How to recycle onion skins: ideas for reusing them in the kitchen

How to recycle onion skins, if the onion is rich in benefits, its bowl is even more so: in fact, in the outer part of the vegetables, we often find the most important accumulation of nutritional elements. But is it possible to recycle onion skins in the kitchen, minimizing waste? The answer is yes: that’s why you should avoid throwing away the onion skins and some ideas for using them in an alternative way.

Onions are one of the most used foods in the kitchen: but not many know that their skins are equally rich in benefits and for this reason they should never be thrown away. But how can onion peel be reused in cooking? If you are intent on reducing your waste to zero (or almost) here are some ideas that will allow you to recycle onion skins and use them in a surprising way.

Onion peel: why not throw it away

Like most greens and vegetables, onion also maximizes its benefits in the peel. In fact, this is rich in fibre, flavonoids, antioxidants and vitamins, especially vitamins A, C and E. In particular, due to the high content of insoluble fibre it contains, it should be included in low-calorie diets, because it regulates intestinal transit, eliminates toxins in the colon and aids in general cleansing. Among the antioxidants, however, quercetin is essential for blood pressure and to ward off cardiovascular diseases.

How to reuse onion peel in cooking

The peel of onions can be used in the kitchen in different ways, as long as you choose controlled products, preferably from organic farming, or in any case not treated with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This is because if the onion peel absorbs most of the plant’s nutrients, it does the same with what is put into the soil.

Here are some ideas for using onion peel in the kitchen, be it red, yellow or white.

Dried, as a condiment

As with the onion, the onion skin can also be dried: it will take even less time, given the difference in water between the outside and the inside. You can do this in the dryer, if you have one, or even directly in the oven: it will take about an hour, at a low temperature, between 90 ° C and 100 ° C. Of course, times may vary depending on the size of the skins and their freshness: the drier they are, the less time it will take to cook them.

Once dried, let them cool and crumble them coarsely; you can then use the peels of dried onions just like you do with aromatic herbs: to enrich a fresh salad, on bruschetta with fresh cheese, to flavour a sauce or pâté.

Like flour

For the same principle of dried peels, with the peels of onions, you can create flour to use to make bread, sandwiches, focaccia, bases for savoury pies. To do this, however, you will have to blend the already dried onion skins, in order to reduce them to a very fine powder and then put it in an airtight container that is clean and dry.

To enrich broths and soups

Whole onion peels can be used both to flavour broths and to enrich the flavour of your soups and velvets. In the first case, leave them whole and remove them at the end, when you filter the broth; in the second try to chop them coarsely and then blend the soup with a mixer or a vegetable mill.

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