BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Home Cooking Substitute for Onion?

I have a good friend who's allergic to onions. We were looking through a cookbook today and saw recipes we wanted to try but they all used onions. What can we use in place of them so as not to trigger her allergies and not change the recipe result o'er much.

Ty in advance

That's an interesting question. Shallots probably won't work, as those are related to onions (I assume it's the whole onion family that she's allergic to? Onions are actually members of the lily family, which also includes garlic and shallots.) Sometimes people who are allergic to onions can eat scallions or leeks.

Members of the Hare Krishna religion don't eat onions or garlic (not sure what the religious basis is), but there are actually some great Hare Krishna cookbooks out there that have flavorful middle eastern and Indian recipes that avoid onions and garlic. Your friend might consider looking into one of those.

Leeks are also part of the lily family. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I have this lovely recipe for "3 lily soup" - onions, garlic & leeks, which I love, but have been advised not to eat because I am allergic to lillies. It's killing me.

The only substitution I can think of would be dried onions or onion powder, hoping that taking the liquid out would take out the allergen. I know that with lillies (flower) it is the sap that is allergenic, so possibly the dried version would not be (even when rehydrated.) Not sure though.

The only other option is to replace with lots of other flavors. Mild peppers for instance, possibly chives (I don't think these fall into the lily family..) any other herbs.

I believe it is the whole onion family since she was talking to me about getting a reaction from a potato soup that had chives in it. We're just not sure what to sub in place of onions as some of the recipes call for a whole onion to be chopped up in there and i know that takes up space and cooking with the dish. I suppose we could just leave them out w/o any sub but I don't know what that would do to the recipe.

Removing the onion from the recipe will remove some of the moisture from the finished product but this shouldn't be much of factor in the recipe unless it calls for large quantities of onion. If you think you need to replace the liquid, you might try using tomato or carrot juice, wine or some type of meat or vegetable stock.

Onion is mainly used for flavor, so you will need to add some other type of herb(s) to compensate. You can choose whatever flavors you think will compliment the dish. I would try using things like sage, thyme, bay leaves, rosemary, marjoram, celery, dill or green peppers, either individually or in combination, depending on the dish. This is a purely matter of personal taste. Although there is really no substitute for onion, there are equally tastey alternatives.

Trust your tastebuds and have fun!

Perhaps celery, as suggested by 1Candle, and a bit pinch of red pepper if the recipe calls for heat. Fennel would also be an option. Cumin might give a nice flavor.

There is a substitute used in some Hindu cooking, as garlic and onion can't be offered to the gods. The spice used is called "hing." I can't remember what sort of plant it's from, but it's very strong and you only need to use the barest amounts.

i'll have to tell my friend that. we'll see what we can't come up with. Thanks y'all

Several of the people I know with onion allergies, substitute with celery to replace the texture (crunch) and volume and then add mild chiles or alternative pepper grinds to replace the "heat" of the onion.

As I think was stated above. Allergies to onion differ. Some are able to tolerate and even enjoy cooked, dried or powdered onions and need only avoid the raw options.