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Recipes with Spring Onion

Mild allium used both as an aromatic base and a fresh, raw garnish.

Spring onions are one of the quietest workhorses in the Asian kitchen — slim, long-stemmed alliums with a crisp white base and tender green tops that bridge the gap between the sharpness of a raw onion and the freshness of a herb. Mild yet aromatic, they appear at the start of a dish to build a savoury base and at the very end as a bright, grassy garnish, often within the same recipe.

What it is and how it tastes

A spring onion is a young onion harvested before the bulb swells, leaving a slender white stem that runs up into hollow green leaves. Raw, the white base carries a gentle onion punch while the green is grassy and almost sweet. Cooking calms the bite quickly, turning the white parts soft and savoury and wilting the greens into a delicate sweetness. Their mildness is the point: they add allium character and freshness without the heaviness of a full onion, which makes them endlessly useful as both seasoning and finishing touch.

How to prepare and cook it

Trim the roots and any tired outer layer, then rinse well, as grit hides between the layers near the base. Treat the two ends separately. Slice the firm white parts and add them early with garlic and ginger so they soften and release their flavour into the oil. Save the green tops for the final moments or for scattering raw over the finished plate, since they overcook in seconds and lose their colour. Cut on a sharp angle for an attractive garnish, or into longer batons for stir-fries where some texture is wanted.

Buying and storing

Choose bunches with firm, unblemished white bases and perky, deep-green tops that show no sliminess or yellowing. Limp or wet leaves signal age. At home, standing them in a little water in the fridge keeps them crisp for well over a week, and they regrow from the root if left long enough. For cooking, sliced spring onion freezes well and can be used straight from frozen, though it loses the crunch needed for a raw garnish.

Where it shines

Spring onions are everywhere on the table: they crown a steaming bowl of tonkotsu ramen, perfume the savoury batter and dressing around japchae, and scatter over pork fried rice for a final lift. Chives can stand in for the green tops at a pinch, and a mild onion for the white base, but neither offers quite the same versatility. They keep so easily that a bunch belongs in every fridge; for more on the essentials, see the Asian pantry guide.

Spring Onion recipes (3)

Yakitori — Japanese Grilled Chicken Skewers

Japanese & Ramen

Yakitori — Japanese Grilled Chicken Skewers

45 min Medium

Bite-sized chicken skewers grilled over high heat and lacquered with a sweet-savoury tare, plus a salt-only version for purists.

 Teriyaki Salmon

Japanese & Ramen

Teriyaki Salmon

25 min Easy

Pan-seared salmon fillets glazed in a glossy four-ingredient teriyaki sauce reduced straight in the pan — a fast, weeknight-friendly main.

 Tonkotsu Ramen from Scratch

Japanese & Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen from Scratch

12 h 45 min Hard

A milky, collagen-rich pork-bone broth with springy noodles, chashu and a soft-set egg — the weekend ramen worth the wait.

See also the Asian pantry guide for more on stocking these ingredients.

Spring Onion: common questions

What is the difference between the white and green parts of a spring onion?+

They behave almost like two different ingredients. The firm white and pale-green base near the root is the most pungent and stands up to cooking, so it goes in early with other aromatics to build flavour. The dark green tops are milder, softer and quicker to wilt, making them best added at the very end or scattered raw as a fresh, grassy garnish. Splitting a recipe between the two parts gives both a cooked savoury base and a bright finish.

Are spring onions, scallions and green onions the same thing?+

In everyday cooking, yes — scallion and green onion are simply other names for the slim, immature onion with a long green top and an undeveloped white base. The terms are used interchangeably across most recipes. They differ from a true bulb spring onion that has begun to swell at the base, and from chives, which are thinner, hollow and more delicate. For Asian cooking the slender, non-bulbing kind is what is almost always meant.

How do I cut spring onions for garnish so they look clean?+

Slice the green tops thinly on a sharp angle for elegant, even slivers that sit lightly on a dish. For a curled garnish, cut the green into short lengths, slice each lengthways into fine threads and drop them into iced water for a few minutes until they curl. Always cut just before serving, as the cut edges oxidise and soften. A clean, sharp knife matters, since a dull blade crushes the layers and makes them weep and turn slimy.

How can I keep spring onions fresh for longer?+

Trim the roots lightly and stand the bunch upright in a glass with an inch of water, loosely covered, in the fridge — they stay crisp this way for over a week and even keep growing. Alternatively wrap them in a slightly damp cloth or paper inside a bag in the vegetable drawer. Sliced spring onion freezes well for cooking: spread the pieces on a tray, freeze, then bag them and use straight from frozen in soups and stir-fries.