How I Use This Vegetable in Almost Every Meal I Cook

One of the most used veggies at our house is a humble one.  

It is borne out of the earth with dirt clumped on it's roots and smeared on it's skin. It's pungent, even smelly at times, and not really one you eat straight out of the garden.

But none the less, it's just about the most used vegetable at our house!

Clue: I think it even competes with carrots!

Can you guess?

Yes!

Onions are ubiquitous and valuable for adding flavor to just about everything, which is why they get used/eaten every single day at our house.

All that glorious praise being said, it is understandable that onions can be overwhelming if you've got too many of them laying around from your garden or your CSA farm share.

I'm here to help you with that!

After you go through the basic must-know info about onions, cooking ideas for all colors of onions, and some of our favorite onion-rich recipe ideas below, you'll be ready to use more onions in your cooking!

Onions: the basics

Onions are the swollen root of the onion plant that is typically harvested and dried for long term storage. A papery skin is formed on the outside of the onion that is not edible but protects the onion from physical damage. Technically the entire green growing plant is edible. We enjoy the fresh onions that way for a short season in the summer.

Types of onions:

• Fresh onions with the tops (entirely edible), usually available August and/or September
• Cured onions, usually available September through March

How to store onions

• Fresh, uncured onions should be stored in the refrigerator in a plastic bag that completely covers the greens to prevent wilting. Cured onions should be stored at cool room temperature for the short term, a few weeks.
• Long term storage of properly cured onions can also be achieved with cold dry storage as we do on our farm allowing us to have onions often through March and even into the spring on good years. As close to 32 degrees as possible and medium-low humidity is ideal if possible. This could be in a fridge or a root cellar or something else.

How to prepare onions

• Fresh onions: Pull off any wilted or damaged leaves or layers. The entire thing is edible. Use the bulb as you would a cured onion, chopped or sliced according to recipe. Use the green tops as you would a scallion/green onion top, chopped according to recipe.
• Cured onions: Pull the papery outer layer of skin off and chop or slice according to recipe. If they are too strong for your eyes, refrigerate or put in freezer briefly before chopping. Or use goggles! Or hold bread in your mouth while you chop them!  Or you can just cry your eyes out as you cut them, my usual method :)

How I use onions in almost every meal I cook

Well, I cook every meal for starters!  :)

And when I'm cooking, I'm very often cooking one of the following things: roasted veggies, soups, stir-fries, egg dishes, and curries.

Which, ba-da-bum, always start with onions!  

• When I roast veggies, I chop onions in big chunks and toss with other veggies, oil, salt, pepper and possibly spices and roast at 400 until done.  Check out my roasting veggies tutorial here.
• When I make a soup, I chop onions and saute them gently in oil (sometimes with carrots/celery/etc.) until softened, about 5-10 minutes, and then add my other ingredients and broth.  So, I will admit that soup is my favorite food.  And as a result, I have three relavant blog posts to help you LOVE SOUP TOO :) 
  1.  My creamy veggie soup making tutorial is found here; 
  2.  Why Soups Are One Of The Best Things To Make With Veggies; 
  3.  How To Make Miso Soup With Most Any Veggies.
• When I make a stir-fry, I chop onions and saute them with the other firmer veggies (like carrots/cabbage/peas/etc.) until blistering, about 5 minutes, and then add softer quicker cooking ingredients like greens.  Check out my tutorial on how to make veggie stir-fries interesting here.
• When I make an egg + veg dish like quiche, frittata, omelet, I gently saute chopped, minced, or sliced onions to add to the egg before cooking.  It's so delicious that way!  Check out my family's 10 favorite ways to pair eggs and veggies together in delicious dishes here.
• When I make a veggie curry, I chop or dice onions and saute them with the firmer veggies at the beginning of the cooking process.  Want to know an easy way to make a delicious veggie curry with any veggies you have on hand?  Check out my veggie curry blog post: This Indian Inspired One Pot Meal Can Be Made With Any Veggies.

More great uses for onions (including red onions!)

If you're looking for other great ways for onions beyond the basics that I've included above, the list below is a helpful reminder of more delicious ways to incorporate onions in your everyday life. 

Note: All kinds of onions can be used raw, but red onions are especially often used raw because of their color and relatively mild flavor. And sweet onions are also used raw because of their mild sweet flavor.  All colors of onions can be interchanged for each other in recipes, raw or cooked.

Yes, that means that red onions can be used like you would all purpose yellow or white onions.

And remember, all onions get sweeter when cooked, especially roasted or grilled.

• salsa
• casseroles
• tacos
• pizza toppings
• raw minced or sliced in salads (green salad or chicken/potato/tuna/etc.)
• raw minced or sliced in slaws with cabbage or kohlrabi
• onion jam
• vinegar pickled on their own or with other veggies
• sandwiches
• enchiladas
• burgers
• guacamole
• grilled with or without other veggies
• caramelized
• fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, etc.
• grated into meatballs (great for picky eaters)
• added to anything that is a little bland like potato salad or soup
• even scrambled eggs!

Find recipes for some of the things here on our "Onion recipe page" of our vegetable gallery (aka our online cookbook!).  

Gone through this list and still feeling overwhelmed?  Try these ideas!

Freeze your onions for later use:

When I freeze onions, I love to use the raw method:

1. Chop the onions to desired size (no smaller than ½ inch dice).
2. Place them into a freezer Ziplock bag and freeze.

Use them for cooked dishes only as they will be limp when thawed.

Put Onions in Your Freezer Scrap Bag:

If you start getting overwhelmed with onions, remember you can always put them into your “freezer scrap bag.”

When this gallon-size Ziplock gets filled with veggie scraps, you can dump them all into a giant pot, add some salt and peppercorns and bay leaf, and bring to a boil/simmer for 2 hours to make some DIY vegetable broth.

Check out my blog post on making veggie stock for a full tutorial!

Good luck!  Am I missing any great ideas for using onions?  Please reply and let me know!