White radish is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 13 recipes to get you started.

What is white radish?

White radish is the long, pale, carrot-shaped root better known as daikon across most Asian cooking. It looks like a giant white carrot and runs anywhere from six inches to well over a foot long.

Bite it raw and it's crisp and juicy, with only a gentle pepperiness, far milder than the small red salad radish. The heat is a clean tingle that fades fast rather than the sharp bite of a red globe radish.

That mildness is the whole point. It lets the radish carry other flavors and turn sweet and translucent as it soaks up broth.

Cooking With Daikon

Peel the thin skin, then choose your treatment.

Grated raw, daikon becomes a cooling relish that cuts through fried or fatty food, the classic mound of grated radish beside Japanese grilled fish or tempura.

Simmering is where it really changes. Cut into thick chunks, it goes tender and almost glassy, absorbing whatever stock surrounds it. Spinach & Long White Radish Soup shows this off, and Long White Radish & Bear's Garlic Soup leans on the same soft, broth-soaked texture.

Pickling is the other big use. Thin slices or matchsticks take quickly to a sweet-tart brine, as in Gardiniere. A daikon-and-carrot pickle is also the bright crunch in a banh mi.

Shredded raw, it adds backbone to cold salads like Long White Radish & Arugula Salad and Chinese: Cold Shredded Vegetables with Chicke. It also grates into savory cakes and stands up to braising with meat, as in Minced Meat Cutlets with White Radish & Sesame.

Pairing and the Smell

Daikon has a real affinity for soy, ginger, sesame, rice vinegar, and oily fish. A spoonful of grated daikon with a splash of soy is a standing condiment for good reason: its faint peppery edge resets your palate between rich bites.

One thing to expect. When daikon simmers, it gives off a sulfurous, slightly cabbagey smell that can fill the kitchen.

This is normal and not a sign anything is wrong. Adding a piece of kombu or a little rice to the cooking water mellows the odor, and the smell does not carry into the finished dish, which tastes clean and sweet.

Don't overcook it to mush, though. Pull it while the chunks still hold their shape, since collapsed daikon turns watery and loses its appeal.

Substitutes

For raw crunch and mild heat, red radishes work, but use more of them and expect a sharper bite and pink color. Watermelon radish or Korean radish (mu) are closer matches, mu being a touch denser and sweeter.

In simmered dishes, peeled turnip is the best stand-in for the soft, broth-soaking texture, though it brings a faint bitterness daikon lacks. For pickles, kohlrabi or even jicama gives you the snap, if not the exact flavor.

Buying and Storing

Look for a root that feels heavy and firm with smooth, taut skin and no soft or shriveled spots. If the leafy tops are still attached, fresh green leaves are a good freshness sign, but twist them off before storing since they pull moisture from the root.

Wrap the radish in a paper towel, slip it into a plastic bag, and keep it in the crisper drawer, where it stays crisp for one to two weeks.

A radish that has gone limp or spongy is past its best and will taste woody and bitter rather than juicy.

Quick facts

In Chinese

白萝卜

British (UK) term

White radish

en français

radis blanc

en español

rábano blanco

Recipes using white radish

There are 13 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 13 recipes