I really like gardening. I spend a lot of time in the garden, playing around, seeing what I can grow from seed and sprout. And scraps. A few years ago, I figured out how to regrow green onions from scraps.
It’s so easy.
And yes, I know green onions aren’t incredibly expensive to buy at the store, but watching them grow on your windowsill is kind of fun.
And we’re all still kind of looking for fun, indoor activities to pass the time, right?
How To Regrow Green Onions From Scraps
You have to start by buying green onions from the grocery store, hence regrowing green onion from scraps. This tutorial won’t help you grow the green onions from seed.
You want to buy the green onion that comes in a bunch. Don’t buy the already chopped green onion. You can’t regrow green onions without the bulb at the bottom.
Step 1:
Cut your green onions. Leave about an inch and a half of the “white” part of the green onion, leaving the roots attached.
Step 2:
Put the green onions in water. I usually use a tall, thin, 2 ounce shot glass (which is usually a whisky shot glass) for this.
Set the shot glass on the windowsill. Your green onions will start growing almost instantly. No, I’m actually pretty serious about this. If I place a green onion scrap in water when I start cooking dinner, the green shoots will start growing even before we go upstairs for bed that night.
It’s wild.
Step 3:
Every two to three days, dump out any water in the shot glass and replace it with lukewarm tap water. You don’t want really cold water, but you also want warm water either.
You want to make sure the roots are completely submerged in the water at all times. If you have a lot of green onion scraps in the same shot glass, you’ll want to change the water every two days. If you only have one in there, you should be fine changing the water every three days.
Step 4:
You can leave the green onions on your windowsill until they die. They will, eventually, die there, although it’s a slow death.
If you want to grow green onions indefinitely, after about two weeks on the windowsill, you can transplant them into potting soil.
You’ll want to plant the original cut part (so the roots and the inch and a half you left) into the soil. Leave the green part (the regrowth) above the soil.
Now you have two options. You can either bring the potted green onions outside with the rest of your garden vegetables, or you can leave it in a pot inside.
I’ve had green onions in potting soil, outside, for years now. They’ve lasted through a handful of hurricanes and a couple of winters, and they’re still going strong.
But, if you have a great spot indoors, probably in your kitchen, where you can grow these in a pot, that’s great. You can keep them indoors in indirect light.
How do you harvest green onions?
If you regrow the green onions in water:
Remove the green onion from the water. Lay it on a cutting board and carefully cut it exactly where your originally cut.
Stick the bulb and the roots back into the water.
If you regrow the green onions in soil:
I always use kitchen shears to harvest my green onions, but if all you have handy are pruning shears, those would be fine too.
Cut the green onions just slightly above dirt level. You want to cut as much of the green onion as you can, but you don’t want it to have to regrow through the potting soil. Using that much force could damage your crop.
If you only need a tiny bit of green onion for a recipe, you could just cut off a piece of it, but I always harvest the entire thing at once. I also use a lot of green onion in my recipes.
Leave the bulb and roots as is, under the dirt, undisturbed. It’ll start regrowing the greens quite quickly.
How do you store leftover green onion?
If you cut too much green onion, you can store leftovers in the fridge. Put them in a ziptop bag and use them within five days.
If you haven’t cut the green onion, but need to store a full green onion in the fridge, you can actually put them in a double shot glass of water and store them straight up.
This is actually what you should do with any vegetables that have a stem, like broccoli. The vegetables will last a lot longer in water in your fridge than in the plastic bag you used to bring them home from the grocery store.
Since they last longer, you’ll have less waste, and you’ll be able to stretch your budget. And we’re all about that around here.
Recipes using green onions:
Now that you’re growing an abundance of green onions, you probably want some recipes to use them in. Luckily, we have a bunch of those.
- Slow Cooker Potato Cheddar Soup
- Fully Loaded Totchos
- Yakimeshi (Chinese Fried Rice)
- Loaded Poutine Twice Baked Potatoes
- Vegetarian Couscous with Zucchini, Chickpeas, and Tomatoes
You can use green onions as a garnish or you can actually stir them into your meals while you’re cooking. I’ve done both, and used them as a garnish in meals where I’ve cooked them.
Once you start growing them and have a lot of them to play around with, you’ll find a ton of ways to use them. If you find a unique way, be sure to let us know about it in the comments so we can try it too.
What’s the difference between green onions and scallions?
Absolutely nothing. They’re both different words for exactly the same thing.
Want more windowsill garden tips?
Green onions aren’t the only food you grow on your windowsill. You can have a whole garden of vegetables growing up there.
Well, at least started up there anyway.