A friend and I periodically send each other videos of ourselves unpacking from trips to the grocery store. “Welcome back to my channel,” they always jokingly begin. “Today we’re unboxing my Trader Joe’s haul.”
Like influencers, we hold up each item to the camera — one hand behind it to focus the lens — and talk about our cooking plans for it. “Oh, you’re going to love this,” we’ll say, and it’s just a bag of oranges. “Cabbage, because always.”
On Sunday, as I languished on the floor of her living room, my friend brought over a package. Her C.S.A. had arrived. A haul, live! Out came broccoli, mushrooms, potatoes, reminders of cooler seasons. Then, finally, a totem of spring. “That looks like a leek,” I said. But it was not. Sturdy and imposing, the biggest scallions I’d ever seen emerged from the box.
“Of all the alliums, scallions can be the hardest to categorize,” wrote Melissa Clark in this great alliums explainer back in 2021. Scallions (or green onions) are distinct from leeks and spring onions (which are simply young common onions), milder in flavor and arguably the most versatile.
Andy Baraghani’s kuku sabzi, an herb and scallion frittata, calls for two whole bunches of scallions, their herbal, oniony notes playing nicely with tons of cilantro, parsley and dill. And they serve double duty in Alexa Weibel’s chopped salad with jalapeño-ranch dressing, which divvies up one bunch across the lip-smacking dressing and the salad itself.
I love, too, how Hetty Lui McKinnon treats them in her recipe for ramen with charred scallions, green beans and chile oil — “as you would a bunch of greens,” she writes. Hetty cuts them into little Lincoln logs, and in hot oil they sputter about, becoming fragrant and sweeter.
Ramen With Charred Scallions, Green Beans and Chile Oil
Scallions add welcome pops of green to breads, fritters and other carby goods, like Yewande Komolafe’s toasted sesame and scallion waffles, Grace Young’s scallion pancakes and Sohui Kim’s vegetable pajeon (check that your kimchi is vegetarian).
And they can stand on their own, as in the chef David Shim’s recipe for sweet, sour and spicy pa muchim (scallion salad), which Lex adapted. It takes a little effort and patience to yield thin, frilly scallion tendrils, but it’s worth the work to pile them high atop something like Kay Chun’s grilled tofu.
Just as good alongside some smoky tofu, or some creamy pasta, would be Ali Slagle’s scallion-heavy roasted spring vegetables or her stir-fried green beans and scallions.
Or put the scallions in the creamy pasta. Melissa’s creamy bucatini with spring onions and mint works with many other alliums when it’s not late spring or early summer. Swap in your standard-issue onions, or scallions or leeks or ramps — or any inspired combination.
One of my favorite ways to use scallions, though, is to turn them into sauce. Francis Lam fashions a complex caramelized sauce with no more than scallions, oil and salt, ready to dress any noodles or vegetables you deem worthy of it. Slightly quicker, if you need it, is a sizzling scallion sauce like this one from Kay, which she spoons over silken tofu.
While they often form the aromatic base of dishes or add freshness as a garnish, scallions can play a sizable role in your meals — regardless of how big your bunch is.
