Stuffed onions

Stuffed onions are soft onion layers rolled around a filling of beef and rice, baked in a sweet and sour sauce until they are brown, glossy and sweet as jam. They are one of the showpieces of Syrian and Iraqi cooking, and almost always the first thing to disappear from a tray of stuffed vegetables.

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Dairy freeGluten freeMeat

Updated

Stuffed onionsIllustration
Time3 hCook 1 h 45 min
Amount6 portions2.3 kg
Per portion525 kcal17 g protein · a 380 g portion
Cost of the pot₪40for the pot, about ₪6.6 a bowl

The story of Stuffed onions

Stuffed onions belong to the family of Ottoman stuffed dishes, but in this form, a single layer rolled around a filling, they developed above all in Syria and Iraq. In Aleppo and Damascus they were called mehshi basal, and in Baghdad they were part of dolma, the big tray of stuffed vegetables for Shabbat and holidays. The sweet and sour taste, from tamarind, lemon and sugar, is the signature of those kitchens, and of their Jewish cooking in particular.

In Israel stuffed onions moved from Syrian and Iraqi homes into Israeli cooking at large. A newer generation sometimes swapped tamarind for silan and pomegranate molasses, which every supermarket stocks, and baked the onions uncovered until they caramelised. That is how the caramelised stuffed onion was born, one of the most searched dishes before every holiday.

What makes Stuffed onions itself

In a stuffed onion the onion is not a wrapper, it is half the flavour. After boiling and a long bake its sharpness vanishes completely, and its natural sugars concentrate and caramelise with the sauce. The real work is separating the layers: boiled just long enough to soften and peel, not so long that they tear. The filling is small, a level spoonful per layer, because the onion has to close around it.

Stuffed onions for any number of people

Change the number of people and the portion size, and every ingredient updates in grams, with the cost, calories and protein per portion.

Portion size
Units
2.3kg of food
3Pot to use, litres
₪40Cost of the pot
₪6.6per portion
525kcal per portion
17.0g protein per portion
IngredientAmountCost
The sweet and sour sauce
Silan (date syrup)60 g₪1.8
Pomegranate molasses60 g₪2.3
Fresh lemon juice60 g₪1.2
Canola oil45 g₪0.7
Water300 g
Salt3 g₪0.0
The dough
Large onions, about 300 g each1.8 kg · 6 pcs₪11
The filling
Ground beef, not too lean400 g₪18
Short grain rice, rinsed and drained150 g₪1.9
Parsley, finely chopped30 g₪1.5
Canola oil15 g₪0.2
Salt6 g₪0.0
Black pepper2 g₪0.3
Ground allspice3 g₪0.5
Cinnamon2 g₪0.3
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Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026. Nutrition from the ingredients in grams, before cooking.

How many calories in Stuffed onions? Nutrition facts and calorie calculator

Change the amount of any ingredient, drop one, or pick a lighter version, and the numbers per serving update at once: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium and fibre.

Stuffed onions has 138 calories per 100 g. A 380 g serving made with our recipe has 525 calories: 17 g protein, 22.5 g fat and 59.3 g carbohydrates.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 60 g32 kcal per serving
  • 60 g29 kcal per serving
  • 60 ml2 kcal per serving
  • 45 ml61 kcal per serving
  • 3 g0 kcal per serving
  • 6 pcs120 kcal per serving
  • 400 g165 kcal per serving
  • 150 g91 kcal per serving
  • 30 g2 kcal per serving
  • 15 ml20 kcal per serving
  • 6 g0 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving
  • 3 g1 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving

How to make Stuffed onions

In cook mode the screen stays on, tap a step when it is done, and the timers run next to each step.
  1. Cut the top and the root end off each onion, peel it, and make one cut along the length of the onion, from top to bottom, only as far as the centre.
  2. Boil the onions for 10 to 12 minutes in water with a tablespoon of salt, until the layers soften and begin to separate on their own. Drain and cool for 10 minutes.
  3. Gently separate the layers one by one through the cut. Halve large outer layers, and chop the small cores and scatter them over the bottom of a wide baking dish.
  4. Filling: mix the beef, rice, parsley, oil, salt and spices and knead briefly until even.
  5. Put about 19 g of filling, a level spoonful, on each layer and roll it along the onion's natural curve into a closed cylinder, like a cigar. Pack the rolls tightly into the dish seam side down, in one layer.
  6. Sauce: whisk the silan, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, oil, water and salt, and pour it over. It should come halfway up the onions.
  7. Cover with foil and bake for 60 minutes at 180 °C, until the rice in the filling is soft.
  8. Remove the foil, spoon sauce over the onions and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, until they are brown and glossy and the sauce is as thick as syrup.
  9. Let them cool for 15 minutes before serving so the sauce thickens further and coats the onions.

The science of Stuffed onions

Kitchen science

Why stuffed onions turn sweet, not sharp

The sharpness of a raw onion appears only when you cut it: an enzyme called alliinase meets sulfur compounds and produces the substance that stings the eyes and tongue. Cooking deactivates the enzyme and breaks down the sulfur compounds, while the onion's natural sugars, plentiful in a large onion, stay and concentrate. After an hour and a half in the oven nothing of the raw onion is left but its sweetness.

Kitchen science

How the caramel forms

Under the foil, water cannot rise above 100 °C, so the onion cooks without browning. Once the foil comes off, the surface dries and the temperature climbs. Fructose, the main sugar in onions, silan and pomegranate molasses, caramelises at a relatively low temperature compared with other sugars, and at the same time the Maillard reaction between sugars and proteins builds the brown colour and the deep flavour.

Kitchen science

Sweet and sour that balance each other

Sugar and acid soften each other in how we taste them: sweetness rounds off sourness, and sourness keeps sweetness from being cloying. This sauce carries different acids, citric acid from lemon and citric and malic acids from pomegranate, so the sourness is round rather than sharp. If the sauce is too sweet, a spoonful of lemon fixes it faster than anything else.

Kitchen science

Why the layers separate when boiled

Onion layers are joined by a thin tissue, and the cells in each layer are glued together by pectin. In boiling water the pectin softens and the layers come loose, and the cut to the centre lets water in and the layers out whole. Too long in the water and the layers soften to the point of tearing.

Stuffed onions in every kitchen

Syrian, mehshi basal

A sauce of tamarind, sugar and lemon, and a filling of hashu, beef and rice seasoned with allspice. Some families add dried apricots or prunes to the tray, which soften in the sauce.

Iraqi

One part of the dolma tray, next to peppers, courgettes, aubergines and vine leaves, in a sauce of lemon, sugar and a little tomato paste. The filling has more rice and less meat, with baharat.

Israeli caramelised

Silan and pomegranate molasses instead of tamarind, and a long uncovered bake until the onions are almost black at the edges. This is the recipe given here.

Turkish, soğan dolması

Onions stuffed with beef and rice, tomato or pepper paste and dried mint, sometimes with pomegranate molasses and sumac, cooked in a pot in a red sauce.

Vegetarian stuffed onions

Instead of the meat: 250 g rice, toasted pine nuts, dried cranberries or raisins, parsley and mint, with the same sauce. Add 50 ml extra oil so the rice does not dry out. The whole tray is parve and vegan.

Common Stuffed onions problems and how to fix them

The onion layers tear when I separate them

The onions were overboiled or not cut to the centre. Boil for only 10 to 12 minutes, let them cool slightly before separating, and work gently through the cut. A torn layer can still be used doubled: two pieces laid one over the other.

My stuffed onions open while baking

Too much filling, or the layer was rolled against its curve. Use a level spoonful only, roll along the onion's natural shape, and pack the rolls close together seam side down.

The onions did not caramelise

There was too much sauce, or the foil stayed on. The sauce should reach only halfway up, and the last 30 to 40 minutes are baked uncovered. If needed, switch on the top grill for 3 minutes at the end and watch closely.

The sauce burned in the dish

Silan and pomegranate molasses burn fast once the liquid evaporates. Add half a cup of boiling water to the dish when the sauce starts to get too thick, and check every 10 minutes in the final stage.

The rice in the stuffed onions stayed hard

The covered bake was too short. Give it a full hour under foil at 180 °C, and if the rice is still firm, put the foil back for 15 minutes with a little water.

Storing, freezing and reheating

4 days

In the fridge

2 months, baked, with the sauce

In the freezer

2+4

To cool

Bring it from 60 to 21 °C within two hours and down to 5 °C within four more. Split a big pot into shallow boxes.

75 °C

Reheating

In the oven at 170 °C, covered with foil with a spoonful or two of water, for 15 to 20 minutes.

Nutrition of Stuffed onions

From our recipe, per bowl and per 100 g, next to the national food database.

ServingkcalProtein, gFat, gCarbs, gFibre, g
Our recipe, a 380 g portion52517.022.559.36.0
Our recipe, 100 g1384.55.915.61.6
Typical Stuffed onions, 100 g1315.06.312.51.5
Typical Stuffed onions, 100 g (2)911.53.911.71.4

What the ingredients of Stuffed onions cost

What each ingredient costs in one pot, and where to buy it.

IngredientPriceIn this potWhere to buy
Ground beef, not too lean₪46 per kg₪18Supermarket
Large onions, about 300 g each₪5.9 per kg₪11Greengrocer
Pomegranate molasses₪38 per litre₪2.3Supermarket
Short grain rice, rinsed and drained₪13 per kg₪1.9Supermarket
Silan (date syrup)₪30 per kg₪1.8Supermarket
Parsley, finely chopped₪4.9 each₪1.5Greengrocer
Fresh lemon juice₪20 per litre₪1.2Supermarket
Canola oil₪15 per litre₪0.9Supermarket
Ground allspice₪160 per kg₪0.5Spice shop
Cinnamon₪140 per kg₪0.3Supermarket
Black pepper₪139 per kg₪0.3Supermarket
Salt₪2.1 per kg₪0Supermarket

Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026, VAT included. Vegetable prices change with the season.

Stuffed onions and its culture

In Syrian and Iraqi Jewish homes stuffed onions are a Shabbat and holiday dish, especially for Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, when the table fills with sweet foods and stuffed vegetables. Rolling onions takes hours, and in a big family it is done together: one separates layers, one fills, one arranges the tray. A stuffed onion that comes out of the oven whole and shiny is the cook's badge of honour.

Among Syrian Jews in Brooklyn and Mexico and Iraqi Jews in London, stuffed onions are still a holiday dish, served next to kibbeh, yebra and rice. Because they stay warm and handsome and improve on the second day, they suit events and community Shabbat meals especially well: they are ordered in large trays and reheated just before serving.

From the pantry: what Stuffed onions needs

Pantry

Pomegranate molasses

Price and where to buy
Pantry

Short grain rice, rinsed and drained

Make Stuffed onions a meal

Shabbat

Ready Shabbat food

Soup, hamin, mains and sides, with a quantity calculator and prices.

Plan Shabbat
Hosting

Hosting trays

9 trays to go with the soup, with a planner by number of guests.

Tray planner
Events

Catering

A whole menu in grams per guest, with a reheating table.

Menus

What to serve with Stuffed onions

Serve hot, 4 to 6 onions per person, with white rice to soak up the sauce. As part of a tray of stuffed vegetables, arrange them next to peppers and vine leaves.

The cuisine behind Stuffed onions

Syrian

Syrian cuisine

Stuffed onions belong to the family of Ottoman stuffed dishes, but in this form, a single layer rolled around a filling, they developed…

Syrian cuisine
Iraqi

Iraqi cuisine

Iraqi cuisine

Stuffed onions in large quantities: events, offices and communities

How much of everything by number of guests, at a 380 g portion. For trays, catering and community kitchens.

Guestskg of food3 kg traysCost of ingredients
259.54₪165
50197₪329
1003813₪659
2007626₪1,318
50019064₪3,294

Every ingredient for any number of guests is in the calculator above: type the number of people.

Order Stuffed onions

A ready pot for Shabbat, an event or the office, ordered ahead.

  • Cooked to order, for Shabbat, an event or the office.
  • Tell us how many people and when, and we send a quote.
  • Delivery in Tel Aviv from ₪35, free over ₪750.
Ask for a quote for Stuffed onions

Order Stuffed onions for a large event

Large orders in Israel and abroad: events, offices, synagogues, communities and institutions.

  • In Israel: cooked in Tel Aviv and delivered to events in the area, and to large events anywhere in the country on a quote.
  • Abroad: for communities, events and restaurants. Tell us where, how many and when, and we come back with a quote and options.
  • Institutional quantities and a shopping list for any number of guests, in the calculator above.
Ask for a large-order quote

Frequently asked questions

How do you separate onion layers for stuffing?

Make one lengthwise cut to the centre, boil for 10 to 12 minutes, let it cool slightly and peel off the layers one by one through the cut.

How long do you bake stuffed onions?

An hour covered with foil at 180 °C, then 30 to 40 minutes uncovered until caramelised. About an hour and a half in all.

What goes in the sauce for stuffed onions?

Silan, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, oil, water and a little salt. Syrian cooks use tamarind and sugar, and Iraqi cooks lemon, sugar and a little tomato paste.

How do you make vegetarian stuffed onions?

Fill them with rice, pine nuts, raisins or dried cranberries and herbs, with a little extra oil so the filling stays moist. The sauce and baking are the same, and the dish is parve.

Which onions are best for stuffing?

Large, round white or yellow onions of about 300 g. Each one gives 5 to 6 good layers for stuffing.

Can you make stuffed onions ahead?

Yes. Roll them a day ahead and refrigerate without the sauce, or bake them completely and reheat. Baked stuffed onions are even better on the second day.

What is the difference between stuffed onions and dolma?

Dolma is the general name for stuffed vegetables in Iraqi and Turkish cooking, and stuffed onions are one of them. On an Iraqi dolma tray the onions cook alongside other stuffed vegetables.

How many calories are in Stuffed onions?

A 380 g portion of Stuffed onions made with our recipe has about 525 calories and 17 g of protein. Per 100 g: 138 calories.

How much does it cost to make Stuffed onions at home?

A tray or pot of 6 portions costs about ₪40 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪6.6 a portion. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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