Top 5 Chive Substitutes for Flavor and Green Color
Chives bring mild onion and a green finish, and the best swaps cover both.
The green tops of scallions are the best chive substitute, sliced very thin and used one for one. Garlic chives work where a garlic note suits the dish, and freeze-dried chives work in dips and soups at half the amount. Parsley gives the green color with no onion flavor, so pair it with a small pinch of onion powder.
What do chives add to a dish?
A mild onion flavor and a bright green finish. Fresh chives are the gentlest member of the onion family, and they are nearly always added raw at the end, snipped over eggs, potatoes, soup or a creamy dip.
- The flavor
- Mild, fresh onion with a faint grassy note
- The job
- A finishing garnish, rarely cooked
- The look
- Thin green rings that brighten pale food
- Family
- Allium, alongside onions, scallions, garlic and leeks
- Usual dishes
- Baked potatoes, sour cream dips, omelets, soups and fish
Two things matter in a substitute, the onion flavor and the green color.
Some swaps copy both, and some copy only one. A plain green herb looks right and tastes of nothing onion-like, while a pinch of onion powder tastes right and adds no color at all.
What gives mild onion flavor and green color instead?
Five swaps do the job, and the first one is in most refrigerators already.
| Substitute | Per 1 tbsp chopped chives | Best for | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scallion greens | 1 tbsp, sliced very thin | Almost anything | Slightly stronger onion flavor |
| Garlic chives | 1 tbsp | Eggs, dumplings, stir-fries | A clear garlic note |
| Freeze-dried chives | 1 1/2 tsp | Dips, butter, soup | Softer flavor, drier texture |
| Minced shallot | 1 1/2 tsp | Dressings, sauces, eggs | Stronger, and no green color |
| Leek greens | 1 tbsp, sliced very thin and softened | Soups, potatoes, warm dishes | Tougher, better cooked briefly |
- Scallion greens: the closest overall.
- Garlic chives: garlicky, flat leaves.
- Freeze-dried: convenient, softer.
- Shallot: strong, no color.
The green tops of scallions are the closest match by far. They look almost the same once sliced very thin. Their flavor is only a little stronger than chives.
Use the dark green part only. The white and pale green end is much sharper, and it belongs in the pan rather than on top of a finished dish.
Are chives the same as green onions?
No, though they look alike and swap well. Chives are a thin, hollow herb grown for their leaves. Green onions are young onions with a small white bulb and thicker green tops.
Green onions taste stronger, especially toward the white end. Use only the thin, dark green part in place of chives, sliced as finely as you can.
Can dried chives replace fresh?
Dried chives work in dishes with some moisture, since the freeze-dried kind keeps much of its color and softens in a dip, a soup or melted butter.
- Use about halfOne and a half teaspoons of freeze-dried chives stands in for a tablespoon of fresh
- Add them to something moistStir them into a dip, sauce or warm dish so they soften
- Wait a few minutesThey need about five minutes to rehydrate in a cold dip
- Taste before adding moreThey seem weak at first and grow stronger as they soften
- Stir in early: they need time to soften.
- Taste after five minutes, not straight away.
- Keep for dips and soups, not raw garnish.
Dried chives make a poor garnish on dry food. Sprinkled over a baked potato, they stay papery and taste of very little.
Air-dried chives, the cheaper kind, lose more flavor than freeze-dried, so use the full tablespoon if that is all you have.
Are garlic chives the same as chives?
They are close relatives that swap well, though garlic chives have flat leaves instead of round, hollow ones and taste clearly of garlic.
They work anywhere garlic suits the dish. Scrambled eggs, dumpling fillings and stir-fries take them well, and a delicate cream sauce may not.
Chinese grocery stores usually sell them in large bunches. They wilt faster than regular chives. Use them within a couple of days.
What if you only need the green color?
Then a mild green herb will do, and the missing onion can come from a pinch of something else.
Parsley for color, with a tiny pinch of onion powder stirred into the potatoes
Dill or parsley, with a little finely grated shallot for onion
Parsley or a few tarragon leaves, and a scallion if you have one
Dill, which suits fish better than chives do anyway
Cilantro, which suits the broth and the other toppings
- Parsley: color, with no onion.
- Onion powder: flavor, with no color.
- Together: close to chives.
Fresh parsley is the safest color swap because it tastes of almost nothing strong.
Fresh dill and fresh cilantro bring flavors of their own. Dill suits fish, potatoes and yogurt. Cilantro suits noodle soup, tacos and anything with lime.
Why do chive stand-ins go in at the very end?
Because fresh chives and their soft green substitutes lose their color and flavor quickly once heated.
Leek greens and the white end of scallions are the exceptions, since both taste better softened first, as with most timing decisions for herbs.
- Off the heat: keeps the color bright.
- Leek greens: soften them first.
- Just before serving: keeps the flavor fresh.
Snip or slice soft herbs with a sharp knife or scissors. Chopping them hard crushes the leaves. Crushed leaves turn dark and lose their fresh smell within minutes.
Can you use onion powder or dried onion?
For flavor it works in small amounts, since a pinch of onion powder gives the onion note chives would have added to a dip and brings no color.
A quarter teaspoon is plenty for a cup of sour cream. Onion powder is much stronger than chives. Too much tastes harsh and dusty.
Dried minced onion works in dips if it has time to soften. It needs at least fifteen minutes in something moist, or it stays crunchy.
How do you store fresh chives so you need a substitute less often?
Wrapped loosely in a damp paper towel in a bag in the fridge, fresh chives last about a week.
- In a damp towel in the fridgeAbout a week, which is the easiest method
- Left loose in the fridgeWilted within a day or two
- Stems down in a glass of waterSeveral days in the fridge, like a small bunch of flowers
- Snipped and frozen flatSeveral months, and best used straight into cooked food
Chives also freeze well. Snip them into rings, freeze them flat in a bag, and use them straight from the freezer, as the guide to storing herbs explains for other soft herbs.
They lose some crispness after freezing, which does not matter once they are stirred into a dish.
What about ramps or wild garlic?
Both work where a garlicky onion flavor suits the dish. Ramps are the wild leeks sold briefly in spring, and they taste of onion and garlic together. Their leaves can be sliced thin like chives.
Wild garlic, common in European woods in spring, is stronger and much more garlicky. Use about half as much as the chives the recipe asks for, and keep it for eggs, butter and potatoes where garlic belongs.