I love cooking, and most dishes I cook contain some kind of onions or garlic in varying amounts. Unfortunately, my partner doesn’t handle them well, so I want to replace them as much as I can.
Leek is one decent alternative to onions, and I’ve recently discovered Asafoetida, a spice that creates an oniony flavor. But onions are also important for texture, especially in saucy dishes, and both leek and spices replace that poorly. Fennel works sometimes but alters the taste.
Garlic generally seems hard to replace, although I’ve had some success with only slightly squashing the cloves and fishing them out before serving.
Anyway, I’m looking for suggestions. Anybody know any good alternatives, any cool tips or tricks I could try?
Edit: To clarify, the issue is that my partner can’t digest them properly and they cause pain (likely a mild food allergy). The flavor is not an issue, and we both enjoy the stuff that we cook apart from this issue.
As someone with massive gut issues who also cannot handle onions or garlic I found Bell Peppers to be my newest favorite flavoring for dishes. Once you get the overwhelming taste of garlic/onion out of the way the pepper’s complex flavors start to really shine through.
Also check out the Low FODMAP diet. Onions/Garlic are the main culprits to remove FODMAP from your diet and there are now lots of recipes available out there without them.
Hello fellow fucked gut individual.
Low fodmap helps me too. Oddly tomatillos are ok but tomatoes will tear ya a new one. Can get a good bit of flavor with some milder green salsa and not have to spend all day paying for it like with red salsa.
I’ll have to give tomatillos a try, thanks for the suggestion.
That’s great, thanks. I’ve heard about the bell pepper trick before somewhere but didn’t know about FODMAP. I’ll give both a try.
Also be wary of any spice blends or pre-packaged foods. At least in the US, 99% of manufacturers are too lazy to look for any other flavor beyond onion/garlic. Its a real pain in the butt (lol)
Green onions are another good substitute. Just don’t use the white part and only chop up the green shoots.
Oh yeah, that’s such a pain. Really tough to find even bread spreads and stuff like that without loads of onion or garlic powder. It’s everywhere…
My partner had to eat low FODMAP for a few years but eventually their gut reset and now they can have small to moderate amounts of onions and garlic again. After the onion and garlic, the biggest hurdle to keeping low FODMAP is cutting out high fructose corn syrup because it’s in so many packaged foods you wouldn’t think about like certain brands of breadcrumbs (Progresso).
My number 1 suggestion is to make your own onion infused olive oil: put a roughly-chopped onion in a pot with a whole bottle of olive oil, warm it up (it should be warm not hot), let it cool, take out the onion pieces, and pour it back in the bottle (store in the fridge to preserve the flavor longer). You can do this for garlic as well but garlic-infused oils are a lot easier to find at the the store (just make sure you get infused oils that don’t contain actual bits of garlic or juice, Boyajin was a brand I liked a lot).
I used to make fajitas without onions by using my infused oils in the marinade and upping the amount of bell pepper.
I just checked a FODMAP website for a garlic oil recipe that is now sitting on the stove. Onion is next.
The recommendation is to only make as much onion or garlic oil as you can use at the time as they are a risk of botulism. The commercial products have additional processing (usually acidification) to make them shelf stable.
So you’re just looking to replace the texture of both, not the flavors? It’s not super clear what your partner isn’t liking about them.
If it’s just the texture, just chop them finer. For garlic, get a garlic press. If chunks of onion are an issue, heat them in oil, then remove the chunks before adding other ingredients to dishes. That imparts the onion flavor into the oil.
Sorry it wasn’t clear. My partner gets digestive issues from them. She lhas no issues with the flavor and likes the dishes we cook. I would like to (ideally) replace both taste and texture. The tip about infused oil is an interesting one, and I’ll try that for sure.
Sometimes issues with onions and garlic are due to allergies.
Some people are allergic to raw/undercooked onion, in which case you make sure to sautee and/or otherwise cook them through.
For garlic, some people are allergic to the sprout. You can kind of “core” garlic, slice it in half and dig out the central bit (which is what sprouts green), and typically it helps.
You could also try a different garlic variety, around here we also get Solo, which taste (slightly) different to garlic and don’t seem to give the same problems with the sprout.
You can also try granulated onion and/or garlic.
If all else fails you can do infused oils, heat some oil with onion and/or garlic, strain and use as a flavouring agent.
(and of course you might try leek, spring onion, red onion. But I feel they’re similar enough to only leave one disappointed about the real dish, rather than appreciating a “new take”).
Maybe consider learning a cuisine that doesn’t use onion and garlic as much, e.g. some Asian cuisine use spring onion instead, and the Japanese are very careful with garlic.
As for the texture, onion and garlic can be chopped very fine, and even grated for less texture.
For equal texture I’d actually suggest rethinking the sauce/dish. Don’t do dishes that are centered around the onion texture (Chaliapin steak comes to mind) and you’ll have a much better time. But: leek, kale, bok choi, wilted spinach, arugula/rocket, bean sprouts, etc all can do the slimy wrappy thing onion does, and even with a little chewyness with careful cooking.
But in a sauce you could just as well add small broccoli trees, finely chopped and/or sautéed cabbage, cauliflower, fresh herbs with sprigs (tender thyme sprigs are very nice, but also Basil, Mint, Coriander, Parsley, etc). If it gets too lumpy, you do a few pulses with a mixer and leave it at your desired texture (works great for both sauce and soup).
Cooking is a lovely expression of yourself and your care for others, and almost all situations can be solved with a little creativity (which of course is easier crowd sourced). I hope you find some inspiration, and I wish you both the best of luck on this endeavour.
Lots of good ideas in here, thanks! The processing of the onions unfortunately doesn’t matter much (fresh onions are worse, but even sauteed or thoroughly cooked cause issues). Red onions and shallots, too. Spring onions is a bit better but not great. Leek is good.
Cabbages et al. seem like a good option for the texture, I’ll try that!
We already cook a lot of Asian food that is lighter in terms of onions and garlic (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese), but some of our favourite cusines do use them a lot.
I too have trouble with onions, but thankfully not garlic. I can safely use onion powder and even small amounts of dried minced onion from the spice aisle without causing a disturbance. I can eat foods cooked with onions and just pick the onions out. But strangely the delightful onion broth served at teppanyaki restaurants will destroy me.
Can’t help you with replacing the texture, but I have gotten shallot infused olive oil for imparting the flavor. They also have garlic oil, of course.
It’s the onion solids that offend most people, and often when thoroughly cooked, the proteins are denatured(?) enough to not cause me issues.
Raw onion and onion powder will mess up my system.
This was suggested in another comment, too. I’ll try that. At least for garlic, this seems to work.
Unfortunately, actual onions are always an issue for her, no matter the processing (fresh, powder, sauteed, thoroughly cooked… I tried it all).
For texture you could use finely chopped celery.
That’s a no-no unfortunately. She’s allergic to celery (replacing this with parsnip already). But I haven’t thought about finely chopping it for texture!
For a really powerful celery alternative, look into lovage. It’s a perennial relative of parsley and celery. A single leaf of lovage tastes like a whole stalk of celery. It is really good in things like soups. Depending on where you live, it might be hard to find, but it is easy to grow.
Nice. Had to look up a translation, but I can absolutely get that here. Never cooked with it. Thanks for the tip!
My kids who hate cooked onion love fennel. Whole different flavor profile but oddly not a bad substitute, agree with you. Shallot they also like, if that works the flavor is much closer, but if all alliums are out, it’s out too.
ETA: Indian food sometimes has asafetida instead of garlic.
Asafoetida is really nice, yeah. I would put it more in the onion/leek department in terms of taste, but it does create that pretty effectively.
I think if I was going for no alliums at all, I’d look for replacements for each use of them vs a blanket substitute.
You mentioned fennel as a good substitute, but the anise flavor isn’t right in some applications. When caramelized, that anise flavor mellows out, so it works really well as a substitute for caramelized onion.
In a more lightly cooked application, like a stir fry, you might want to get a similar texture with cabbage. Sauer kraut (and its asian relatives like kimchi) is good for a “sharper” taste.
For pickled onions, you can replace with pretty much anything else pickled.
Shallot is the usual onion substitute. But it being in the same plant family, I’d guess makes it not a good option?
Yeah, unfortunately not. Shallots and onions are the same. Spring onions are better but still cause issues.
As a flavouring there are a number of things you can use. Flavoured oils are the easiest to use/find but don’t give a ton of flavour. I also find a lot of them taste pretty bad, Colavita garlic olive oil is the only one I buy. FreeFod makes FODMAP free onion and garlic powders that work a treat. Otherwise I mostly use a lot of green onion tops when I want onion flavour.
I normally don’t have too many issues with the texture side, what kind of dishes does removing the onion cause problems? If you are blending the sauce and the onion is adding body, maybe look at different thickening options like xanthan gum.
Lastly, Fodzyme makes a enzyme powder that works against various FODMAPs including Garlic and Onion. Its expensive, but worth it for eating out or the dish doesn’t work without the onion/garlic base.
Thanks, I didn’t know there were powders that are FODMAP free, although I’m not sure if this is the cause of her sensitivity. I’ll see if I can find them where I live.
Regarding the consistency. I’m mainly thinking of heavier/saucy dishes like goulash or some Indian/Pakistani dishes, where onions are cooked for a longish time. They add a creamy texture to the sauce that I find difficult to recreate.
Yeah, Indian food is unfortunately mostly a no go for me due to the onions and there is no real alternative. I make something along the lines of butter chicken at home with tomatoes, spices and whipping cream without onions that scratches the itch, but it isn’t the same.
FWIW, I made a nice Dal last weekend with some of the tips in this thread. Swapped out the onions for fennel and leek, added other vegetables (carrots, parsnip, bell pepper), garlic oil and asafoetida for taste. Turned out great and was quite easy on the stomach.
My lentils are super basic but still great. Just toss lentils, water, curry powder, salt, and cayenne into a pot and cook until the desired texture. Add some garam masala at the end and stir in. I’ve even got a local company that makes curry powders and such and they don’t include any garlic or onion in the spice mixes.
I didn’t even adapt the recipe, the friend I got it from makes it exactly like that.
For garlic you could try Ramson.
My partner does not like sliced onions, but is fine with onion powder. Same with garlic. So I just put in the powder for the flavor and less chopping. 😀
Thanks, unfortunately I tried this already and it didn’t work. Doesn’t matter if they’re fresh or dried, sauteed or cooked to death, she can’t handle onions in any form.
I hate the texture of onions and don’t like strong oniony flavor. We use dried onion flakes. You have a lot of control over how much flavor there is and the texture is gone.
Onion is just a cheap texture veggie, the flavor is sharp and it overpowers everything you add to it. It was popularized before refrigerators to cover up the taste and smell of rotting and spoiling meat. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
When I die and go to Hell it’s going to look like a Renaissance painting of Heaven, but there will be no Alliums. I won’t have pitchforks or burning coals, just an eternity without onions.
Mine is the same but you are there with onion breath.
