What is the difference between a shallot and a green onion?

Question

I have a recipe which calls for shallots and for the life of me, I could not find any. Thus, I substitued green onions. Is this ok?

Answer 1

Scallions and green onions are pretty much the same thing, it's the way they are marketed in stores.

Answer 2

Shallots are small white "onions" with a slightly sweeter flavor.  You could certainly substitute the bulb end of the green onion (or scallion);  in fact, you can substitute just about any other type of onion too (Vidalia, Maui or Texas sweet would also be good).......

Answer 3

Yeah substituting green onions is cool.  You can also use red onions or regular onions.  Scallions and Green onions are the same thing and that's probably what you were thinking of.  Shallots are little onion type things that almost look like large red garlic cloves.  

Answer 4

Shallots are a cross between an onion and garlic and have a unique flavor.  If they are not available, you can substitute the green onion and perhaps add a bit of garlic.

Answer 5

Sure, there is nothing precise about cooking, it's just for flavour.

Shallots have a more bulbous root.

Answer 6

hmm not..really, shallots if im not mistaken are like what they put in chinese soup, they are really different and they are round. They dont look like onions at all, they have the texture of like lettuce, they are dark green and are thin but in cylinder like shapes, long and thin and u cut them up small, they taste different than normal onions.