How to Store Onions

Onions are by far one of the most if not the most versatile ingredient in your kitchen. At least they are in my kitchen. There isn’t a meal we cook that doesn’t have onions in it.

Because we use them so often we usually buy them in bulk. The problem with buying them in bulk is that you may not get a chance to use them before they start to get soft or rot. It’s important to properly store them to keep them fresh longer.

How to store an onion is a question that is asked more than you would think. So, let’s talk about how you can and should store onions to help them last longer.

It is really easy to store yellow onions, sweet onions, and Vidalia if you follow these simple steps.

How to store onions (4 steps)

Knowing where and how to store your onions will help you keep your onions fresh and lasting longer so they won’t go to waste when you buy a whole bag. You do want to check and see if your onions have gone bad.

Think about where onions grow. In the ground where it is cool, dark, and dry. You want to store onions in your pantry, garage, cellar, or basement.

You also want an area that has a very low humidity level.

Here are 4 important things to remember when storing your onions. Think about this when you are looking to store onions for long-term.

1. Cool Environment

Keeping your onions in a cool place is important so they stay fresh. An ideal temperature for storing onions is around 40-50 degrees. If the environment is humid onions will start to sprout or rot because of the moisture.

2. Well Ventilated

You want to make sure onions can breathe. Storing them in a mesh bag, steamer baskets are great places for storing yellow onions. This will keep the skin tight so that it is easy when you go to peel an onion.

Onions should never be stored in a plastic bag.

Storing onions in plastic doesn’t allow them to breathe and moisture gets trapped therefore causing them to sprout, get soft, or moldy very fast.

3. Dark space

Your panty, garage, basement, or somewhere dark and cool is best for storing onions. If you leave onions out on the counter in the sunlight they will spoil quickly.

Keeping them in a dark space helps to avoid a change in temperature. Rather than in the sun and then not in the sun. The back and forth creates moisture in the onion and like I have said moisture and onions don’t mesh well.

4. Dry place

You can probably guess by now why storing onions in a dry place is important. We want to create a dry environment for onions to keep the moisture or humidity low so they last longer.

How to store onions in bulk

Make sure the onions are dry before storing them. Consider reusing old onion bags to store whole onions that still have the peel onion. Make sure that they are far from direct sunlight.

If your going to use these onions within a few weeks, leaving them in the cupboard or in a pantry should be fine.

How to store cut, chopped, and diced onions

Step 1. Go ahead and peel the onion and then chop, and dice them. Most likely you will be storing onions leftover from prepping vegetables for a dinner.

Step 2. Add the onions to a glass jar or air-tight food-storage container. You could also add them to a bowl and cover them with saran wrap.

Store this container in the refrigerator and use them within the next 24 hours.

How to store onions in the refrigerator

If your going to store onions in the refrigerator the best practice is to only store onions that are leftover from prep or the skin has been removed.

If you have whole onions, you want to think about a dry storage area with low humidity.