Want More Flavourful Meals? Add Shallot!

There’s a little vegetable you may have seen at the grocery store many times but didn’t take because you didn’t know what to do with it.

It has a ton of flavour and can boost the flavour profile of many meals you make at home. Especially those pantry meals!

It’s small, the colour of rust and kind of looks like a garlic bulb.

Any guesses yet?

It’s a shallot!

Have you cooked with shallot before?

What is a Shallot?

Part of the allium family including garlic and onions, a shallot is a small redish vegetable that’s a cross between an onion and garlic. It has cloves like garlic and can be used instead of onion in many dishes.

How to Use Shallots in Cooking

I love to add sliced shallots to roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes. They crisp up and add another layer of flavour to the dish.

Add them to frittatas, salads, or sautee them in a pan before you cook lentils, rice or quinoa for extra flavour.

Lately, I’ve been making a very simple salad dressing using shallots:

1 – 1.5 tbsp sliced or finely diced shallots
3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 – 1 tsp sea salt
Pepper to taste
1 tsp of dijon mustard (optional)

How to make it:

Add the shallots to the bottom of a big salad bowl and top with apple cider vinegar and salt.
Let it sit for about five minutes. Letting it sit in the vinegar will help to tone down the sharpness of the shallot while boosting flavour to the dressing.
After five minutes, whisk in the olive oil.
Bonus: you can add a teaspoon of dijon to the bowl for more of a bold flavour.

When the dressing is done, I add my salad ingredients over top of the dressing. Layer on the ingredients and toss right before you serve the salad.

If you’re making a smaller serving of salad store half of the dressing in a container for later use. You don’t want your salad to be sopping in dressing.

This dressing is also nice on steamed green beans and roasted potatoes.

Let me know if you try it!