Less Than 10% Of People Would Prefer To Cook With This Type Of Onion

Onions are one of a cook's best friends. Not only are they incredibly flavorful, there's a seemingly endless variety of ways in which to use them. Onions can be pickled, sautéed, or caramelized, roasted or grilled, used in soups, salads or entrées ... and no matter which way you choose to use them, they always seem to enhance, bringing something extra to each dish, whether it's added depth, crunchier texture, or more aromatic flavor.

Of course, just as there are myriad ways to use onions, there are also many different varieties of this versatile bulb vegetable. So we surveyed our readers, asking them which type of onion they most preferred when cooking. The results were somewhat surprising. Of the 515 people polled by Tasting Table, 163 of the respondents (or 31.65%) preferred to cook with sweet onions. The vote was very close, however. Yellow onions were only narrowly edged out for first place, finishing second with 157 votes (or 30.49% of the responses).

Why surprising? Well, yellow, red, and white onions are the most common varieties of onions (yellow onions alone account for about 87% of the U.S. onion yield, per the National Onion Association), so we expected those kinds to be the favored choices. But the power of sweetness prevailed. Sweet onions like the Maui and Vidalia varieties actually do have a high sugar content, according to MasterClass, which contributes to their sweet taste when cooked.

So which of our onion poll choices did readers least like to cook with? That would be scallions (aka green onions or spring onions). Not only did scallions finish with just 6.21% of votes from those surveyed, they finished well behind sweet and yellow onions, as well as red onions (96 votes, 18.64%) and shallots (13.01%), too. In fact, shallots, the second least favorite onion to cook with among the choices given in our survey, more than doubled the votes (67 to 32) of last-place finisher scallions.

Perhaps scallions have been unfairly typecast as garnishes, though. So, with this said, should you give this young onion a second chance? They make an excellent addition to salads, after all, and can even be the whole salad, too; scallions are featured in many amazing stir-fries and are, of course, what make authentic scallion pancakes so good. Shallots, meanwhile, make a fine confit, among many tasty usages.

But the people have spoken, and sweet onions are the most preferred onions to cook with, according to our Tasting Table survey.