
Red Onions
- Best used for raw or cold dishes
- Mild taste, not as "oniony" as other types
- Use as toppings for burgers and sandwiches, or in salads, salsas, etc.
- A good substitute for white onions
Are red onions healthier than white onions?
White onions tend to contain slightly larger amount of dietary fiber but red onions come packed with a bigger number of healthy nutrients. The sharper taste of red onions is contributed to the larger quantities of antioxidants that these contain. When it comes to anti-cancer properties, red onions are considered a much more powerful superfood.
What onions should you really be cooking with?
What Onions Should You Really Be Cooking With?
- White onions. While similar in flavor to yellow onions, white onions tend to have a slightly less nuanced flavor. ...
- Yellow onions. Yellow onions are fairly common in everyday cooking. ...
- Red onions. ...
- Scallions. ...
- Spring onions. ...
- Shallots. ...
- Vidalia onions. ...
- Ramps. ...
- Pearl onions. ...
- Cipollini onions. ...
Are red onions the new superfood?
Onions have sulfur-containing amino acids, which aid in detoxing your liver. Are red onions A Superfood? The onion is indeed a superfood. For best heart, blood, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes results work a serving of onions into your diet daily.
Which is healthier Red onions or white onions?
Red onions are a rich source of calcium and on the other hand, white onions lack in calcium. Red onions contain a good amount of iron while white onions and shallots lack iron. Are onions good for your liver?

Are red onions better than white onions?
Onions are rich in plant compounds and antioxidants, especially quercetin and sulfur-containing compounds. Colorful varieties, such as yellow or red ones, pack more antioxidants than white ones.
What is so special about red onion?
Red onions, in particular, contain anthocyanins — special plant pigments in the flavonoid family that give red onions their deep color. Multiple population studies have found that people who consume more foods rich in anthocyanins have a reduced risk of heart disease.
What is the best onion to cook with?
Yellow Onions Yellow onions are your go-to cooking onions. This onion has yellow skin and a strong flavor due to its high sulphur content, which mellows out during cooking, becoming sweet and flavorful. Its ability to hold up to heat makes it great for caramelizing and roasting.
What is the difference between red onions and regular onions?
Red onions have a deep purple skin and reddish flesh, but do they really taste different than yellow onions? They are quite like yellow onions in flavor when cooked, and slightly milder when served raw. Their deep color is what makes these attractive added to salads, and other foods for presentation.
Is Red Onion anti-inflammatory?
Red Onions This vegetable contains the flavonoid quercetin, which has been found to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Does onion burn belly fat?
Onions are a source of soluble fibre, which makes it a powerful prebiotic food. It ensures a healthy gut, which is crucial for weight loss and belly fat loss. Bake them, squeeze the juice out of them, soup them or eat them raw- there are a number of ways to eat onions to lose belly fat quickly.
Are red onions good for frying?
Choosing the right onions But they don't have thin layers, which when sliced, will not give you nice thin slivers. Thin layers are important for that crispy frying. You can use any, white onion, red onion, or sweet onion, as long as they have thin layers. And you will great results!
Can I cook with red onion instead of yellow?
Red onions will sometimes lend a red tinge to your cooking, but are a decent flavor substitute for yellow or white onions. Pearl or boiling onions are smaller. They're delicious in stews and baked into gratins.
Is it OK to cook red onions?
Just like yellow onions, it can be sauteed, stir-fried, simmered, and yes, even caramelized. The main difference is that the red onion will lose some of its characteristic flavor when cooked versus when eaten raw. Red onions deliver a milder onion flavor to dishes when cooked while still giving a dish color.
Are red onions healthier than yellow?
When looking at the health benefits of onions, red onions are superior to other types of onions! Generally yellow and white onions contain more fiber and a higher amount of sulfur, but red onions contain a higher amount of antioxidants (quercetin and anthocyanin) and cancer prevention properties.
What are the best onions for hamburgers?
The best onions for burgers are a matter of taste, but yellow onions are the most popular type. They are versatile and work well, whether they are included raw or sautéed.
Which onion is best to eat raw?
Red onionsRed onions They're arguably the most bearable type of onion to eat raw. But if you want to cook red onions, have at it. Of all the onions, it can stand up to the grill best. The sugar also makes them a decent candidate for caramelizing, though it will deliver a slightly different flavor than yellow onions.
What is the difference between red and yellow onions?
Red Onions Sharper and spicier than yellow onions, you'll often see them raw, whether in salads, like Greek salad or kachumber, or alongside long-cooking braises. Soak them in ice water as you prep your other ingredients to make them extra crisp and rid them of some fierceness.
Is Red Onion a Superfood?
Although both onions, red and white, are so-called "superfood" due to beneficial nutrients, red has more health benefits. Both onions provide about 10% of the daily value for vitamin C, but red contains a higher amount of antioxidant compounds.
Which onion is the sweetest?
Sweet Onions – Walla Walla and Vidalia are the most common kinds of sweet onions. These onions lack the sharp, astringent taste of other onions and really do taste sweet. They are fantastic thinly sliced and served in salads or on top of sandwiches.
Why am I craving Red Onion?
Luckily onions are a rich source of sulfur and you can get them at any grocery store! This means you may be craving onions because your liver is struggling to break down toxins because your body is in short supply of sulfur.
Red Onions
Sharper and spicier than yellow onions, you’ll often see them raw, whether in salads, like Greek salad or kachumber, or alongside long-cooking braises. Soak them in ice water as you prep your other ingredients to make them extra crisp and rid them of some fierceness.
White Onions
Softer and milder than yellows and reds, these have thin, papery skins and, while still sharp, less of a lingering aftertaste.
Green Onions
Also called scallions (on BA, we call these scallions exclusively!), bunching onions, and, confusingly, spring onions (wrong!), they’re milder, softer, and more herbaceous than any of the storage bulbs.
Spring Onions
Juicy, sweet newbies! These are just storage onions that are harvested prematurely to give the other bulbs room to grow. As the name implies, they’re super seasonal.
Shallots
Use these wherever you’d use a storage onion. They have an onion-y flavor without being too aggressive and are beloved for their versatility.
Pearl Onions
A co-star of coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon, they’re sweet and small (they’re grown in close quarters and harvested early) and come in red, white, and yellow. Halved or left whole, they can be roasted, braised, pickled, creamed, glazed, confited, or used to crown a stunning tarte tatin. Look for pre-peeled bags in the freezer aisle.
Many recipes from soups to savory pies call for an onion. Here's a simple guide to picking the right variety for every dish
Many recipes from soups to savory pies call for an onion. Here's a simple guide to picking the right variety for every dish.
Yellow Onions
If a recipe doesn’t specify what type of onion to use, your safest bet is a yellow onion. “Yellow onions are your standard cooking onion. I always reach for a yellow onion unless I have some other reason to reach for something else,” says Kim Reddin, the director of public and industry relations for the National Onion Association.
Sweet Onions
Popular sweet onions include Vidalias, Walla Wallas and Mauis. “These well-known varieties have a pale yellow skin. The inside may look white but they are yellow,” says Reddin, who fields questions about onions as The Onionista. If you’re looking for an onion that tastes amazing raw in salads, relishes or chopped as a garnish, go for sweet onions.
Red Onions
Red onions are ubiquitous on salads, sandwiches and other raw preparations partly because of their appealing deep-purple color. Reddin warns, however, “Red onions, specifically, can have a really peppery, spicy flavor to them.” This variety is sweetest from March to September.
White Onions
White onions it the type of onion you’ll usually find in prepared salads (potato and macaroni salads, for instance) and traditionally in Mexican cuisine. “White onions can be strong but they tend to have less aftertaste,” Reddin says. Their slightly sweet taste adds to fresh salsas, guacamole, ceviche and tacos.
Shallots
Shallots have a mild onion flavor. These bulb-shaped alliums taste like a garlic-onion hybrid. In French cooking, shallots are used in vinaigrettes and sauces, as well as on top of steak. When a recipe calls for a shallot and you don’t have one, you can likely substitute another type of onion for it. Try some of our savory shallot recipes.
Scallions
These two-tone onions can be eaten cooked or raw. Scallions are popular in Chinese and Mexican cuisine. In Chinese cooking, scallions are used in stir-fries, soups, stews and braised dishes. Scallions or green onions have a milder flavor than regular onions. Use your scallions up in one of these scallion recipes.
A Culinary Luxury
Thus, onions are a luxury, yet these small, brown, sulfurous orbs are cheap and plentiful and will grow just about anywhere, as evidenced by the fact that every style of cooking on earth features them.
Yellow Onions
The workhorse, the staple, the everyday brown beauty, yellow onions are suitable for any conceivable use, other than perhaps as a garnish for your martini (use a pearl onion for that). You could easily live a rich and fulfilling life even if this were the only onion you ever tasted.
Sweet Onions
Larger and slightly flatter than yellow onions, with lighter colored, less opaque skin, sweet onions contain extra sugar, making them good for caramelizing . Their larger size and sweeter flavor make them ideal for making onion rings. Sweet onion varieties include Walla Walla, Maui, Vidalia, as well as others with the word "sweet" in the name.
White Onions
White onions have a papery white skin, and their flavor is milder and sweeter than yellow onions, making them good for serving raw in fresh salsa or homemade guacamole .
Red Onions
Sweet and mild enough to be eaten raw, both the exterior skin and the flesh of red onions are a deep magenta color, which makes them particularly good additions to salads or anywhere else a splash of color will enhance the appearance of the dish. I love to use red onions in salads and on sandwiches and burgers .
Shallots
Shallots are small, brown-skinned onions with purplish flesh, and their bulbs are made up of multiple lobes, a little bit like the way garlic bulbs are divided into individual cloves.
Green Onions
Green onions are immature onions that have not yet formed a bulb, or only partially. The entire plant is usually used, including the tall green shoots, and they make a wonderful garnish for soups, omelets, tacos, as well as color and crunch.
Are Red Onions Easy to Grow?
Growing red onions is as easy as any other type of onion. All onions are biennials, meaning they take two years to complete their life cycle. In the first year the seed grows, forming modified leaves and tiny underground bulbs.
Planting and Harvesting Red Onions
With regards to white vs. red onions, there’s no difference when growing red onions as opposed to growing onions in general. There is a difference in flavor with white onions milder than red and having a shorter storage life than red onions.
How to Grow Red Onions
To get onions off to a good start, mix an organic or time-release fertilizer into the soil prior to planting. Make sure the fertilizer is beneath the planting furrow. This is called “banding” and makes sure the nutrients are exactly where the young onion roots can find them.
