Garlic Scapes Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Scapes Are Doing

Garlic scapes have a short season, May through July, and you’ll find them more often at farmers markets than in grocery stores.¹ The rest of the year, the question is whether you need their green crunch, their mild garlic flavor, or both. Green garlic is the closest swap for chopped scapes, and garlic chive flower stems come nearest in a crunchy stir-fry. Making scape pesto? Scallion greens plus a clove of garlic will do, and the same storage rules apply as for any garlic in oil.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

If scapes are mild garlic flavor, chopped

The usual advice for scapes is simple: cut them into small pieces and use them the way you’d use garlic in a recipe. They go into stir-fries, eggs, salads and hummus and onto pizza. In all of these, you’re after a milder, greener garlic.

1. Green garlic

Green garlic is young garlic pulled before the bulb matures, with a less intense flavor than the standard bulb. That’s the same direction as scapes, which are also milder than cloves. No source compares the two directly.

Ratio (Method): Use the same volume, chopped, and taste. The white and pale green parts are the most garlicky; lean on the dark green tops if the flavor’s too strong.

2. Garlic chives

Garlic chives taste and smell mildly of garlic. They’re softer than scapes, so add them at the very end of cooking.

Ratio (Method): Use the same volume, chopped, and taste. See garlic chives.

If scapes are a crunchy vegetable in a stir-fry

Here texture matters as much as flavor. The closest match we know of is another flower stalk.

1. Garlic chive flower stems

These are the flowering stalks of garlic chives, sold with tender, unopened flower buds on top. They’re more seasonal than the leaves, since the plant usually flowers once per season.² In shape and bite, they’re the nearest thing to a scape.

Ratio (Method): Use the same amount, cut to the same length.

2. Green beans or asparagus with garlic

If you have neither, a crisp green vegetable cut into short lengths and stir-fried with a little minced garlic gives you the look and crunch. NDSU treats one medium clove as about 1/2 teaspoon minced.³

Ratio (Method): Use the same volume of vegetable, plus one small clove of garlic per cup, and taste.

If scapes are the base of a pesto

Scape pesto counts on raw scapes for both bulk and garlic. Swap in a tender green for the bulk and add garlic for the flavor.

Ratio (Method): For each cup of chopped scapes, use one cup of chopped scallion greens or garlic chives plus one small clove of garlic, then taste before you add more. America’s Test Kitchen finds that finer cuts of garlic taste stronger and that minced garlic left sitting keeps getting stronger,⁴ so blend, taste, and adjust at the end.

Storing it safely. Pesto made with raw garlic is garlic in oil. UC ANR warns never to store garlic in oil at room temperature, and to keep homemade garlic-in-oil mixtures in the refrigerator for no more than 4 days or in the freezer.⁵ That guidance is written for garlic cloves, and we found nothing specific to scapes, so treat scape pesto and its substitutes the same way.

If scapes are grilled or roasted as a side

Scapes can be grilled, sautéed or roasted. For a side dish, you’re replacing a long green stalk that chars well.

1. Scallions

Nebraska Extension suggests using scapes in place of green onions or scallions,¹ and the swap works in reverse here. Scallions have no garlic flavor of their own, so brush them with garlic butter or garlic oil before they hit the grill (see the safety note above for homemade garlic oil).

Ratio (Method): Use the same weight of whole scallions as scapes.

If you only need the garlic flavor

1. Garlic cloves

Garlic cloves come from the same plant as scapes. They give you the flavor but none of the green, so they work in soups, sauces and dressings where the scapes would be chopped fine anyway.

Ratio (Method): Scapes are milder than cloves. Start with one small clove for each cup of chopped scapes the recipe calls for, and add more to taste.

What isn’t known

• You’ll sometimes read that green garlic is narrower and more tender than scapes. Nothing we reviewed compares their texture.

Related

• Garlic scapes and how to store garlic scapes
• Garlic, garlic chives, wild garlic, chives
• Fresh garlic substitutes, garlic chives substitutes, chives substitutes
• Garlic chives vs. chives, chives vs. green onions