Onions and shallots are closely related, they can be used in similar ways, and they look similar at the store, but they behave differently in both the kitchen and the garden.
So, today on Just Grow Something we’re doing a side-by-side comparison of these alliums. We’ll cover how they differ in taste and cooking uses, how they differ in growth habit, how to grow each one, and finally, how to adapt for hot climates and short-season climates, because those two extremes can make or break your allium crop.
Let’s dig in.
References and Resources:
Plan Like a Pro Gardening Planning Course: https://justgrowsomething.thinkific.com/courses/plan-like-a-pro
Growing Onions - Ep. 233: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/episode/ep-133-growing-onions
How to Harvest, Cure, and Store Garlic and Onions - Ep. 256: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/episode/how-to-harvest-cure-and-store-garlic-and-onions-ep-256
University of Minnesota Extension — Growing onions in home gardens: https://extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-onions
UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions — Onions and shallots: https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/vegetables/onions-and-shallots/
Oregon State University Extension — Plant onions early for bigger summer bulbs: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/plant-onions-early-bigger-summer-bulbs
Just Grow Something: https://justgrowsomething.com
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00:00:00
They are closely related, they can be used in similar ways and
00:00:05
they look similar at the store, but they behave differently in
00:00:10
both the kitchen and in the garden.
00:00:13
I'm talking about onions and shallots.
00:00:20
Welcome back to Just Grow Something.
00:00:21
I'm Karen Velez, horticulturist and market farmer with over 20
00:00:24
years experience growing food in my own gardens and now teaching
00:00:28
others to do the same. This week we are doing a side by
00:00:31
side comparison of onions versus shallots.
00:00:35
We'll cover how they differ in taste and cooking uses, how they
00:00:39
differ in growth habit and why that matters for planting, how
00:00:43
to grow each one from timing and temperatures to spacing and
00:00:47
fertility and harvest, and finally, how to adapt for hot
00:00:50
climates and short season climates because these two
00:00:53
extremes can make or break your allium crop.
00:00:57
Let's dig in. So onions.
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Allium Seepay is the a classic bulb onion most of us grow for
00:01:08
storage and for slicing and for cooking.
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Shallots are also an onion type allium, and a lot of references
00:01:16
describe them as producing clusters of bulbs more like
00:01:20
garlic than a single onion. And that cluster habit is one of
00:01:26
the biggest gardening differences.
00:01:28
We'll come back to that here in a minute, but the confusion
00:01:31
around these guys makes sense because onions and shallots
00:01:34
share a lot of very similar traits.
00:01:37
They like similar soil conditions, so something that is
00:01:39
well drained with some full sun and some consistent moisture.
00:01:43
They are generally treated as a cool season crop because that is
00:01:47
when we get the most growth out of them in their early growth
00:01:51
phase, at least above the ground.
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And they're both heavily influenced by day length,
00:01:56
especially for bulbing onions. Shallots respond to day length
00:02:00
as well, but maybe a little bit differently than what you might
00:02:03
expect. So they're in the same family,
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they have similar needs, but they have different habits and
00:02:08
sort of different best practices.
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So let's start with the reason most people ask this question in
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the 1st place, and that is flavor and cooking.
00:02:18
Like, what's the difference between an onion and a shallot?
00:02:21
If we think about onions, we're thinking about like a bigger
00:02:24
flavor range and a bigger range of rolls.
00:02:30
Onions can swing from being really, really mild to really
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strong and pungent and everything in between, depending
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on not just the cultivar type but also the growing conditions.
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So, you know, different onions are sort of grouped by their
00:02:48
flavor. Some of them are bred for really
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strong flavors and for storage. Those are those more pungent
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ones, and other ones are bred for more sweetness or more
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mildness. But onion flavor isn't just
00:03:00
genetics. It's actually influenced by not
00:03:04
just the cult of our type, but also the temperature it's grown
00:03:08
in, the irrigation, the sulfur fertility in the soil, and that
00:03:13
higher sulfur in the soil can also increase the pungency.
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So as one of the reasons why homegrown onions can sometimes
00:03:19
surprise you a little bit, sometimes they're sweeter than
00:03:21
what you expected, sometimes they're a little bit sharper
00:03:24
than you expected. And that's basically because
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your soil and the fertility of that soil matters, okay.
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Shallots, on the other hand, are typically more delicate.
00:03:35
They are often favored for raw applications or very quick
00:03:40
cooked dishes. They are, I guess, more mild in
00:03:45
flavor. They're typically used for roles
00:03:49
like sauteing very lightly or pickling or tossing them into
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soups and stews towards the end of the cooking period.
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And especially those raw applications like vinaigrettes
00:03:59
where you really don't want like a harsh edge, but you still want
00:04:04
that sort of onion characteristic.
00:04:06
So essentially if the dish needs onion flavor as a foundation, so
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you're making big batches of stuff or something that needs a
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really long cooking period, or you're doing like soups or
00:04:21
chilies, onions are very efficient at this and they're
00:04:24
also very cost effective. If the dish needs a little bit
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of a lighter touch, so dressings or quick pan sauces or very
00:04:32
delicate sautees, then shallots are often easier to use without
00:04:37
overpowering. That being said, I mean, really,
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you can swap one for the other. I mean, if you're a home cook
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and you're not some, you know, trained chef, most of us are not
00:04:50
going to have much of a problem substituting one for the other.
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Shallots sometimes when they are called for, it's kind of
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important because we're talking about that flavor and that
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pungency that maybe we don't want.
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And that's why the Charlotte shallots are generally
00:05:04
recommended. And shallot varieties themselves
00:05:07
also vary, like the Gray shallots are often considered
00:05:10
really good for flavor, but some of the yellow types can actually
00:05:13
taste more onion like. So take that for what it's worth
00:05:18
when we look at what happens in the garden with onions versus
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shallots. Bulb onions generally aim for
00:05:30
one main bulb per plant. When you grow classic bulbing
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onions for like for storage, that's what you're looking at.
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One plant producing one bulb of a sort of predictable size.
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Now spacing is often going to affect this final size.
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Widing spacer between your onions generally supports larger
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bulbs and that closer spacing is going to give you some smaller
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bulbs and it's also going to encourage harvests as like green
00:05:56
onions. That is how I plant my onions.
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I actually plant them very, very close together with the
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intention of thinning them out as they mature and harvesting
00:06:07
them at different stages. So that first stage will be as
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just green onions, thinning them out the first time, and then the
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second time I go back through and thin them out, I'm
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harvesting what we refer to as green onions or not green
00:06:18
onions, spring onions. So, so green onions first, then
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the spring onions and spring onions essentially have started
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to form those bulbs, but they also still have usable green
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tops. So I get kind of the best of
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both worlds. And then because of that final
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spacing, now the remaining onions have plenty of space to
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be able to produce much larger bulbs for storage.
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That's how we sort of adjust the size of what expectation for a
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bulb. Onion shallots naturally tend to
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multiply. They are known for forming
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clusters of bulbs more similar to what we see in garlic.
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And your spacing can influence whether you get more clustering
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or more single bulb behavior. So if you're doing a high
00:07:07
density planting, if you are planting all of your shallots
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very closely together, you are going to get smaller single
00:07:16
bulbs when if you plant wider spacing, then that's going to be
00:07:21
more likely to result in those clusters just again like garlic.
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And you can use both the tops and the bottoms on Charlotte
00:07:28
shallots as well as, you know, the same way that you can with
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with green onions or with bulb onions.
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So the planting difference is like with onions, OK, you know,
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you're getting one plant equals one bulb.
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With shallots, you can plant one bulb.
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And if you give it enough space, you're actually harvesting
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multiple bulbs. And that multiplication is one
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of the reasons why shallots can be so satisfying in a very small
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garden. You can just tuck them in
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wherever and you're getting multiple bulbs.
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The interesting thing about this is if you are somebody who tends
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to see that you don't use a whole lot of the big bulb onions
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because you don't use it all up. Like if you constantly are
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finding yourself cutting an onion in half and then having to
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wrap it up and throw the rest of it in the fridge, and then it
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languishes in there until the next time you come in to use it
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again and it probably has gone bad.
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That is an argument for growing shallots.
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Yes, the flavor is going to be a little bit more mild compared to
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a regular onion, so that the transition or the substitution
00:08:29
may not be really fully 1:00 to 1:00.
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But in reality, those clusters of the shallots, they all have
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their own little wrapper the same way that garlic does.
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So if you only need a little bit of onion, well then you can pull
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off 1 shallot and you can use that rather than having to cut a
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giant bulb onion in half and then hoping that you use before
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it goes bad. OK, I'm going to link to the
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episodes that I've done the full episode on growing onions, but I
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want to kind of review how you grow onions versus how you grow
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shallots here in this episode as well.
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And the big thing is with bulb onions, choosing the right day
00:09:08
length type first, right before you buy seed or before you order
00:09:11
plants in understand what you're actually growing for.
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Long day onions form bulbs under longer day lengths and they are
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typically used in the more northern latitudes.
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Here in the Northern hemisphere. Short day onions are used
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further South and they are often planted over winter or for very
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early spring production in those warmer climates.
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There are intermediate day or day neutral options for the sort
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of in between latitudes, which is where we are.
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We kind of sit right on that line.
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So I have the option of using long day or day neutral.
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I would not try to grow short day onions here just because
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they really need that time to be able to get those green tops.
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So if you've grown onions before and they never bulbed or they
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bulbed too early and they stayed really tiny, there might be a
00:09:58
day length mismatch there. So look that up.
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You need to decide whether you're going to grow from seed
00:10:04
or from transplants or from sets with onions, right?
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You can grow onions from seed. That's going to give you
00:10:10
probably the most options for different varieties.
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You can grow them from transplants which you have
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purchased and brought in there. You know, that's an easy way to
00:10:19
get started really quickly because onion seed needs to be
00:10:22
started about 12 weeks before you transplant them outside.
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So transplants are a really good way to start.
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It's very reliable to already have them ready to go.
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You can also do them from sets. Those are those little small
00:10:34
bulbs. Now this comes with a little bit
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of a caveat because yes, they established very quickly, but if
00:10:41
they are oversized or if they are planted at the wrong time,
00:10:45
that can actually increase the risk of them bolting sets are
00:10:50
what I use for my overwintered onions.
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I plant them in the fall and I harvest them in the spring.
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Transplants, often times ones that I've either started myself
00:10:58
or that I have brought in are what I use for planting in the
00:11:01
spring. And for beginners, I would say
00:11:03
transplants are often the most forgiving.
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So if you're starting your own transplants from seed indoors,
00:11:10
again, you're looking at about 11:50 weeks before planting
00:11:13
outside. This is especially helpful if
00:11:15
you're a short season gardener. You can get a real jump on them
00:11:17
and get them transplanted. And onion transplants, like we
00:11:21
talked about last week, they do tolerate a light frost.
00:11:23
So you can plant them any time that your daytime temperatures
00:11:27
have started to get around 50°F and that soil is workable.
00:11:31
Generally the soil temperatures, you know, 45 to 50°F is sort of
00:11:36
your practical minimum. This isn't a magic number, but
00:11:39
you know the, if you can get them in early, then I totally
00:11:42
encourage that so you can get that good green growth on the
00:11:45
top. What we do want to aim for, and
00:11:48
again like we mentioned last week is your top development to
00:11:52
happen during the much cooler temperatures.
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So if the air temperatures are between 45 and 60°F during that
00:12:01
sort of development, that is ideal.
00:12:04
We don't want it getting warmer than that until those onions
00:12:09
start to bulb, right and that's when it can be between 60 and
00:12:13
75. Obviously in most areas we are
00:12:15
going to be growing these onions at some point in the heat.
00:12:19
We just want to make sure it's at the very end of their growth
00:12:22
and not smack dab in the middle of when they're supposed to be
00:12:25
forming those green tops. For larger bulbs from
00:12:29
transplant, you want to space them about four to five inches
00:12:34
apart. If you are doing sets, then
00:12:37
oftentimes you're planting them about four inches or so.
00:12:41
I typically do like 6 inches by 6 inches just to make sure that
00:12:46
they have enough space, right. We also want to make sure,
00:12:49
again, that our future fertility is is good.
00:12:52
They are heavy feeders, especially of nitrogen in the
00:12:54
beginning when they're putting the green tops on and consistent
00:12:58
moisture is actually going to support that nice steady growth.
00:13:02
So I absolutely recommend when you are planting onions that you
00:13:08
use mulch. It helps conserve the moisture,
00:13:11
it helps reduce the weed pressure.
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And you have to remember onions are shallow rooted and they
00:13:15
don't compete well with weeds. So the mulch is going to help
00:13:18
with that. If you see your onions bolting,
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which means they're sending up that flour stock, this means
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that the onion is not going to store well.
00:13:27
So, so if you see it doing that, you want to go ahead and pull
00:13:31
that onion and either use it right away or store it in your
00:13:36
refrigerator until you can get to use it.
00:13:39
These are not candidates for long term storage.
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If you have a bunch of them bolting all at once, then you
00:13:45
can leave them out in the field for a short period of time or in
00:13:49
the garden, I should say for a short period of time.
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If you have way too many of them to use right away, then you can
00:13:54
kind of leave them out there, but make sure you cut that
00:13:56
flower stalk off. It's it's not going to reverse
00:13:59
the effects. Once it starts to bolt, that's
00:14:01
it. It's going to start to bolt and
00:14:03
it's not going to get any bigger at that point.
00:14:05
But it does give you some time to work through what you've got
00:14:09
and harvest them slowly. Just know that they are not
00:14:12
going to be good candidates for storage.
00:14:15
The ones that are good candidates for storage.
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Once you the onions have gotten to maturity and their tops have
00:14:22
started to fall over naturally, then you want to cure them in a
00:14:26
warm, dry, well ventilated place kind of out of the direct sun
00:14:30
for about a week or two. And then you want to put them
00:14:34
into cold storage. So dry, warm conditions for
00:14:38
about a week or two and then boom, around 32 degrees, 32°F
00:14:42
and dry conditions with moderate humidity and they should last
00:14:46
you for several months. OK, So what about shallots?
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I think the biggest mistake with shallots is assuming that
00:14:53
they're like just small onions, which they kind of are, but then
00:14:57
they kind of aren't. OK, so shallots are actually
00:15:00
commonly grown from bulb sets. They can be grown from seed or
00:15:06
from transplant, but oftentimes you will see them offered as
00:15:10
bulbs, as sets. And just like our regular onions
00:15:15
are bulb onions, you can plant shallots in spring, very, very
00:15:20
early. Again, as soon as the soil can
00:15:23
be worked In some areas, you know shallots can go in at the
00:15:31
same time your fall garlic goes in so that you can harvest it in
00:15:36
the late spring, especially again if you are in a very, very
00:15:42
warm area. In some areas, even where it's
00:15:45
not a warm area, you can do a fall planting after that first
00:15:50
frost the same way that you would like your garlic.
00:15:53
And just know that you might not have a 100% success rate because
00:15:58
very, very cold winters may reduce your yield, But you know,
00:16:02
both spring and fall planting are possible in colder areas
00:16:06
where sometimes it's not possible with your regular bulb
00:16:09
onions. So when we talk about day length
00:16:12
in terms of shallots, shallots respond to day length with
00:16:16
bulbing initiated as the days start to lengthen.
00:16:20
So if you are in a short season area, you want to prioritize
00:16:23
getting them established really really early on so that the
00:16:27
plant gets the chance to build enough leaf mass before that
00:16:30
bulbing is triggered. I have not seen recommendations
00:16:34
on variety that specifically states whether it is a short
00:16:38
season or or I'm sorry, a a short day or long day variety
00:16:43
with shallots. I've only just sold them, seen
00:16:45
them sold as shallots, and so it's up to you to figure out
00:16:48
when to put them in based on when your days begin to
00:16:52
lengthen. As far as planting depth and
00:16:55
spacing is concerned, the bulbs can be one to two inches deep,
00:17:00
spaced about 3 to 6 inches apart, and those rows should be
00:17:04
about 12 to 18 inches apart. Now, again, what your goal is
00:17:10
for these shallots is going to determine how far apart you want
00:17:14
them. If you want the small sort of
00:17:17
more single bulbs, then you might want to put them 3 inches
00:17:20
apart. But if you want those larger
00:17:22
clusters or a much larger single single bulb, if that's how it
00:17:27
ends up growing, then you definitely want them to be
00:17:30
further apart, so closer to that 6 inches apart.
00:17:33
And you also want to leave that growing point exposed above the
00:17:36
soil surface. Shallots, just like regular
00:17:39
onions, are a cool season alium, so they can have a good frost
00:17:44
tolerance. They're grouped in with onions
00:17:47
as far as being a cool weather crop, so you can establish them
00:17:50
in the cooler weather and try to have them the bulbing occur
00:17:53
before you get to that sort of sustained heat if you are in a
00:17:57
hot climate. The interesting thing about
00:17:59
shallots is that they tend to be able to handle a slightly wider
00:18:04
pH range than your regular bulb onions can.
00:18:07
So for bulb onions, we said, you know between 6 point O and seven
00:18:10
point O on the pH range. For shallots, we're looking at
00:18:14
as low as 5.5 or as high as 7.5. So if you struggle a little bit
00:18:21
with onions in terms of growth and maybe your soil is a little
00:18:25
bit more on the acidic side or maybe higher on the alkaline
00:18:28
side, then maybe give shallots a try because they can handle a
00:18:32
little bit wider of a range. And they do still like a rich,
00:18:35
well drained, like very fertile soil with lots of organic matter
00:18:40
in it. And we are going to still
00:18:42
continue to mulch these guys the same way that we did our onions,
00:18:46
but just know that they might be a little bit more versatile in
00:18:48
terms of the pH range. Harvest time for shallots is
00:18:52
given by the plant queues. Basically the same thing when
00:18:55
the tops start to fall over on their own, we're not breaking
00:18:59
them over, they're falling over on their own.
00:19:01
Then generally they are ready to harvest.
00:19:04
Just like our bold onions. We want to cure them for about a
00:19:07
week or two and then store them at about 32 to 40°F with sort of
00:19:12
a moderate humidity. They can store for six months or
00:19:18
longer. So this is the equivalent to
00:19:21
some of those really, really pungent bulb onions, even though
00:19:25
they have a more mild flavor. So this is another reason why
00:19:28
you might also want to grow shallots alongside your regular
00:19:31
onions. If you like those more mild
00:19:33
onions that don't tend to store as long, then maybe the shallots
00:19:38
can sort of fill that gap for you.
00:19:40
Now, of course, if you have special circumstances, either a
00:19:44
very, very hot climate or a short season, then what you do
00:19:47
is going to be modified a little bit in both terms of shallots
00:19:50
and onions. If you garden in a really hot
00:19:52
climate, your main strategy is basically just to avoid the
00:19:56
hottest part of the year for bulbing OK?
00:20:01
For onions, you know again you're looking at probably a
00:20:03
fall winter planting for a spring harvest, and those short
00:20:08
day types are specifically suited to your latitude.
00:20:12
Same thing for shallots, you might do a fall planting in
00:20:15
those warmer climates. So the goal is get them
00:20:17
established in the cooler months, get them to size up or
00:20:22
get the green growth going during those cooler months and
00:20:25
only start bulbing as you start to get towards that heat.
00:20:29
But we wanted to finish before your sustained heat kicks in.
00:20:33
If you garden in a much, much colder area and you have a very,
00:20:37
very short season, then your main strategy is to maximize
00:20:40
that early growth. So for onions, be sure that you
00:20:43
are starting them from seed well ahead of time.
00:20:47
Or use transplants you know and get them out as early as you
00:20:50
possibly can. Once that soil is workable,
00:20:53
protect them if you need to. And remember, a more leaf growth
00:20:57
means more bulb layers. So each leaf corresponds to one
00:21:00
layer in the bulbs. That early leafy growth matters
00:21:04
for shallots, you know, use those sets to get them going
00:21:09
early. Or you can use seed grown
00:21:11
hybrids if they're available in your region.
00:21:13
And again, make sure that you are planting as early as your
00:21:16
soil will allow. Sometimes things just go weird
00:21:20
with alliums just the same way as anything else.
00:21:22
So if you're getting really tiny onions, make sure that you check
00:21:25
the day length type and then check your planting date because
00:21:28
again, later plantings can actually reduce bulb size,
00:21:31
mainly due to that heat. If you're getting flower stalks,
00:21:34
that means they're bolting. Think cold exposure plus the
00:21:38
plant stage for onions, right? When when did that happen?
00:21:42
And try to avoid using oversized sets.
00:21:44
If you're planting from sets for shallots, you know, fall
00:21:47
planting can actually sort of increase the risk of getting
00:21:51
that bolting in you in certain regions.
00:21:53
So some of this is just going to be a little bit of an
00:21:56
experiment. And then if anything starts to
00:21:59
kind of rot on you in storage, then this is more to do with
00:22:03
like curing and your airflow. So make sure that you are curing
00:22:07
your onions and your shallots both for a good week or two and
00:22:11
those higher temperatures before you store them.
00:22:14
And make sure that you're not storing them before they are
00:22:16
thoroughly dried. And then just make sure you have
00:22:18
some good airflow when they are in storage.
00:22:24
OK, So onions are your big, versatile, very day length
00:22:29
sensitive bulbing crop. So make sure that you are
00:22:32
choosing the right type for your latitude.
00:22:34
Get them started early and focus on that steady growth,
00:22:38
especially that green top in the early stages.
00:22:41
Shallots are your sort of, you know, multiply and savor alum.
00:22:46
They form those clusters. They are often grown from sets.
00:22:50
They are really good for small spaces and they are frequently
00:22:53
easier to keep going year to year by just saving those little
00:22:57
bulbs. So if you want, treat this as an
00:22:59
experiment. Grow, you know, a few bold
00:23:02
onions and then grow a few of the shallots this season.
00:23:05
And then compare what you use first in the kitchen #1 and then
00:23:09
what performs best in your specific climate and in your
00:23:13
particular garden. Until next time, my gardening
00:23:15
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden, and we'll
00:23:18
talk again soon.