First of all let’s just take a moment of silence for the beauty that is this giant red onion that I got at the farmers market this week.

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Okay moment over. I have an obsession with onions because I think they are the most perfectly, imperfect, beautiful, vegetables out there. There is something about this ordinary and commonly used veggie that sometimes makes them neglected or underappreciated. But no need to worry, onions of the world in all of your many varieties, I have not forgotten about you and boy oh boy do I appreciate you.

WARNING: GEEKY NERD OUT PARAGRAPH APPROACHING

Clay and I use onions in so many of the dishes that we make simply because we love the flavor of them. But it turns out that onions are actually packed with tons of great nutrients. Studies have show that the sulfur in onions acts as a natural blood thinner lowering your blood pressure and risk of heart attack. The high levels of sulfur contained in onions can also work as a natural anti-inflammatory and provide natural muscle relief. SO DOPE! Onions are also packed with quercetin which prevents arterial plaque buildup. If you are running a lot it is so important to make sure that you have clear arteries and that you are heart healthy so that your body can handle the intensity of the exercise you are performing.

Who knew that onions were so cool am-I-right?

Now on to what you really care about and why you are actually reading this post.

Clay and use onions so much that it only makes sense that we prep them in advance. I absolutely hate chopping onions and I cry like a baby every time I chop them up. So in order to prevent this I only do it once a week. On my meal prep day, usually Saturday or Sunday, I dice up a whole jar full of onions and put them in a mason jar. This was a hack that I learned when I first married the runner boy. Every night when I was making dinner I had to take an entire onion out of the fridge, endure eye watering, dice it up, all just to repeat it again the next night. I got so fed up.

I decided to start dicing a giant red and yellow onion every meal prep day and put it in a mason jar for the week. This makes it so much easier to throw together dinner during the week when you already have pre-chopped onions to just throw into your dish. Below is a picture of what my final, cut up, onion mason jars look like.

I guess while I’m chatting about onions I might as well talk about the different kinds of onions and the best way to use them or at least how we use them in our casa.

Red Onion

Sweeter tasting onion. Most often used raw.
We use it in guacamole, fried rice, tacos, on top of pizza, salads.

Yellow Onion

ALWAYS COOK THIS ONION. Best caramelized or roasted.
We use it in as a base in sauces, in the crockpot with chicken, roasted with veggies.

White Onion

Most mild tasting but crunchiest.
We use this onion in salsa, stir-fries.

Sweet Onion

Sweet taste. These are the famous “onion rings”
We use this onion when we roast veggies on a sheet pan, in soups, or when we roast meats.

Shallots

Most subtle tastle. Less yummy garlic. We don’t use it a ton.
When we do use shallots its when I make my homemade dressings in the food processor.

Scallions

Can be eaten raw have a mild flavor. Often used in Chinese cooking.
We use scallions as garnish, in stir-fries, soups.

Onions are so unique, diverse, and can add so much flavor to your dishes. Don’t let the eye watering and the annoying chopping of onions keep you from using them in your cooking. Try my meal prep hack and see if it works for you. Hope you crazy, cat, onion lovers, out there like me go insane and love it like I do.

The Onion