Knowledge Base › Deb Kennedy, PhD - Beyond Recipes

Is it okay to use onions that have sprouted? I generally do. I discard the green sprout inside the onion as well as the outer sprout. Is that okay? Is the green sprout within the onion okay to eat?

Beyond Recipes

Deb Kennedy, PhD - Beyond Recipes

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This event was on March 6, 2025

Teaching others to cook is about more than just recipes—it’s about meeting people where they are, honoring cultural traditions, and building confidence in the kitchen. This live event explores how to adapt cooking instruction for different skill levels, backgrounds, and learning styles while emphasizing intuitive cooking over rigid steps. Learn how to empower others with essential skills, inspire creativity, and make cooking an accessible, enjoyable experience for all.

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Question

Diane Dankert

Is it okay to use onions that have sprouted? I generally do. I discard the green sprout inside the onion as well as the outer sprout. Is that okay? Is the green sprout within the onion okay to eat?

Answer

Unlike potatoes, which when you see some sprouts in them, this contains toxins. So I would need to really take this out, dig deep to make sure I get all the sprout out before I would eat that potato. But yes, you can. It might be a little bitter because it's, it's aging. Uh, but you absolutely can eat, uh, onions that have sprouted as long as when you open them, it's not slimy, it's not dark colored and it doesn't have this off smell.

Deb Kennedy, PhD

PhD Nutritionist

drdebkennedy.com

*Deb Kennedy, PhD* nutritionist, chef and Value-Based Medicine certified, is dedicated to helping people improve their health through food. She received her Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from Tufts University, and previously held roles with Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center for Aging, Yale’s Prevention Research Center, Babies and Children’s Hospital at New York Presbyterian, Cornell University, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She also held the position of first Chair for Best Practices at the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (CIA) and was an instructor in Culinary Nutrition at the New England Culinary Institute. A pioneer in the growing field of culinary medicine, and self-proclaimed food warrior, Dr. Kennedy is the author of multiple books, including The Culinary Medicine Textbook, a five-volume publication to date that uses her research in food, flavor, eating and nutrition to lay out the concepts and fundamental topics needed to master culinary medicine. For the last several years, Deb, along with 40 nutritionists and a dozen chefs from around the world, created culinary competencies for nutrition recommendations. She has developed the Food Coach Academy based on this work, which is delivered in a science-based modular format that provides individuals with expertise needed to use the power of food to transform health.