Bhg
  • Shop
  • News
  • Food
  • DIY
  • Garden
  • Travel
  • Renovating
  • Decorating
  • Property
  • Health
  • TV
  • Podcasts
Bhg
  • Shop
  • News
  • Food
  • DIY
  • Garden
  • Travel
  • Renovating
  • Decorating
  • Property
  • Health
  • TV
  • Podcasts
Subscribe
YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
Watch 6:32

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR

{headline}

{headline}

All about scallions, green onions, and spring onions

All about scallions, green onions, and spring onions

Our best-ever lamington recipes

Our best-ever lamington recipes

Watermelon star pavlova with rosewater cream

Watermelon star pavlova with rosewater cream

Lamb, tomato and haloumi skewers with pesto

Lamb, tomato and haloumi skewers with pesto

{headline}

{headline}

Fruit salad cheesecake slice

Fruit salad cheesecake slice

How to know if leftover rice is safe to eat

How to know if leftover rice is safe to eat

5 Of The Best Substitutes For Coconut Oil

5 Of The Best Substitutes For Coconut Oil

{headline}

{headline}

What you can and can't recycle

What you can and can't recycle

Quick fruit salad pavlova sandwich

Quick fruit salad pavlova sandwich

8 healthy chip snacks worth trying

8 healthy chip snacks worth trying

One mum has revealed her simple trick for ripening avocados in only 10 minutes

One mum has revealed her simple trick for ripening avocados in only 10 minutes

Broad bean, lemon and mint bruschetta

Broad bean, lemon and mint bruschetta

8 sesame oil alternatives

8 sesame oil alternatives

White chocolate and ginger tart

White chocolate and ginger tart

  1. Home
  2. Food

Can spring onions and shallots substitute each other in recipes?

Are they the same thing? - by Rhys McKay
  • 01 Oct 2019
Can spring onions and shallots substitute each other in recipes?

Shallots vs spring onions: what’s the difference? Shallots are golden-brown or red bulbs that resemble garlic. Spring onions are immature onions with a small, barely-defined white bulb and a long, leafy green stem. Spring onions have a sharper, more pungent flavour, while shallots are milder and sweeter in taste.

RELATED: What Can Be Used As A Substitute For Butter?

What are shallots?

Shallots, also known as eschalots or French shallots, are an onion relative that happens to have a smoother, more mellow onion flavour. Unlike onions, they grow in clusters like garlic bulbs.

Onion, garlic & green curry paste on a wooden chopping board
Getty

There are two kinds that are common in Australian supermarkets: the golden-brown variety, and the deeper-red kind. Both are shallots, and both are slightly sweeter and less pungent than your usual onion. They’re prized for their unique ability to add a touch of sweetness to a dish without adding any unnecessary sharpness.

What is a spring onion?

The spring onion is an onion variety that has a small white bulb, and long green leaves and stems. This crisp plant is a form of immature onion. They’re a more mature version of the vegetable known as scallions or green onion, which has a similarly long green stem, but has no bulb.

While many people use the names ‘green onion’, ‘spring onion’ and ‘scallion’ interchangeably, the easiest way to see the difference between these plants is by looking at the life cycle of an onion. Here’s a quick step-by-step look at it.

Stages of onion maturity: how spring onions, scallions, and green onions differ

The least mature form of the three is what we call scallions. These long-stemmed, leafy plants have no bulbs, and they’re best chopped up and eaten raw as a topping over stir-fries, sauces, and salads. They’re quite mild in flavour compared to mature onions, so they’re best served fresh. Scallions look like fresh chives even as they’re growing, and are often substituted with chives in recipes. They are not chives, but if you don’t have any, they have such similar flavours that they can be swapped out with the other.

A bunch of spring onions on a white background
Getty

Green onions aka green shallots, on the other hand, also have those long and delicate green stem and leaves. But they have a small, slightly defined white bulb that easily defines one green onion bunch from a bunch of scallions. These are lovely in salads, and while they are often called spring onions here in Australia, they have a much less defined bulb compared to true spring onions.

Spring onions are somewhere in between a mature onion and a green onion in taste and maturity. They have even more defined, rounded bulbs and the most pungent taste of all the onion stages prior to full maturity. They can be eaten raw or cooked.

Because they’re very similar to green onions, these names are used interchangeably in Australia. The trick? The more prominent the bulb and the more pungent it is, the more likely it is to be a spring rather than a green onion.

Shallots vs spring onion: can they substitute each other?

Cooking with either of these varieties will impart a different flavour to a dish. Right off the bat, the general rule is that you shouldn’t substitute shallots with spring onions.

Shallot onions growing in a garden
Getty

Because spring onions are used to add a bit of crunch and sharpness to a dish, they are often added raw to a recipe. Shallots, on the other hand, are softer and sweeter, and are usually added as a cooked ingredient. It’s not a good idea to substitute one with the other, as onions gain pungency over the stages of maturity and that pungency may be a crucial element of a dish.

What’s the difference?

Spring onions and shallots are really two very different ingredients, and it’s not advised to use one as a substitute for the other in a recipe. Shallots are much milder and sweeter, and spring onions may add some unwanted pungency when a dish calls for shallots instead!

RELATED: Six Hacks To Save Time In The Kitchen

  • Food
  • Garden

Get your mag delivered!-Save 29% off the cover price!

Subscribe for $4.95 per issue

Subscribe Now
Get your mag delivered!

Get your mag delivered!-Save 29% off the cover price!

Subscribe for $4.95 per issue

Subscribe Now
Get your mag delivered!

Recommended to you

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
Watch 6:32

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR

{headline}

{headline}

All about scallions, green onions, and spring onions

All about scallions, green onions, and spring onions

Our best-ever lamington recipes

Our best-ever lamington recipes

Watermelon star pavlova with rosewater cream

Watermelon star pavlova with rosewater cream

Lamb, tomato and haloumi skewers with pesto

Lamb, tomato and haloumi skewers with pesto

{headline}

{headline}

Fruit salad cheesecake slice

Fruit salad cheesecake slice

How to know if leftover rice is safe to eat

How to know if leftover rice is safe to eat

5 Of The Best Substitutes For Coconut Oil

5 Of The Best Substitutes For Coconut Oil

{headline}

{headline}

What you can and can't recycle

What you can and can't recycle

Quick fruit salad pavlova sandwich

Quick fruit salad pavlova sandwich

8 healthy chip snacks worth trying

8 healthy chip snacks worth trying

One mum has revealed her simple trick for ripening avocados in only 10 minutes

One mum has revealed her simple trick for ripening avocados in only 10 minutes

Broad bean, lemon and mint bruschetta

Broad bean, lemon and mint bruschetta

8 sesame oil alternatives

8 sesame oil alternatives

White chocolate and ginger tart

White chocolate and ginger tart

Bhg
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Bhg Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Brands

  • All Recipes
  • BHG Shop
  • Girlfriend
  • Home Beautiful
  • New Idea
  • New Idea Food
  • Practical Parenting

Our Network

  • marie claire
  • Instyle
  • Beauty Crew
  • Who
  • Women's Weekly Food
  • Bounty Parents
  • That’s Life
  • Perth Now
  • The West Australian
  • 7Plus
  • Airtasker
  • 7NEWS
  • SocietyOne
  • Health Engine
  • Starts at 60
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from Better Homes and Gardens

Magazine Subscription Offer

Get your mag delivered!-Save 29% off the cover price!

Shop This Offer
Get your mag delivered!