I love creamed onions and they are a holiday tradition with my family. I am bringing creamed onions to our small T'day gathering. But mine do not involve soup :-) Just a sherry enhanced béchamel sauce. Pearl onions are very delicately flavored compared to large onions and I'd think cream of mushroom soup and bacon are a bit heavy handed for these.

MIL made the best. Using pearl onions, basic white sauce . and chopped peanuts. loved the peanuts

This is close. You would just have to add cooked chopped bacon.

https://www.mrfood.com/Vegetables/Creamy-Onions-1027

You just brought back up a memory from when I was 16 years old. When my parents split up and my Mom left I had to do most of the cooking for my myself, my Dad and my brother. One day my Dad asked me to make creamed onions using slices of sweet onions. I really had no clue but I remembered my Mom making creamed vegetables for dinner quite often when we were little. Through trial and error somehow I made them and my Dad said they were so good haha not sure if I believed him but he never asked for me to make them again. When making them now I use a bechamel sauce with nutmeg and pepper. Good luck.

Thanks, all. I guess I wasn't clear that I want to replicate my friend's recipe. I know that there are lots of other favorite ways to prepare creamed onions, and I can do that, but I was looking for a recipe with at least the ingredients in my post. I don't know if she added milk or other ingredients.

(Sherry, I can't access your link without signing up, unfortunately.)

Again, thanks for taking the time to respond.

I don't know the recipe, but I think I know the process. You can use frozen or canned pearl onions, or you can use fresh ones if you want to blanch and peel them first. Do not use brined onions. Most recipes call for a couple cans or a pound of fresh or frozen onions.

Chop up your bacon and saute it off till crisp, and set aside. Drain most of the fat off. Saute your onions for a little bit to get some color and sweetness on- how long will depend on which kind of onions you used. If there was another veggie in it, probably minced celery.

Your sauce is likely two cans of soup with around a quarter to half cup of milk or cream. If it had some tang, probably sour cream for the dairy part. Probably some herbs, sage, tarragon, and thyme play well in this sort of mix. A splash of soy sauce, worstershire, maybe a smidge of white wine vinegar. Bacon grease or butter to grease the baking dish.

If there was a reddish brown dusting, probably paprika, maybe some nutmeg. Bread crumbs are a usual, make sure they are buttered/seasoned.

HA! Not true, Sherry. I LOVE onions - - - any way I can get them. For THIS purpose, I'm simply trying to act on my nostalgia about my friend. That's all.

AND, I think you may have come close to nailing it. All I'd need to add to your recipe is bacon, as you said. I'll give it a go, for sure. Thanks!

(Edited to say that I hadn't seen Beesneeds' post before I typed this one. Thank you, Beesneeds!)

I learned on Home Decoration Conversations that you can dry saute mushrooms without butter. It concentrates the flavor. Chop fresh mushrooms and cook them in a skillet. They'll release their juices so saute until all the juice evaporates and the mushrooms soften. Make your white sauce and stir in the mushrooms and boiled onions. If you want the sauce to taste mushroomy, add the mushrooms while you're making the sauce.

The best onions for taste and ease in peeling are small white boiling onions, not pearl onions. But they're hard to find in some parts of the country. I have subbed cipollini onions from an upscale market, which are delicious but very expensive.

I've used this recipe for creamed onions where you don't even need to make a white sauce--just pour on heavy cream--and it made a very nice sauce. You could sub sauteed mushrooms for the peas and small onions for the cipollinis.

https://steemit.com/fruitsandveggiesmonday/@tesscooks4u/creamed-italian-cipollini-onions-recipe-fruits-and-veggies-monday-lenasveganliving 

I tried frozen pearl onions once and found them to be very salty. They also don't incorporate any onion flavor into the white sauce.

That is from the Mr. Food Recipe. site. I fixed the recipe to reflect that it is their quote. They always have something cute to say . It was a short clip on one of our news stations in the 80's?/90"? during the lunch news. He died, but the name stayed active. He always ended his clip taking a bite and saying, "it is sooooo good!"

I'm with gardengal. Basicallly the onions with béchamel sauce. The flavor is subtle that I think bacon would overpower so we don't use any. We don't "cook" with canned soup.

An easy way to concentrate mushroom flavor is to roast them. Cut into quarters, lightly toss with olive oil, and put on a lined baking pan in the oven at about 400 degrees. 30 minutes later +/-, they've shriveled into smaller chunks with delicious, concentrated flavor. Use these to add mushroom flavor to anything or eat as is.

I threw out my old recipe for the pearl onions after I started making this. It is fantastic.

4# Vidalia (sweet) onions, quartered

4 T butter

Cook 5 to 10 minutes

ad pinch nutmeg, cayenne, salt and pepper

3 T white wine.

simmer

Mix 1-1/4 c cream and 3 T flour, stir in and bring to boil

Mic 2 T butter, melted, 1 cup Panko 2 T chopped parsley, salt and pepper

In baking dish, onion mixture, sprinkle panko mix on top

cover, bake 30 minutes, uncover, top with shredded cheese, bake 10 minutes,

I do make and use all the cream sauces frequently, but there are some recipes that cannot be changed. I love the Campbell's soups, especially cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, and cream of celery. If I want an original recipe, I do not want a from scratch copy. It is NOT the same.

If I want a scratch recipe, I want that. I DO NOT restrict myself to any one thing or type of cuisine.They are all good. I feel sorry for the ones that will not try anything different or from our heritage.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with canned soups. You are to be pitted if you say so.

The OP asked for a recipe to copy what she remembered, it used canned mushroom soup. If you cannot do that, you do not need to post.

Suzieque, I would message you, but it does not seem like you j=have it activated.

Sorry, Sherry.

Suzique, maybe your friend used the green bean casserole recipe and subbed onions for the beans.

There's no forum sheriff, sushipup, no need to apologize.

Something else to consider for the OP if she can is if she knows what kind of shopper her friend was. As in what brand kind of person she was. Campbells, store brand, and Aldi brand cream soups can taste a little different from each other. That could have an impact on the flavor profile the OP is trying to recreate. If the friend was a sodium watcher and if they tended to use reduced sodium soup would make a difference too.

Sometimes trying to recreate nostalgia tastes means using the ingredients that were used at the time. If those products are still available. Sometimes from scratch just isn't the same taste, even if it is very tasty.

There's so much known today about how eating healthier foods contributes to better health. As among the dishes my wife and I each make that have nostalgic memories for us, we make them better than our mothers did because we use better ingredients and avoid processed foods when possible. Though, in later years, my mother did too.

Splurges that drop more normal careful practices are okay occasionally. I suspect those pitching the advantages of (as an example) canned soup over the same preparation using real food ingredients are not people who try to avoid packaged and overly processed foods as much as many other people do.