5 Best Alternatives For Onion Salt
When I’m cooking for my family, I think the most important part of cooking is seasoning. Using the right spices, like onion salt, garlic salt, or black pepper, you can turn any regular recipe into a five-star dish. Onion salt is one of the ingredients that help me elevate my recipes to a whole new level.
Read on down to learn more about the perfect onion salt substitutes for your dishes.
What Does Onion Salt Taste Like?
So, what is onion salt? What does onion salt taste like?
Onion salt is a combination of onion powder and salt.
The flavor of onion salt is a mixture of savory and salty flavors.
5 Ingredients To Use As An Onion Salt Substitute
Here are some substitutes for onion salt in recipes:
1. Onion Powder
You may wonder, can you substitute onion salt for onion powder? This is probably the perfect substitution for onion salt, as it is the main component of onion salt!
Onion salt is basically a combination of onion powder, salt, and anti-caking ingredients. Therefore, onion powder can completely grasp the flavor that onion salt brings to your recipe.
Onion powder is one of the common kinds of spices made from dehydrated and ground onion bulbs. This ground spice has a pungent flavor of sweetness, garlic, and sulfur, bringing the natural taste of onion to your dish.
This ingredient is popular for dishes that require the taste of onion such as dry rubbing on chicken breast, steaks or lean pork chops, soups, tomato sauce, and salad dressing.
To substitute for onion salt, you need to make some adjustments to the onion powder to have a similar taste. Firstly, you need to check how much onion salt the recipe is asking for to measure properly.
Then take a mixing bowl and put in onion powder in this ratio:
For every teaspoon of onion salt, you will take ¼ teaspoon of onion powder. Then, add a fair amount of salt corresponding to the teaspoon of onion powder. Normally, I would take around ¾ teaspoon of salt for each ¼ teaspoon of onion powder.
2. Onion Flakes
Another great substitution for onion salt is onion flakes. Similar to onion powder, onion flakes are produced from minced and dehydrated fresh onions. To make onion flakes, the fresh onions are chopped and dried in the sun or a dehydrator.
The difference is onion flakes are in a thin oval shape instead of powder form. They can be used as an onion salt replacement in stews, soups, and other dishes. Once they are dried, their size shrinks tremendously into small flakes.
You can use them for marinating meat, salad dressings, or soups. There are two ways for you to use onion flakes instead of onion salt. You can use them in a recipe in normal form or grind them into onion powder.
If you’re using them directly in your dish, you need to note that ½ teaspoon of onion flakes combined with ½ teaspoon of salt equals one teaspoon of onion salt.
3. Grated onion
Onion salt is just a dehydrated fresh batch of onion combined with salt to save more time from chopping onions. Therefore, it is completely understandable to substitute onion salt with real grated onion and salt.
With the finely grated onions, you can easily replicate the flavor of onion salt in many recipes.
Keep in mind that when adding onions, there will be more moisture to your dish, so you need to modify the amount of the liquid in your recipes.
Furthermore, the fresh onions can have a stronger taste and odor than onion salt, so you need to keep in mind the amount of grated onion used.
To substitute onion salt with grated onions, you can grate 1/4 of a medium-sized onion and add ½ teaspoon of salt for one teaspoon of onion salt
4. Homemade Onion Salt Using Onion Powder
Making onion salt is easy! It uses simple ingredients that are already available in your kitchen. Here are two ways you can make onion salt.
Ingredients
- One tablespoon of salt
- One tablespoon of onion powder
Instructions:
- Take a mixing bowl and add salt and onion powder inside.
- Mix and put them all in an airtight container.
- Store the container in a cool and dark place.
If you don’t have onion powder in your kitchen, you can always use fresh onions. However, it is better if you use dry ingredients such as dried onion flakes and dehydrated onions.
5. Homemade Onion Salt Using Chopped Onions
Here is how you can make a homemade onion salt recipe from chopped onions:
Ingredient
- One medium-size onion
- 2 ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of peppercorns
Instructions:
- Cut the onion to slices with ¼ inches thick.
- Put the slices on a dehydrating sheet and dry them at 125 degrees Fahrenheit for 6-8 hours. This would dry out all of their water content completely.
- Once they are dry, take out a coffee grinder or a spice grinder for grounding dry onion slices. Put the slices, salt, and peppercorns inside and grind them until you achieve a smooth texture. There can still be clumps after you have grounded them.
- Pour the mixture of onion into an airtight container and store it for a week.
