Keto Stuffed Onion Cups

Sweet Caramelized Onions stuffed with 

Earthy Mushrooms & Savory Sausage 

        This recipe is actually inspired by Martha Stewart. Say no more, right?! Sigh. She's amazing, what else can I say?! I've always found her recipes to be reliable and delicious. But since Martha's recipe wasn't keto-friendly, I made a few changes like omitting potatoes and adding pork sausage and cheese as additional fillers. These stuffed onions are simply amazing! The sage pork sausage combined with mushrooms and the caramelized onion pulp is such a wonderful flavor profile. 

        If you are a vegetarian and/or vegan, you can simply omit the sausage and add more mushrooms (or tofu will also work) in place of it, as well as switching out the cheese for a vegan friendly cheese substitute.        

        Being on keto, you have to get creative on recipe alterations and once you figure out how to tweak a recipe into something that's keto-friendly, you'll find that it gets easier the more you do it. BUT in the meantime, just follow my blog for inspiration and recipes!!;) 

This recipe takes a little forethought and it's because it starts by wrapping each onion in foil and baking in the oven for an hour and a half. This allows the onion's own juices and steam to cook it from the inside out and get it all caramelized and soft. 

While the onions are baking, you'll need to prepare the stuffing. First, sauté the sausage. Then add in your mushrooms and garlic, cooking it a few minutes until it's nice and fragrant.  Then, transfer it to a bowl and add fresh parsley or any other fresh herbs on hand (I happened to a few leftover rosemary sprigs that I was happy to throw in the mix). Martha's recipe called for fresh basil which I didn't have any. No problem, like I mentioned, I used what I happened to have in the fridge. This also applies to cheese! I had a shredded three cheese blend of parmesan, asiago and romano cheese that I decided to add and I did NOT regret it! I encourage you to play around with a variety of cheese to elevate your dishes.

After the onions are done baking, you'll remove the inner onion flesh and add it to the mix. The onion flesh should be soft and transparent. 

Do a rough chop on the onion flesh you took out and add about half of it it to your mixture.

At this point, because everything was cooked, I tasted the mixture and added salt and pepper to taste. And because I LOVE garlic, I added some garlic powder to the mix. Up to you if you want to add extra garlic or any other seasonings. Cayenne pepper comes to mind to give the recipe some punch! 

Time to stuff these babies and get them back into the oven to heat and brown the onion shells for an additional 20 minutes.

Here's the final product, Yummm! 

Keto Stuffed Onion Cups

Cook Time: 2 hour   Prep Time: 20 minutes    Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

    Yield: 8 onion cups    Serving Size: 1 onion      

Ingredients: 

• 8 medium yellow onions
• 12 oz ground sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's Sage Pork Sausage. Ground turkey, beef and/or chicken can also be used depending on what you prefer). 
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed.
• 1 bunch of fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, or sage..whatever you have on hand)
• 1 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 10 oz of assorted mushrooms, such as chanterelle, shiitake, or oyster, cleaned and sliced or diced. (I happened to dice mine, but 1/4" strips are fine too). 
• 1/2 c of shredded cheese (parmesan, asiago, and/or romano).
• Olive Oil for cooking

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut off top quarter from each onion and wrap each onion in aluminum foil. Bake the onions until golden in color and soft, about 1 1/2 hours. 
3. Sauté your sausage over medium heat until browned. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until fragrant, a few minutes.
4. Transfer to a bowl and add parsley, cheese and season with salt and pepper. Taste the mixture! Adjust seasoning accordingly. (I added a few dashes of garlic powder at this point).
5. Once baked, remove the onions from the foil and scoop out the onion flesh, leaving behind two layers of onion in each cup. 
6. Roughly chop the onion flesh about half of it to your sausage and herb mixture. Stir to incorporate. 
7. Stuff your onion shells with mixture and place into a shallow pan.
8. Bake the stuffed onions until they are golden, about 30 more minutes. Let the onions cool slightly and serve warm.