From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcaramelizecar‧a‧mel‧ize (also caramelise British English) /ˈkærəməlaɪz/ verb 1 [intransitive] if sugar caramelizes, it becomes brown and hard when it is heated2 [transitive] to cook food such as fruit or vegetables with sugar —caramelized adjective caramelized onions→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
caramelize• Cook until onion begins to caramelize.• Roast turkey in preheated oven, basting every 20 minutes and adding water to the pan if the glaze starts to caramelize. 