Red onion vs white onion vs green onion

[georgevan]

different recipes call for different kinds of onions but is there really that big of a difference between them?

 

[medtran49]

Yes. Try a side by side tasting and you'll find out.

 

[Silversage]

I usually cook with yellow onions. Red onions are usually used raw -they turn an ugly Grey color when cooked (but they are great for pickling). White onions are what you usually see in Mexican food. Notice I said usually. There are no rules, and in most recipes you can used whatever you have. Yellow are probably the most common for general purpose cooking.

Green onions (scallions) are usually not interchangable with other kinds.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Yes. Try a side by side tasting and you'll find out.

If I did that, I would have life threatening agita for a week. Me and onions have a mutual non-aggression pact. I don't eat them and they don't hurt me.

 

[georgevan]

I usually cook with yellow onions. Red onions are usually used raw -they turn an ugly Grey color when cooked (but they are great for pickling). White onions are what you usually see in Mexican food. Notice I said usually. There are no rules, and in most recipes you can used whatever you have. Yellow are probably the most common for general purpose cooking.

Green onions (scallions) are usually not interchangable with other kinds.

Thanks

 

[Aunt Bea]

99.99% of the time I use yellow cooking onions with good results.

You won’t know how big a difference it makes until you try them all.

Never miss the opportunity to sample new and different foods.

 

[georgevan]

I will stick with yellow

 

[Jusa]

I have green onions/scallions growing nearly year round (except when it's in the 20s F or lower) and they always come back every year. I love using them to finish a dish or soup, or in my potato salad or macaroni salad to impart a mild onion flavor. I like shallots quite a bit too, especially in seafood pasta. I'll use red, yellow or white occasionally. I just bought yellow the other day because they were on sale. White are the only ones that make me cry.

 

[KatyCooks]

I try to use what the recipe says and mostly that is okay - all sorts of onions are readily available. Occasionally, I will substitute depending on the recipe. But I wouldn't (for instance) put raw white onion in a salad! But I would use shallots instead of white onion. And I would swap out red onion for spring onion in a salad. (As mentioned already, red onion goes unpleasantly grey in cooking, although no problem with the flavour so still usable if desperate!)

 

[dragnlaw]

If you only have a yellow onion on hand when the salad calls for red - go ahead but soak it in some water for a while - bring the sting down closer to the red.

Actually I even soak the red onions too. (raw onions and I have a bit of a problem)

 

[medtran49]

If you only have a yellow onion on hand when the salad calls for red - go ahead but soak it in some water for a while - bring the sting down closer to the red.

Actually I even soak the red onions too. (raw onions and I have a bit of a problem)

I always soak them if they are being used raw.

 

[blissful]

I was going to say we only use yellow onions, not white, but found out that vidalia and walla walla are considered white onions. We use those and utah yellow and other long day keeper onions, which are yellow too.
Mr bliss doesn't like raw onion no matter how much sting is taken out of them, so we eat cooked. We're missing out on the nutrition of raw onions, which should not be missed. Both cooked and raw have nutrition worth having.

 

[jennyema]

Yes. But my default is normal yellow onions

 

[taxlady]

I use yellow onions most of the time. We like the strong flavour of onion. I find pickled red onions too wimpy. I will often substitute yellow onions for red ones in cooking. I make a Tuscan onion soup that is really good, but it calls for red onions. It's too sweet for my taste. I much prefer the yellow ones in that soup. I like shallots too and the green ones are great in salads, as are the red ones when very thinly sliced.

 

[dragnlaw]

Onion Soup - have to use tje yellow. All the others just come out way too sweet.

 

[dr morbius]

In salads of all kinds and most Asian dishes I'm bold enough to try, green onions. In some soups, white onions (or leeks). In my stuffed onion rolls (use search function, there's too much typing involved in describing them) I use white onions. The default is yellow onions. I never use red onions.

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL - well dr morbius - you've opened another rabbit hole for me. I not only looked up and reread your post on stuffed onions - but I also googled 'stuffed onions' and a gazillion Stuffed Onion Buns from every corner of the world came up.
Could someone drop a carrot on my head and to get me out, ohh.. say in about an hour?

 

[Badjak]

I use whatever onions I have.

Not green though, they are totally different.

I'm unsure about the difference between yellow and white onions. We just call then brown, like their skin
Red onions are a bit milder, and can also work as replacement for shallots

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I buy sweet onions, which are brown, usually maui or vadalia. If I take prescription strength proton pump inhibitors and sweat the onions I can usually aviod the agita.

Chopping, slicing and otherwise cuting up onions does not make me tear up. If you have that problem, you can wear swim goggles and a snorkel to avoid the tears, but leave the fins in the garage. You don't want to look ridiculous!

 

[Andy M.]

I use whatever onions I have.

Not green though, they are totally different.

I'm unsure about the difference between yellow and white onions. We just call then brown, like their skin
Red onions are a bit milder, and can also work as replacement for shallots

White onions are the "hottest". Yellow/brown onions are less hot, red/purple onions are the mildest of the three. Then there are sweet onions. Their skin is brown but they are very mild and sweeter - look for Vidalia onions.