Homemade Onion Powder
Homemade onion powder is a fantastic way to minimize waste and put the tops of spring onions, leeks, and scallions to good use. You can use it as a simple seasoning or to transform everything from ranch dressing to compound butters. It’s the perfect finishing touch for salads, grain bowls, and so many pastas.
Making homemade onion powder is a labor of love. It’s for anyone who can’t stand to throw away the vibrant, unruly tops of spring onions you’ll find at many farmers’ markets this time of year. Instead of tossing those leaves, consider turning them into a powder, it will shift your perception of what onion powder can be. You don’t need a dehydrator, just a bit of patience to chase any dirt or grit hiding in tubular-shaped onion tops.
Prepping the onion greens is a bit of a chore, but the resulting powder is so much more flavorful and nuanced compared to store-bought versions. 
How To Make Homemade Onion Powder
This recipe doesn’t require a dehydrator, although an oven with a convection setting works well. Here are the basic steps.
I typically start with onions that look something like the ones pictured above. Lots of greens that I don't want to throw away - so much flavor in there!
Preparation: Trim the green parts away from the rest of the onion. I like the floppiest parts for this recipe and technique, nothing with too much structure. I use those sturdier parts for other things like salads, or in soups, etc.
Clean: The tube shape of the onion tops is good at hiding dirt and grit. You want to split each of them all the way up and give everything a good rinse. You can see above, post-rinse, drying on clean kitchen towels to absorb any residual water. You want everything to go into the oven as dry as possible.
Bake: Above you can see the onion tops arranged on a baking sheet just prior to baking. Attempt to minimize overlapping. You can see (below) the transformation that happens over the baking process. You want to bake until everything is brittle and crushable.
Crush into powder: You can crush the onions into a powder a number of ways: use your fingers, a mortar and pestle, or a blender. I typically use a mortar and pestle, it delivers a fine grind and the cleanup is easier than using a blender.
You can see how much the onion collapses into the powder below. My advice is to always bake as many onion tops as your oven or sheet pans can handle while you're at it.
How to Use Homemade Onion Powder
The ideas here are literally endless. Swap your homemade version in for any recipe that calls for onion powder. It’s a great finishing touch as well. Some other favorite ways to use it. There are so many!
- Combine onion powder along with lots of chopped fresh herbs in a compound butter. Then slather on the popovers we talked about a few weeks ago.
- As a finishing touch on these poke bowls.
- Sprinkled on simple hard-boiled eggs as part of a feel-good lunch.
- I like to make a version of these oven fries where I skip the paprika, and then sprinkle the fries with a LOT of homemade onion powder as soon as they come out of the oven. So good along with the hot garlic.
- Do an onion-forward twist on this furikake. Do a more rustic, more flaky crush of your powder for this.
- Use it to season homemade labneh.
- Level up your homemade bouillon powder, this recipe uses 3 tablespoons of onion powder.
- This onion powder is magic on a baked potato after a dollop of sour cream or salted yogurt.
- If you love a wedge salad, use it to level up your ranch dressing
- Sprinkled on my fave vegan chili.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. Make it, use it!
How To Store Homemade Onion Powder
You can store onion powder in an airtight container for a month or so. I keep mine on the counter so it is top of mind. This way I use it quickly.
Tips and Tricks
If you want a less rustic, more fine powder, after initially grinding into a powder, sift through a sieve. You can dust the tops of dishes the same way you would do with sifted powdered sugar.
More Homemade Spice Blends
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Homemade Onion Powder
You can use the floppy green tops of onions, spring onions, leeks, and scallions for this recipe - or a mix! Leeks can take significantly longer to bake though, so keep them on their own sheet pan. You see spring onions in the photos up above. They’ll collapse A LOT while baking, so make more than you think you’ll want. Getting your oven temp on the mark is important here so the onion does brown too quickly.
- onion greens from 8 medium onions, or equivalent
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Preheat oven to 200°F / 95°C (ideally with convention on) with racks in center.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or leave them unlined, your call. Set aside.
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Remove the big, floppy, green leaves from the onions. Split each one up the middle, and give them a good rinse. Pat dry on a clean kitchen towel, removing as much moisture as possible. You want them to go into the oven with as little water clinging to the surface as possible.
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Arrange the onion tops in a singular layer across the pans. Ideally there will be minimal overlap, but a bit is ok. They’ll shrink quite a lot and you can toss during the baking process and re-arrange later.
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Bake for roughly 2-3 hours (longer if you're using leek greens) tossing with a spatula 3 or 4 times along the way. You want to maintain a lot of the green tone and bake the moisture out at the same time (see above photos), so if everything is browning too quickly, reduce the oven temperature and slow down a bit. Bake until brittle, allow to cool completely.
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I find the easiest way to crush everything into onion powder is with a mortar and pestle, but if you don’t mind things a bit more rustic, you can crush with your fingers. You can also give it a quick whirl in a blender. For the finest powder, use a sieve to sift it.
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Store in an air-tight container.
Makes about 1/2 cup onion powder.
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