Sprouting onions are difficult to avoid—even if you store them properly. After some time, the onion develops green shoots. In this article, you will learn what you can do with sprouting onions.
Sprouted foods are dangerous – many of us learned that at one point. But is that also true for onions? The myth that germinating foods are inedible probably stems from potatoes. Potatoes can be poisonous in certain stages of ripeness and are then no longer suitable for consumption.
However, germinating onions, like germinating garlic, do not produce any harmful substances. You can therefore eat sprouting onions without hesitation.
Germinating onions: you should pay attention to this

Germinating onions do not develop any toxic substances. So you can use them in the kitchen without hesitation. But you should keep this in mind when the onions sprout:
Consume them as soon as possible.
Germinating onions soften over time as the shoots eat away at their substance.
Older soft onions will begin to smell musty. This gives dishes an unpleasant aftertaste. Tip: Be sure to smell the onion before using it. Only overcook onions that smell fresh and pungent as usual.
For older germinating onions with little substance, you should only use the green onion shoots.
Here’s how you can use sprouting onions
Use sprouted onions preferably for cooking and frying. Since the onions are no longer so crisp, they taste better cooked than raw.
Sprouting onions should be consumed as soon as possible. Therefore, cook dishes that require a particularly large number of onions:
- Potato goulash
- French onion soup
- Roasted onions
- Onioncake
Tip: The young sprouts of the onions taste spicy and hot. Like the green of spring onions, you can use them in dips, herbal quark, or in salads.
Regrowing: Allowing germinating onions to grow

If you have a garden or balcony, you can also plant sprouted bulbs. The green shoots of the onions continue to grow back. This is called regrowing. You can harvest it continuously and cook it into delicious dishes.
Growing onions on the windowsill:
Place the sprouting onions in a small bowl filled with water.
Change the water daily.
Cut off the green shoots regularly and use them in the kitchen.
How to grow onions in a flowerpot:
Fill a flower pot loosely with soil.
Make a small well in the middle of the pot with your fingers.
Place the onion in the well, roots first.
Add some additional soil to the pot until the bulb is almost completely covered with soil. The tip of the shoot must look out of the ground.
Water the soil of the freshly planted onion.
Water the onion with a little water every two to three days.
Cut off the green shoots regularly and use them in the kitchen.