fully cooked, rotating the onions halfway during cooking.
Stuffed Onions – An Easy Appetizer
What I loved about this dish was that each “stuffed” onion just uses a single layer of onion and that the presentation was so beautiful.
The onion is boiled for a few minutes until the layers are soft and pliable. Each layer of the onion is gently taken apart, stuffed with ground meat (try ground lamb!), warming spices like allspice, cinnamon and coriander, basmati rice and then then roasted. What a nice surprise to open up a rolled onion to find a savory, meaty filling!
What Are The Best Onions To Use?
Yellow onions are great for roasting. Yellow onions are also higher in vitamin C as compared to other onion varieties. Vidalia onions are good too, but any kind will work, including white onions, red onions, and sweet onions.
Can I Make These Vegetarian?
You sure can! These stuffed onions are a great vegetarian appetizer, vegan dish, or even just a side. Just omit the ground meat and add a touch more rice. Or you can use some chopped roasted peppers, or other roasted veggies, whatever takes your fancy!
Top Tips For These Stuffed Onions
- You can make these vegetarian by omitting the ground beef.
- If you want to keep it traditional use ground lamb. Ground chicken is also a great filling!
- Make a cut down one side of each of the onions, cutting into the center from top to bottom. This helps the onion layers cook evenly and make it easier to peel.
- Serve as a side or an appetizer.
Lebanese Roasted Stuffed Onions Recipe Video
Check Out These Other Great Appetizers
- Clams Casino Recipe
- Thai Firecracker Shrimp Recipe
- Miso Butter Shrimp Recipe
- Korean BBQ Beef on Crispy Wonton Chip
Have you tried these Stuffed Onions? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
This Lebanese Roasted Stuffed Onions recipe is from a book called The Food and Cooking of the Middle East.
Lebanese Roasted Stuffed Onions
Ingredients
- 2 extra-large onions or 3 large onions
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro or parsley reserve some for garnish
- 1 pound ground meat of your choice original recipe uses lamb
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
- 3 pinches of sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- The first step is to soak your rice in a bowl cool water. The rice will absorb some of the water -- we'll drain off the water in a later step.
- Fill a pot with water (enough to cover a whole onion by 1" and bring to a boil. Cut off the very top and bottom of each onion. Make a cut down one side of each of the onions, cutting into the center from top to bottom. This helps the onion layers cook evenly and make it easier to peel. Add the onions, and let them cook for 10 minutes or until the layers soften and separate easily.
- Drain the rice completely. In a large mixing bowl, add the drained rice, tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cilantro or parsley and ground meat. Mix well.
- When the onions have finished cooking, remove and drain from the boiling water. Let cool and separate out the layers individually and place 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling, wrap onion around filling, but not too tightly to allow rice to expand during cooking.
- In a large, oven-safe saute pan over medium-high heat, swirl in the olive oil. When pan is hot, place the onions seam-side down. Let cook for 2 minutes until the bottoms have browned slightly. Add vinegar to the pan and sprinkle the tops of the onions with sugar. Cover the pan and turn the heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes or until the meat and rice are fully cooked, rotating the onions halfway during cooking.
Nutrition
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Question: The recipe is called Lebanese Roasted Stuffed Onions, but there are no instructions for roasting them. When do you roast them and for how long at what temperature?
My mother was middle eastern and she taught me this. I make a huge pot of it. My sons love it because when onions are cooked they become sweet and I make it all the time. I don’t use cinnamon. You noted 3 T of parsley or cilantro. I use both plus dill and I use lots more than the 3 T you use.
Fabulous flavour we had them with Falafels in tomato garlic sauce Amazing combo
These were excellent as a vegetarian side dish. I cheated and used cooked rice. Also, mistakenly added the vinegar and sugar to the rice mixture, then realized I was supposed to use them at the end. Still turned out just fine. This was a tasty and unique addition to our meal. Thanks for sharing!
FANTASTIC dish!! I’ve been waiting until I was with my daughter and SIL to make this recipe…last night was the night. Everyone LOVED it. Even my not-too-fond-of-onions hubs. I made za’atar pull apart rolls — http://www.twoofakindcooks.com/zaatar-pull-apart-bread/ — and yogurt cucumber salad — https://www.maureenabood.com/yogurt-cucumber-salad-with-mint/ — to serve with it. It was a meal fit for a king! I put lemon wedges on plate like Jaden did…we squeezed the fresh lemon juice on them as we ate them…it was one more great layer of flavor. I used as Louisiana low country medium grain rice. I probably soaked it for an hour and a half. Had absolutely no problem getting the rice done…it came out perfectly. Thanks for sharing a great recipe Jaden…I’ll definitely be making this one again!
Hi Nancy – oh WOW, what a feast! Thank you so much! jaden
Just double cking , you don’t add liquid to the pan to heat. Not sure rice will cook without it?
Thanks
Hi Michelle – the rice is soaked in water. It absorbs enough water along with the liquid from the rest of the ingredient stuffing that the rice will bake in the oven.
Do you have nutrition facts?
Hi Christine – No, I’m sorry I do not. jaden
Hi, that’s ok! We made it tonight and it was AMAZING! 12/10!
We figured out that each individual stuffed onion is approximately 75 calories.
We made tzatziki sauce with nonfat greek yogurt to go with this and it was perfect!
We also used the leftover meat to make meatballs and they were the best we’ve ever eaten! One 1oz meatball (using the filling, including the rice) was 40 calories.
Thank you!!
**Nutrition facts based on use of ground turkey
Thanks so much Christine!! Jaden
I tried this recipe of stuffed roasted onion using basamati rice soaked in water for 1 hour. I used good 90/10 ground beef and I made it as described. I cooked over stove top in a roasting pan. I was delicious and good appearance dish. Thanks for submitting the recipe.
can I make these the day before? Every Sunday we all bring a Lebanese dish to my grandma’s house and I wanted to bring this but won’t have time to cook it the day of. If I made it tonight (Saturday) would it be good to go for tomorrow? if so, how do you suggest reheating it?
Yes you can make these the day before. Reheat in microwave.
This is a wonderfully simple recipe that requires no special ingredients! I used a softball-sized red onion for two people, which made about eight little bundles, and a combination of white and whole grain basmati. I think next time I will splash in a bit of white wine at the end to create a bit of sauce. Very nice, thank you!
This was an adventure. Glad I tried it. Love the spices that go into the meat.
I precooked my ground meat and used leftover Jasmine rice then combined everythingl. Used fresh cilantro.
It worked out beautifully. Next time I will get my onions browned almost all over. I cooked this in an iron skillet.
I served this with hummus, garlic Naan and Israeli salad. It was a light meal but very tasty.
I would love to make this but as vegetarian. What are your thoughts of using an extra firm tofu instead of the meat? Also should I add more liquid when doing this? Thank you!!
I make this with lentils instead of lamb for just this reason, and they work great. My non-vegetarian partner also loves them. I cook and drain the lentils first, but don’t make any other changes to the recipe.
Last day made this recipe with some alterations…even my son who does not like anything wants it again…..My family loved your recipe from Moon and to the back.
Eagerly waiting for your recipes to share here……..!
Tasty with good flavor, we’ll make again, but I must have done something wrong. The rice was crunchy and the hamburger was dry. Maybe a hamburger with more fat and instant rice? I plan on trying again.
Love it love it. Easy to make everybody has tryed it . want it everyday even my son who does not like anything wants it all the time. Can make enough husband wants it for lunch daily. Can keep up. I think he’s selling it. Lol thanks .
I made this tonight with hubby at vacation rental. I have to say, one of the best recipes on Pinterest. I can’t wait to share with our family. Will make over and over. It was very easy to put together as well. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Kendra! -Jaden
I am making the recipe now, and just sampled a small roll. It was delicious!!! I followed the directions, but I threw a bag of Success rice into the onion water after I decided they were cooked enough to handle well. I left the onoins and the bag of rice in the water and covered the pan and let it sit while I went to wait in line to mail my income tax returns. When I returned, I assembled the filling, ran the rice under cold water so I wouldn’t be putting warm rice in ground turkey, proceeded to fill the onions! Later, I am going out for more onions!!!! This is a great recipe! I also enjoy your other recipes. Yours is one of my favorite blogs!!!! Thank you.
Thank you Gloria! Your comment made my day 🙂 -Jaden
Cooking…not cooling…lol
Ugh! I am cooking these now. They have been cooling for about 45 mins and the rice is crunchy. 🙁 What did I do wrong?
You didn’t do anything wrong. I can’t believe that she says to cook these for only 20 minutes. My ground lamb was still raw, and the rice was still rock hard. So I googled the original recipe from the book she mentions in the video. The original cook time is 50 minutes in the pan, plus another 15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees to get them dried out and wrinkled. Granted, the original recipe did not call for soaking the rice, but I can’t imagine even this step would be expected to cut down the cook time from over an hour to 20 minutes. Ridiculous and super misleading.
Oh wow, this is an amazing dish! When I cooked it for the amount of time stated on low, my rice was still a bit hard and the onions weren’t as soft or brown as I would’ve liked; I turned the heat up a bit and left them on ten minutes longer and it was (chef’s kiss). The second panful I just cooked straight on med-low instead of low for about 12min on each side and it was perfect – if a roll or two isn’t perfectly sealed you can actually see the state of the rice and know if you need to go longer. 🙂 Another tip – when you peel the onion petals, before you wrap the rolls, make sure the thin filmy layer doesn’t separate onto the outside of your petal, because you will lose all the beautiful caramelization to the pan – definitely push it off before you plop it in the pan. Can’t wait to make this for company . . .
Is that an induction cooktop? Is that an aluminum pan? I just bought one and I thought you couldn’t use aluminum pans on them…
Can’t wait to try this. Also can’t wait for your mom’s recipes.
This looks so intriguing!
Wow. This dish looks interesting and delicious. I did not know that rice could be able to cook in just 20 minutes. Anyway, I would love to try this lebanese roasted stuffed onions recipe because I love the taste of onions. Thanks for sharing this recipe and the video is very informative.
have you tried this recipe in the oven, rather than stove top? I’d love to see if it would work that way too
Thank you for your answer!
I never use parboiled rice – it just doesn’t taste the same.
Fat alone won’t cook rice, as for the liquid in meat…
I’ll try as it was written here.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
These stuffed onions looks delicious and the video makes them seem even easier to prepare. Thank you.
What a nice dish!
I have a question though – do you need to add water to the pan?
If not – where the liquid for cooking the rice come from?
Definitely will try that, thanks again!
There is enough liquid (and fat) in the meat that the rice cooks perfectly. In fact, you really don’t need a lot of water to cook rice. Most rice is “boiled” – but did you know that you can “steam” rice too?
Jaden thanks so much for this recipe. I made them this evening using brown rice and ground turkey. My son couldn’t believe that I was using onion as a wrap and was not to thrilled…. even he loved them. Next time I will add some dried cranberries to give it another dimension of flavour. GREAT recipe!
Would you use this as a main dish or as a side dish?
Awesome dish, just finished eating it for lunch. Fast, easy and very filling. Highly recommend!
These look so good! I’m planning on making these for dinner this week. In the video you put in parsley, but you don’t have it listed in your ingredients. How much parsley do we need? Thanks!
That looks delicious! I’ve never run across this dish before, I’ll have to try it. Though with beef (Jean doesn’t like lamb).
Lovely! These look so tasty…definitely need to give them a try! 🙂
I was in Lebanon this week and never saw this dish. Then again, that was Lebanon, TN just outside of Nashville, which probably explains a lot 😉
These sound and look great, Jaden! I LOVE stuffed bell peppers and these are pretty close to that. I’m glad you used beef instead of lamb.
This sounds really good Jaden, roasted onions have a lovely sweet flavour that must go really nicely with the filling. Plus I have this big bag of largish onions in need of using.
Sounds delish!!! Can not view video though, it says owner has is set to private.
Should be all set now — sorry about that! 🙂