Now there is nothing better than a homemade onion chutney recipe lovingly spooned on to your plate at the weekend. Especially when you have a few wedges of your favourite cheeses and a glass of good red wine. The great thing about onion chutney recipe its so easy to make and so tasty.
The building blocks to a good onion chutney is vinegar and sugar oh and of course the onions. The measurements do not have to be exact, you just through the ingredients in. Taste along the way and if its to acidic add more sugar. If its to sweet then add more vinegar.

Onion Chutney With Dates and Walnuts
Well when I say walnuts I actually mean pickled walnuts, if you have never tried them before I recommend that you do. A jar of pickled walnuts are a little expensive in the first instance but they add such a depth of flavour to anything. Of course you can save the rest of the pickled walnuts for other recipes.
Pickled walnuts are great served with cheese and cold meats. If the picked walnuts are a little to zesty by themselves then chop and throw a few into your next stew. You will be surprised at the depth of flavour they bring to the whole dish. If you would like to have a go at making your own picked walnuts then there is a great recipe here

Why Use Dates In an Onion Chutney
I know dates, I am not the biggest fan of dates when eaten alone. However when you add dates to other cooking methods the depth of flavour is amazing. Most good sticky toffee puddings have dates in them. So yes dates add depth of flavour and texture to the onion chutney.
Yes again they can be a little expensive in the first instance but they can be stored for later use. I prefer to get the ones that are still a little moist and not completely dried. I want some of that juice inside the date to leech out into the rest of the mixture. Try wrapping dates with bacon and pop them in the oven or add them to stews to give a Moroccan flavour.

The Onions For the Onion Chutney Recipe
Now some people say that you must use white onions, some swear that you have to use red onions to make your chutney. To me it doesn’t really mater what kind of onions you use, especially after you have added all the other ingredients. I don’t even think an onion connoisseur would know what type of onions the chutney was made with.
So for my onion chutney recipe I use the onions that are in my veg rack. For this particular recipe I used 1 shallot, that’s all that I had and it needed using up. Then 4 red onions, again thats what was left and then I made up the quantity with regular white onions. So just use what you have, it’s the principle of Cheap dinner Ideas, make use of what you have.

Ingredients
- 1 kg of Onions, any onions will do
- 150ml balsamic vinegar
- 150ml red wine vinegar
- 300g of brown sugar
- handful of thyme
- 2 large bulbs of garlic (smoked if possible)
- 4 chopped pickled walnuts
- 100g of chopped dates
- Olive oil and butter
- seasoning
Instructions
Firstly chopped all the onions
add the olive oil and butter to the pan
add all the onions and season well
allow the onions to start sweating down and to become a little caramelised around the edges
now add the rest of your ingredients, the walnuts the sugar, everything
allow it to gently simmer on the heat for around 1 hour
taste the mixture, to acidic add sugar
to sweet and sugary and some red wine vinegar
cook for a further 10 minutes.
place into jars and seal the lids
allow the date and walnut chutney to cool
eat with anything

The Acid For The Onion Chutney
Now what acidic liquid is best for making onion chutney recipe. Well again what you have to hand, if all you have is vinegar then simply use vinegar. The big vinegar companies have plenty of recipes using just that one ingredient. I like to use a mixture to add some depth of flavour.
I always have red wine vinegar in the cupboard, I use it often to make my sweet chilli jam. Almost always I have a bottle of balsamic vinegar in the kitchen as I use it for dressings on salads or just to go with my olive oil and dunk bread in it. So thats what I use, a mixture of balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar.

The Sugar For The Chutney Recipe
Use what you have, however using brown sugar does add some depth of flavour to the chutney. Light brown sugar or dark muscavdo sugar will do the trick. In this recipe I used dark brown sugar and some light brown sugar. Not because the recipe called for it, it’s what I had in the cupboard. Use what you have
Aromatics For the Chutney Recipe
Now you can add a side flavour to your onion chutney recipe and the choice is yours. Bay leaves, garlic, chilli flakes, tamarind, cumin. The chutney recipe will have depth in flavour so adding something else just to give it another flavour note. Make sure its your own personal onion chutney recipe.
For my chutney recipe I used a splash of ameretto, smoked garlic and thyme. Its what I had the time, growing in the garden so it’s free. The smoked garlic I had a few bulbs left over otherwise I would have used regular garlic. The Ameretto was in the cupboard.


Happiest in the kitchen feeding the 3 children who are constantly hungry. Lucky enough to have worked in a Pro kitchen on a voluntary basis to learn the tricks of the trade.. Buckinghams The restaurant with one Table. With Chef Nick Buckingham.(RIP)