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Substitutions · 301 dishes here use it
The base under most of this library. How you cut it decides what it becomes: thin and slow is sweetness, chunky and fast is texture. Undercooked onion is the most common reason a decent pan sauce still tastes raw.
Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.
10 of the 301 dishes here that mention onion list it as optional — 3% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.
Functional substitution system
For onion, the page's working definition is: The base under most of this library. How you cut it decides what it becomes: thin and slow is sweetness, chunky and fast is texture. Undercooked onion is the most common reason a decent pan sauce still tastes raw. The swap cards below are judged against that job rather than visual resemblance.
Job → candidate → side effects → small test → correct.
1 · Job
What is the missing ingredient doing?
2 · Candidate
Choose the shelf item that replaces that function.
3 · Side effects
Check water, fat, salt, acid, sweetness, and texture.
4 · Small test
Change a spoonful or small portion first when possible.
5 · Correct
Taste again and move only the axis that is still wrong.
What the missing thing was doing
Third-party video. Opens in a new tab — nothing is embedded and nothing is fetched from a video platform until you click.
A substitution is easier to judge once you have watched the job being done properly.
Instead · 1
three shallots for one medium onion
Instead · 2
one large leek for one onion
Instead · 3
a whole bunch for one onion
What none of them do
Onion powder is a seasoning, not a substitute. It has the smell and none of the bulk, so a dish that leaned on onion for body will still be watery with a spoon of it stirred in.
These dishes list onion as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.
These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer. Make the swap a decision rather than a repair.
Showing the 30 shortest of 71.
The company onion keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.