How to Make Substitutes for Leeks in Your Cooking

Leeks have such a strong flavor that they can overpower whatever you’re cooking. However, if you know how to replace them in your recipes without making everyone else in the house feel left out, you'll be able to enjoy their deliciousness whenever you like. Because leeks are an onion substitute, many of their substitutes and substitutes for leeks involve adding onions back into the equation. In other words, most recipes that use leeks require you to cook with onion or add onion powder or onion salt at some point during the process. Still don’t know what to do? Here are some ideas about how to make substitutions for leeks in your cooking.

Add Onions To Your Cooking

If you love leeks, you might use more onion in your dishes. What kind of onion should you use for leeks? The best onion to use in leek substitute recipes is the white onion. Why? White onions have less strong onion flavor than the red onions and they also have a sweeter taste. So, if you want to add a little sweetness to your cooking, you can use the white onions. You can also use the scallions or the shallots (scallions are the bulb and shallots are the green parts). How to use white onions in your cooking: chop them, sauté them, add them to soups, combine them with mashed potatoes, use them to make V- and A-inga-inga, and more. You can also use the white onions to make pickles.

Use Ground Onions

Ground onions are often used to replace the flavor of the onion. Use only half of the onion’s amount and ground onions will not have as strong a flavor. How to use ground onions in your cooking: Add them to soups, stews, casseroles, and more.

Use Mustard or Dijon

Dijon mustard is very similar to the leek’s flavor and can be used as a substitute. The difference between mustard and dijonnaise is that mustard is often made with grain, whereas dijonnaise is made with soy. Using mustard or dijonnaise can help to reduce the amount of soy in the recipe. How to use mustard or dijonnaise in your cooking: Use it as the substitute for both the leek and the onion. You can add it to soups, stews, and casseroles. You can also use it to flavor steaks, burgers, and more.

Add Garlic

If you can’t get leeks, you can add garlic to your recipes. Like the onions, the garlic does not taste as strong as the leeks, making it an easy substitute for leeks in your cooking. How to add garlic to your cooking: Add it to soups, stews, casseroles, pizza, and more. You can also use it to flavor steaks, burgers, and more.

What if You Don’t Have Onions?

Many times, you will find that you don’t have any leeks at home, but you also don’t want to use onion substitute recipes that are full of onion. Instead, you can use the scallions instead. Scallions are the green parts of the onions and they do not have as strong of a flavor as the onions do. So, you should be able to use scallions in place of leeks in almost any recipe. Scallions don’t have a strong flavor and they also don’t need to be washed. You can use scallions in place of leeks in any recipe that is high in liquid. You can also mash the scallions and mix them with other ingredients to add extra flavor to your casseroles, soups, stews, sauces, and more.

Take Other Vegetable Substitutes For Leeks

There are many other vegetables that are similar in flavor to the leeks and can help you to make a leek substitute in your cooking. The most common ones are shallots, parsnips, garlic, and mushrooms. How to use other vegetable substitutes for leeks: Shallots, parsnips, garlic, mushrooms, and more have a strong flavor and can be used in almost any recipe that calls for leeks. You can cook with these vegetables as is or mash them and add some extra flavor to your recipes. You can use them to make pesto, vinaigrettes, sauces, and more.

Conclusion

If you love leeks but they are too strong for your family to eat, you can use the following substitutes to sneak leeks into your cooking. Use them in any recipe that calls for leeking and you’ll be able to enjoy the leeky goodness that leeks have to offer.