Green onions come six to a bunch. Most recipes want one, sliced thin, on top. By the time you want another, the bunch has wilted into the drawer.
Here are three dinners for one from the 3Onions app that each use green onion, so the bunch gets used three times instead of once.
Three dinners that use it up
Green onions are in all three. Shop once, cook them three ways. Anything left goes into next week’s plan first.
15 min · uses 1 green onion
Loaded baked potato
Ingredients and steps
Ingredients for one
1 potato
¼ cup shredded cheese
2 tbsp sour cream
1 green onion
From your pantry: salt, black pepper, butter
Steps
Microwave the potato. Scrub the potato and prick it all over with a fork. Microwave on high 5 minutes, flip it, then 3–5 minutes more, until a knife slides into the middle easily.
Prep the toppings. While it cooks, thinly slice the green onion.
Fluff and season. Split the potato open (careful, it’s steamy) and fluff the inside with a fork. Season with salt, black pepper and a small knob of butter.
Load it up. Scatter the cheese in first so it melts into the hot potato, then top with the sour cream and green onion.
25 min · uses 1 green onion
Beef & broccoli rice bowl
Ingredients and steps
Ingredients for one
½ lb ground beef
½ head broccoli
2 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup rice
2 cloves garlic
1 green onion
From your pantry: salt, sugar
Steps
Get the rice going. Bring the rice, twice as much water and a pinch of salt to a boil, then cover and simmer on low about 18 minutes. Leave it covered off the heat.
Brown the beef. Mince the garlic. Crumble the beef into a hot skillet over medium-high and cook, breaking it up, 6–8 minutes, until browned and 160°F. Spoon off extra fat and stir in the garlic for 1 minute.
Steam the broccoli. Add the broccoli florets and a splash of water, cover and steam 3 minutes, until bright green and just tender.
Sauce and serve. Stir in the soy sauce and a pinch of sugar and let it bubble a minute, until glossy. Serve over the rice with sliced green onion.
20 min · uses 1 green onion
Peanut noodles
Ingredients and steps
Ingredients for one
3 oz noodles
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ cucumber
1 carrot
1 green onion
From your pantry: sugar
Steps
Boil the noodles. Cook them in plenty of boiling water until just tender; start tasting a strand after 4 minutes. Save a splash of the hot water before draining.
Prep the crunch. While they cook, cut the cucumber into matchsticks, grate the carrot and slice the green onion.
Make the sauce. Whisk the peanut butter and soy sauce with a pinch of sugar and a splash of the hot noodle water until smooth and pourable.
Pile on the crunch. Toss the drained noodles in the sauce, then pile the cucumber, carrot and green onion on top.
How to store green onions
Stand the bunch roots down in a glass with an inch of water, cover the tops loosely with a bag, and keep it in the fridge. Change the water every few days. They stay fresh far longer than loose in the crisper.
FAQ
Can you freeze green onions?
Yes. Slice them, dry them well and freeze them in a bag. Use them straight from frozen in cooked dinners; they lose their crunch for topping.
Which part of a green onion do you use?
All of it except the roots. The white part is sharper and great cooked; the green tops are milder and good raw.
