Have a recipe that calls for parsnips but you only have carrots? You’re in luck. A lot of fruits and veggies can be used interchangeably in a pinch, like broccoli for cauliflower, nectarines for peaches, and basically any root veggie if you don’t have potatoes on hand. Keep reading to learn what other fresh fruits and vegetables make for good swaps in recipes.
Carrots and Parsnips
Carrots and parsnips share the same notched, stick-like shape and snappy texture when raw, giving this pair a high ranking on the swapability scale. Just bear in mind their differences in color—parsnips are a creamy, pale yellow while carrots can come in orange, purple, and bright yellow hues—and flavor when cooked. The slightly spiced, nutmeg-y notes in parsnips deepen in intensity and carrots become sweeter.
Try this: Spiced Parsnip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Onions and Other Alliums
In a pinch, the onion can be swapped for another of its kind: white, yellow, red, pearl, or cipollini, and shallots, green onions, leeks, chives, and scallions can be used interchangeably to add a certain depth of flavor to the dish at hand.
Onion powder or dehydrated shallots work well here, too, if your recipe features alliums in smaller amounts (as supporting characters, rather than leads). While garlic also falls under the allium family, it stands separately from the others due to its uniquely pungent, pronounced flavor.
Try this: Bobby Flay’s Potato and Leek Pancakes
Turnips, Rutabaga, and Celery Root
When cooked, any one of these root veggies (or better yet, a combo of the three!) can be mashed, fried, or roasted just as you would with potatoes. Flavorwise, all have a subtle sweetness—rutabagas the most so—that is brought out by heat, but celery root and turnips have a slight bitterness as well.
Try this: Crispy Celery Root and Leek Latkes or Honey-Roasted Turnips
Hardy Winter Squash
The key to switching up winter squashes? Keeping with similar levels of hardiness and sweetness. Kabocha and acorn squashes both have mild, earthy flavors and edible rinds. Butternut and honeynut have more in common than just looks: although different sizes, these share an intensely sweet flavor and should be peeled prior to cooking.
And when it comes to softer squashes? Yellow summer squash and zucchini are essentially interchangeable, too.
Try this: Maple Dijon Acorn Squash and Kale Salad or Butternut Squash Shakshuka
Brassicas
Brassicas (think broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, or cabbage) are great at playing musical chairs whether a dish calls for them hot or cold. Our tip: To make a swap that’s most similar in texture, density, and moisture content, swap broccoli with cauliflower and cabbage with sprouts.
Try this: Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin or Crunchy Fall Slaw with Honey Mustard Dressing
Leafy Greens
Some greens withstand wilting better than others. While butterhead lettuce isn’t the best stand-in for something like spinach leaves, hardier greens—kale, collards, Swiss chard, and the like—sub into a recipe just fine.
Try this: Creamy Spinach Pesto with White Beans or Bobby Flay’s Kale Stem Pesto
Fresh Herbs
Bright, tender herbs like dill, parsley, cilantro, basil, and mint can often be swapped for one another in a pinch, just know that the flavor profile won’t be a 100% match. Your best bet is to go with the dried counterparts when available (though dried herbs are more potent than their fresh counterparts, so follow 1 teaspoon dried for 1 tablespoon of fresh).
However, vibrant tender herbs and hardier herbs should not be substituted for one another. Instead, woody herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and marjoram (oregano) can be good subs for each other in stews, soups, browned butters, and more.
Try this: Cannellini Bean and Tuna Toast or Sourdough and Herb Stuffing
Stone Fruit
Summer’s best fruits are stone fruits—the hard pitted cherry, plum, nectarine, and peach. All are soft and sweet, but peaches and nectarines are the most alike with a key difference: nectarines are even sweeter than the sometimes fuzzy peach. Use them interchangeably in baked goods.
Try this: Stone Fruit Grilled Cheese or Stone Fruit Cobbler
Read More: What’s the Difference Between These Similar Fruits and Veggies?
Comments (26)
Hi. I still am not sure if you have a list of foods to choose from or do you chose our box full? I need to keep looking to see how I will be shopping. This is exciting for sure. That’s why I am open minded. I am on weight watchers and my husband is a meat hound. He will eat salads and some cooked veggies. I like everything, except parsnips that are mentioned.
Hi, thanks for reaching out! We’re sorry for any confusion and happy to help clarify. Each week, you’ll have the opportunity to customize, edit, or skip your order if you don’t need anything during your shopping window. You’ll receive an email when it’s time to complete your order from a range of seasonal organic produce and high-quality, sustainably-sourced groceries, and once the items in your cart reach our $30 minimum, a box will be delivered to you.
You can always access your account details to look up or change your delivery date, skip an order, or pause your membership whenever you need to at https://www.misfitsmarket.com/account/manage. We hope you’ll give us a try and let us know what you think!
I’m trying to figure out how to set up an account with you. Can you please advise?
Hi, Terri! Our support team will be able to walk you through the process if you need any assistance. Please reach out to them using our contact form (http://www.misfitsmarket.com/contact-us ). An agent will get in touch as soon as possible to help.
I would like to see the pricing before I give you any credit card information
Hi, Veronica. Thank you for reaching out to us with this feedback. Becoming a member of Misfits Market means you get access to high-quality groceries that cost up to 40% less than traditional grocery store prices. Why is it so affordable? We have special relationships with suppliers and unique methods of sourcing food.
Our deals are so good that we reserve them only for members, but membership is free and doesn’t require any commitment. To give you a better sense of our pricing, here’s a sampling of some of our favorite deals on seasonal organic produce right now:
Organic Green D’anjou Pears, 3 Ct at $2.25 (roughly 42% off compared to traditional retailers), Organic Small Celery at $1.69 (roughly 39% off), and Organic Gold Beets, 2 Ct at $2.99 (roughly 40% off).
To get started, simply sign up with your billing and shipping information so you can shop our exclusive deals and we’ll remind you each week to build your order. If the items in your cart don’t meet our $30 order minimum when your shopping window closes, we won’t charge you or ship you a box.
You can always cancel your membership without any cost or obligation. Please let us know if you have any additional questions. Thank you!
I had requested red bell pepper, when opened the bell peppers were underneath some heavier fruits and vegetables and crushed and mushy
I had to toss them very disappointed
Hi, Mechelle. We’re very sorry to hear you’ve had a negative experience with us. All of our valued customers are very important to us, including you, and we are working hard to make things better for everyone as quickly as possible.
We invite you to reach out to our customer support team using our contact form (http://www.misfitsmarket.com/contact-us ). They will look into making it right and use your feedback to better the Misfits Market experience.
Alternatively, we have recently optimized our customer feedback portal to offer a faster and easier way to communicate with our Customer Success team and report an item or delivery issue with a recent order. Simply go to your account page, click through to My Orders, and click Report Issue and you’ll be on your way to quick, easy assistance.
We are so sorry again for your experience but look forward to resolving this for you as soon as possible.
I love that the items come right to my door, and I’ve been very satisfied with the quality of the produce. However, we’re limited in what we can recycle and there seems to be excess packaging. I especially do not care for the frozen food packaging.
We’re so happy to hear you’re loving your membership with us, Dorothy! We also want to thank you for sharing your feedback, we will definitely make sure to pass this along to our team.
LOVE the day my Misfits Box arrives. Like a mini Christmas. Having said that—I also like the email from you that it is time to fill the box; I like that shopping part as well. Thank you, thank you!
Yay!! We are thrilled to hear this feedback, Paulette! Thank you so much for being such an incredible member of our community. ????????
Hey I need to cancel my order my mother is sick and I have to go stay a few months with her so please if you would help me
Hi, Dianne. We are so sorry to hear about your mother. You can cancel/pause our service by logging into your account, on the left-hand side of that page click “Manage Account”. From there if you scroll all the way down again you should have the option to cancel in the “Need a break” section. If you ever have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team. Our support team is there for you and always happy to help.
I am happy that you have added meats . Is there any chance that you could add lamb or goat?
Also i wish there was a way that we could return the boxes as it is annoying to have to recycle good boxes.
Great question, Patricia! We may add lamb and goat in the future, please be on the lookout for any updates on that via our newsletter and checking the protein aisle when shopping. We also appreciate you sharing your feedback on the packaging and will be sharing this with our team. If you ever have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team. Our support team is there for you and always happy to help.
Your entire program has changed so much! I’m loving it! So much to choose from. And I make my choices. Thanks for the revamp.
Thank you so much for your kind words and continued support, Erica! ????
I have joined but I don’t understand how to complete my box?? Please help me.
Hi, Jan! Your selection window will vary based on your charge date. The selection window is typically the 3-day period prior to your charge date. Please refer to your account page for the most current information on your charge dates and selection window.
Once your selection window has opened, you will be able to make your selections from your account page starting at 4pm ET on the first day of your selection window and will close at 8pm ET on the last day of your selection window.
If you have any further questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team (http://www.misfitsmarket.com/contact-us ). They are there for you and always happy to help.
I ordered mint with my last order and it came already rotten, what should I have done? Can I get a credit?
Hi, Cathie. We are so sorry to hear about the way your mint arrived. This is not what we want our customers to ever experience and our customer success team wants to address this as soon as possible. Please submit a request using our contact form (http://www.misfitsmarket.com/contact-us) so our support team can help.
Alternatively, we have recently optimized our customer feedback portal to offer a faster and easier way to communicate with our Customer Success team and report an item or delivery issue with a recent order. Simply go to your account page, click through to My Orders, and click Report Issue and you’ll be on your way to quick, easy assistance.
We are so sorry again for your experience but look forward to resolving this for you as soon as possible.
I don’t have any account. How do you sign up initially?
Hi, Loretia! Thank you so much for your interest! This link is a great place to start:
https://www.misfitsmarket.com/sign-up
By joining Misfits Market, you unlock access to seasonal organic produce and high-quality, sustainably-sourced groceries at prices up to 40% less than you would find at traditional grocery stores.
There is no membership fee to join, and you will only be charged after meeting the order minimum of $30. Your order can be edited at any time throughout your shopping window and will be charged after your shopping window ends. Then, your order will be delivered right to your home within 2-3 days for a flat shipping of $6.99 per order (no matter how big the order is!) plus any taxes applicable for your area.
You will have the freedom to choose exactly what you want from our selection of organic produce and sustainably sourced grocery items, so you can build a box that’s just right for you and your needs. Plus, our memberships are super flexible, so you can always skip orders as needed if you aren’t quite ready for your next box. You’re also welcome to order weekly, monthly, or one time only (though we hope you love us and want to continue receiving high-quality, sustainably sourced groceries regularly!) Your membership is free and we don’t charge any fees for canceling at any time.
To see photos our customers have shared of their Misfits boxes, we invite you to visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/misfitsmarket/community to get a good idea of what you can expect!
We hope this helps! Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns about setting up your membership. Our customer success team is always here to help with any requests submitted through our contact form https://www.misfitsmarket.com/contact-us .
Please leave clarification of cool packaging minimums of meats/fish vs remainder of order. How can you mix based on a $30 minimum?
Hi, Susan. Thank you for inquiring about this! Your $30 pack minimum for Cold Pack items counts toward your overall Misfits Market $30 minimum order. You could even get only Cold Pack items in your order, if you’d like, as long as you reach the pack minimum. Though we hope you won’t pass up our fresh, organic produce and sustainably sourced pantry staples. If you have any further questions, please submit a request using our contact form https://www.misfitsmarket.com/contact-us. Our support team is always happy to help!