What onions do you use and when?

[58limited]

Yellow, white, shallots, leeks, green onions. Use them all the time.

[Murdy]

Yellow onions are universal, and I prefer them on burgers or hotdogs. Red for salads. White for cooking. I don't use sweet onions often. Shallots are great, but tend to be expensive, especially compared to yellows.

[smokin fool]

Whatever’s on sale.
Mostly white or yellow for cooking
Purple / red in salads

[tamidw]

I use sweet onions pretty much exclusively and will pick up Vidalia or Walla Wallas when those two are in season.

[texastweeter]

Try a noonday sweet if you get a chance.

[gboss]

We "stock" Yellow/Spanish, Red, shallots, and green onions. Yellow is all around use: cooked and sharp raw. Red for salads, pickled, burgers, etc. where a slightly milder onion is desired. Green onions/negi are used for everything, constantly purchased and consumed. Shallots for salads and salad dressing, pickled, fried, and anything that calls for a "delicate" onion. White and sweet are purchased as needed for specific recipes.

[Old Glory]

WHITE: Raw, sliced on burgers and sandwiches. In salsa, topping for chili, hot dogs, subs, and tacos.
YELLOW: All-around cooking onion for stocks, soups, etc. Sauteed. Caramelized.
RED: Salads, sliced on sandwiches or burgers. Sliced with humus and pita bread.
SWEET: Maui or Vidalia mostly raw or if recipe calls for sweet onion.
GREEN or SCALLION: Asian stir frys. Fried rice. Marinades.
SHALLOT: Asian stir frys. As recipe requires.
CHIVES: In french omelettes. Baked potatoes. As recipe requires.

[CaptainMike]

This looks suspiciously familiar....

[Old Glory]

CaptainMike I said I was borrowing it. Put my touch on it though.

[DavidNorcross]

First choice is sweet onions, second is red, third is yellow, fourth is white.

[Michael_in_TX]

I have never looked at the price of the different onions until now. Interesting. I know my local grocery store (HEB) carries Vidalia from time to time as I remember buying one, but it looks like they stock just white, red, yellow, and sweet.

Yellow: $0.55 each
White: $0.61 each
Red: $0.62 each
Sweet: $0.91 each

(Sweet is comparatively expensive!)

[Panhead John]

Did you mean by the pound?

[texastweeter]

How much are left handed onions?

[Michael_in_TX]

HEB's website lists them as each, but I suspect this really should be by weight!

[Sweaty Paul]

Tend to favor yellow onions as here they are readily available and I think very versatile. For dishes that specifically call for white onions I’ll get a white onion. I too like red onions on burgers and I like pickled red onions too.

That said I like green onions and shallots too. So much deliciousness!

[Oak Smoke]

I use yellow most of the time, reds are for salads and burgers. I haven’t bought a sweet onion in quite a while. I use scallions often. I like to grill them to serve along side a steak. I also use scallions in my home made hush puppies. I’ve tried other things in the hush puppies to get just a bit more flavor, but so far scallions alone are best. I’m open for suggestions on something to add with the scallions.

[ssandy_561]

I can’t eat raw onions, they give me the worst heartburn. So I’m never choosing a red onion.

I use onions only for cooking.

In the spring time I like going to our farmers market and get the onions they call candy onions. They are semi sweet and mild. They cook up nicely.

Now if I’m buying onions in the grocery store I’ll get a yellow, sweet or white onion. The two factors I take into account are price and smell. I’ll chose the cheapest ones but if it actually smells like an onion I’ll chose a different kind. Onions that smell like onions in the store are past their prime and aren’t good eats in my opinion.

[texastweeter]

Winter onions are stronger too.

[pkadare]

The other question to ask when it comes to onions is do you slice pole to pole or orbitally? I tend to cut pole to pole as I find that cutting orbitally crushes more of the cells and leads to more crying, a stronger taste/aroma, and kind of a mealy texture. The main reason I tend to cut pole to pole is that I find the texture of the slices to be more to my liking.

[texastweeter]

Depends on application.

[SheilaAnn]

This is a great question! Per Thomas Keller, I always cut "with the grain" (pole to pole) for sautées, etc. ask and I will copy the French onion soup recipe where he explains why. But for grilled onions for a burger or onion rings, I will cut "against the grain" (orbitally). As for diced, don’t matter, because you are cutting in bot directions.

[Sweaty Paul]

@SheliaAnn would love to read Mr. Keller’s explanation and the recipe if you’ve time or have a link.
Thanks in advance!
Sweaty

[CaptainMike]

An onion by any other name would smell as sweet.

[texastweeter]

Default, yellow. Cooking tex mex, white. Raw red. French onion soup, Vidalia or noonday sweet.

[Attjack]

I'm going to have to look for Vidalias. Anyone ever heard of Walla Walla onions? They are a renowned sweet onion in these parts. 🧅

[Troutman]

Just a random thought, the word vidalia always reminds me of Vitalis. Remember that stuff?

[klflowers]

I lived in Olympia years ago and I really liked Walla Wallas. Haven't had any since I left, can't find them locally.

[jfmorris]

I've never seen Walla walla onions in this part of the country, but since Vidalia's are regional (only grown in part of Georgia), I usually go for those. The problem is that the season for Vidalia's technically is around April through September. I've seen them as late in the year as November in the grocery store, then they kinda disappear until spring. When I can't find them I just go for generic "sweet onions". They may be the same or similar variety, but are not quite the same.