Out of Onion Powder? 3 Ingredients That Make Easy Swaps

Onions are the one building blocks of almost all savory foods. Open up any cookbook, and most recipes will start with fresh or powdered onion. Most of us probably have some onion powder in our spice rack right now. But if you're getting ready to cook and realize you're out, there are a few easy swaps to keep your flavors in line with the original recipe.

What Does Onion Powder Taste Like and How Is It Used?

It probably doesn't come as a surprise that onion powder tastes like, well, onions, only with much less water and without that eye-watering sharpness. Onion powder is excellent for when you want the flavor and sweetness of an onion without the texture, moisture, and slight burn that fresh onions can have.

Some recipes also favor onion powder over fresh onions because adding a few shakes of onion powder is much easier and more convenient than getting out a cutting board and chopping up a whole onion. For recipes like French onion soup or onion rings, there's no substitute for the real thing.

Can I Use Fresh Onion Instead of Onion Powder?

The short answer is yes, you can use fresh onion in lieu of onion powder. The long answer, however, is a bit more complicated. Some recipes that call for onion powder, specifically over fresh onion, is because the end result is dry, like in a rub for meat or popcorn seasoning. Others call for it because a chunk of onion would be unpleasant, and many of the other flavorings are spices, too, like in homemade ranch dressing. In those cases, stick to a powdered onion replacement to keep the flavor and texture as close to the original recipe as possible. However, raw onion is a perfectly fine swap in recipes like pasta sauce or seasoning up some veggies to roast. Just keep the end result in mind and ask yourself if the texture and moisture of raw onion would be okay in this dish. To swap raw onion for onion powder, use about half a cup of finely diced onion for every tablespoon of onion powder.

Get the recipe: Fried Cabbage with Bacon, Onion, and Garlic

Best Onion Powder Substitutes

Garlic powder or granulated garlic

Garlic and onion are so closely related that in a recipe swirling with other flavors, you won't be able to tell the difference. Both are often used together as base flavors in many dishes, like seasoning for potato wedges, so most of the time, you can double up on the garlic powder and omit the onion powder in a dish. If the recipe doesn't call for garlic powder, just use an equal amount as onion powder.

Onion salt

Onion salt is essentially a blend of onion powder and salt, sometimes with flecks of parsley added in. This can be a great substitute for onion powder, but use it with caution; it contains added salt, so just make sure to reduce the salt in your dish. If you can't taste it because it's being mixed with things like raw meat or eggs, like when seasoning a roast chicken, use about half as much salt as you usually would and an equal amount of onion salt as the recipe calls for onion powder.

Dehydrated onion or onion flakes

These are essentially tiny, minced pieces of onion that have been completely dried out and will become reconstituted when they come into contact with liquid; think those little onion pieces on a McDonald's cheeseburger or the onion flecks in French onion soup mix. If they don't get added to something with significant liquid content like a sauce or soup, they can be unpleasant to chew, so keep this in mind before making the switch.

To replace onion powder with dried onion, use one tablespoon of dried onion for every teaspoon of onion powder.

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