It seems crazy I haven’t blogged about this dish until now, as tasting it for the first time was a canon event in my culinary life. I ate my first frittata di cipolle (Onion Frittata) in a bustling trattoria in Florence way back in the mid 1970s. I’ve forgotten the name of the place, but the memory of that first bite has stuck with me, even after 50 years.

That frittata di cipolle was a very different thing from the one I was used to, the one Angelina would make. Her frittata was thick and filled with onions, peppers and potatoes, and sometimes sausage, and rather lightly browned on the outside. She’d usually serve her frittata at room temperature, either on its own or sometimes as a sandwich between two slices of crusty bread. I loved it.

By constrast, the frittata di cipolle was thin and clearly flash fried, almost charred, and served to me still sizzling hot from the frying pan. That method gave the eggs a wonderfully nutty taste reminscient of—and almost as addictive as—fried dough. The onions were sweet and bursting with flavor, the perfect foil for the savory eggs. I was hooked. Now, I wouldn’t say it was better than Angelina’s, but that frittata taught me how just a few changes in ingredient and method can totally transfrom a dish.

I still try to recreate that frittata di cipolle today. While I never quite manage to recapture that magical moment, this recipe gets really close. And in any event, it’s delicious.

A frittata di cipolle makes for a light secondo (main course) or a delicious sandwich filling between two slices of crusty bread.

Ingredients

Serves 1 or 2

2 medium onions, peeled, trimmed and thinly sliced lengthwise
2-3 eggs
salt and pepper
olive oil

Optional:

grated parmigiano-reggiano, to taste
a few sprigs of fresh herbs (parsley, basil, marjoram, chives, etc.), minced

Directions

Prepare the onions

In a medium sized skillet, preferably nonstick or well seasoned carbon steel, sauté the onions in olive oil over very gentle heat with a good pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper until they are very soft and well reduced. This should take about 15 minutes or so. Add spoonful or two of water from time to time to help soften the onions and prevent them browning.

When the onions are nice and soft, turn up the heat and let any liquid cook off. If you want, you can keep going and brown them a bit.

Transfer the onions to a bowl to cool.

Prepare the egg mixture

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a separate bowl. When the onions have cooled, add them to the eggs and mix thoroughly. Season the eggs lightly with salt and pepper, bearing in mind that the onions are already seasoned. If using, add the grated cheese and/or minced herbs.

Fry the frittata

In the same skillet you used for the onion, add a generous pour of olive oil. Heat it over a lively flame until it shimmers.

Then pour in the egg and onion mixture. The eggs should start to “boil” on contact with the oil.

Stir the egg mixture gently, all the while shaking the pan so that as some of the eggs set, the remaining raw egg comes in contact with the hot skillet so it has a chance to set, too.

Then stop stirring and lower the heat a bit. Let the eggs brown well on the bottom. (Use a spatula to peek underneath and check.)

When the bottom of the eggs has browned nicely and the egg has set other than a thin top layer, slip the half-cooked frittata on to a plate. Take another plate of equal size and, holding the two plates together, flip them over.

Add a drizzle of olive oil to the skillet, then slide your half cooked frittata back into the skillet, raw side down. Let the bottom side brown nicely as well.

Serve

Serve your frittata di cipolle still hot, warm or room temperature, as you prefer.

Notes on making frittata di cipolle

You can use red, yellow or white onions in your frittata di cipolle. I have a particular fondness for red onions, especially in this dish, for the lovely color it adds and its gentle sweetness. I can’t remembe if that first frittata in Florence was made with red oninos, but it wouldn’t surprise me as they’re the go to in Tuscan cookery. You could even use scallions if you like, though be careful as they cook more quickly than other alliums and tend to burn easily.

I like to slice my onions lengthwise, as noted in the recipe. A onion sliced crosswise will melt completely into whatever it’s cooked with, while an onion sliced lengthwise will not. Crosswise cutting is what you want for sauces, where you want the onions to disappear, leaving only their flavor. But in this dish, you want the onions to retain their individuality.

If you lke your onions still crisp and nicely browned, you could cook them over medium or even high heat. But as indicated in the recipe, I like to cook the onions low and slow. This really brings out their natural sweetness. Then I raise the heat to give them some nice caramelization. It’s the best of both worlds.

In cooking a frittata you usually cook the eggs gently as as well, so they cook through before the outside gets too brown. This frittata is an exception to the rule. You fry it over a lively flame. Make sure the eggs are spread fairly thinly on the skillet so they cook through quickly. So use a skillet wide enough. For three large eggs, I used a skillet 22 cm (9 in) in diameter.

The flip

And then there’s the flip. It’s the trickiest part of making a frittata, and there are various schools of thought here. The traditional method is to top the skillet with a plate (or even a cover) then flip the eggs over and slip them back into the skillet.

As for me, over the years I’ve adopted a “cheat” that makes it foolproof: you slip the half cooked frittata from the skillet on to a plate, then top it with another plate of equal or greater diameter. Holding the two plates together, you flip them over, then slip the frittata, uncooked side down, back into the skillet. It dirties two plates instead of one, but there’s almost no way to go wrong.

Another even more foolproof method is to run the uncooked side under a broiler until it browns nicely. No flipping needed. I do this when I’m feeling especially lazy. But I find the look and mouthfeel of that second side browned under the broiler just isn’t quite the same as frying.

While a frittata can also be baked in the oven, this is one where I’d not recommend it. You’d completely lose that flash fried goodness.

Other cooking tips

Speaking of lazy, sometimes I just pour beaten egg into the skillet where the filling is, rather than going through the extra step of cooling the filling and mixing them together in a bowl. Truth be told, I don’t notice too much of a difference, but the extra step does ensure that egg and filling are evenly distributed.

For more tips on frittata making, see our post “How to Make a Frittata“.

Variations

As mentioned, you can add grated cheese or minced herbs, or both, if you like, to the egg mixture. That memorable frittata di cipolle I had way back when had neither, so that’s the way I still like it. That way I can really enjoy the pure sweet yet savory goodness of the onion filling.

The ratio of egg to onion varies widely among recipes. I like the near 1:1 ratio given here. It is very onion forward, just like the frittata di cipolla I had in Florence so many years ago. The exact number will depend on the size of your eggs and onions. I used 3 large eggs and two medium sized onions. But I’ve seen recipes that call for as many as 2 onions per egg (!). And for fewer onions as well, of course, for a more balanced dish. That’s especially apt if you’re adding the optional cheese and herbs.

Otherwise, the main variation one sees is the addition of potatoes to the egg mixture. You boil a potato or two in its skin. When it’s cool enough to handle, you peel it, then cut it into cubes or wedges. You then add the potato to the egg mixture along with your sautéed onions. You’ll need an extra egg or two as well.

Making frittata di cipolle ahead and leftovers

This is one frittata that I think is at its best piping hot, right out of the skillet. But like all frittatas, you can serve your frittata di cipolle at room temperature, so it’s fine to make it ahead. And for the same reason any leftovers are very enjoyable, too, especially as a sandwich filling. That said, I find it loses some of its charm after several hours, probably because it’s so thin, so I’d eat it within a few hours if you can.

If you’ve refrigrated your frittata, let it come back to room temp. Or give it a quick sauté in a skillet (thin as it is, this will only take a minute or two), a quick run under the boiler or a zap in the microwave.

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