How To Cut An Onion (Peel, Slice, Dice, And Chop)

🧂 Ingredients

• 1 onion

  or as much as needed

Instructions

• 1 Slice the onion in half vertically through the stem and root ends.
• 2 Place the two halves cut side down on the chopping board and slice away about
  ½-inch of the stem end.
• 3 At this point, the peel should come away easily. If it doesn’t, you can either
  gently warm it against a hot pan for a short while to loosen the skin OR peel
  away the entire first layer of the onion, too (which is often tougher than the
  rest of the onion anyway).
  
  To peel a whole onion, slice the stem end, then use the tip of the knife to
  carefully cut through the peel layer down both sides of the onion, making it
  easier to slide the knife under the peel and remove it.
  
  Note: how to peel pearl onion is described in the blog post.
• 4 Slice off the stem end of the onion and peel away the papery skin.
• 5 Use one hand to hold the onion steady and the other to carefully slice the onion
  rings to your desired thickness with a sharp knife.
  
  To help steady the onion, optionally slice a tiny slither of onion from one side
  of the onion to lay on your chopping board.
• 6 Once you've cut more than half the onion, it's easier to change your grip, using
  your thumb and finger to hold together the sides of the onion, cutting between
  them.
• 7 There are two ways to slice an onion – pole to pole (think north and south pole
  on a globe), meaning root to stem, OR orbitally (aka crosswise). The former
  produces sweeter onion and ruptures fewer cell walls for less chance of tears.
  The latter is slightly easier to cut, though.
• 8 Pole-to-Pole Slices
  
  Chop the onion in half through the stem/root ends, cut away the stem end from
  each half (about ½-inch should do it), and peel away the skin. The intact root
  end will help hold the onion together while you cut.
  
  With the onion halves cut side down, use your non-dominant hand to hold it in
  place while using your other hand to make parallel slices in the onion to your
  desired thickness. Repeat with the remaining onion half.
  
  Orbital Slices
  
  Cut the onion in half and then slice off the root and stem end.
  
  Use your non-dominant hand to hold the onion while cutting slices from root to
  stem.
  
  Alternatively, halve and peel the onions, then use a mandoline for perfectly
  even sliced onion (or onion rings).
• 9 Halve and peel the onion/s, slicing off the stem end.
• 10 Place both onion halves cut side down on your chopping board. Then, working one
  at a time, use your sharp knife to make parallel slices across the onion from
  the cut stem end up to -but not through- the root end.
• 11 Use your knife to slice horizontally from the stem end to the root 2-3 times.
• 12 Holding the onion firmly (keep the grip tight) with your non-dominant hand, use
  the other to slice across the onion, perpendicular to the first slices. When it
  gets tricky to slice, flip the onion forwards and continue to cut close to the
  root.
  
  How thick/thin you make the slices through the top of the onion will determine
  how fine the diced onion pieces are. Roughly ¼ inch = small dice/ finely chopped
  onion, 1/2=-inch = medium dice, and ¾-inch is a large dice.
• 13 Halve and peel the onion/s, slicing off the stem end.
• 14 When placing the onion halves on the chopping board, turn the onion so the root
  and stem ends are to the side and slice across the onion, but not all the way,
  as thick as you’d like.
• 15 Flip the onion around, so the root and stem are on top and bottom rather than
  side to side. Use your knife to follow the natural grain of the onion. At the
  halfway point, flip the cut edge onto the board and continue to slice the rest
  of the onion. Finish off the top bit where you hadn’t cut through the onion
  entirely.
  
  Alternatively, use a "food chopper" tool. It usually comes with a thicker and
  thinner grid pattern. Just slice the onions in half, peel them, and cut away
  both ends first. Then press them through the chopper.
• 16 Follow the method for diced onion, making the slices in the onion very close
  together.
• 17 After cutting, if the pieces are still too big, rock your knife back and forth
  (using your fingers over the top of the knife to help anchor it in place) over
  the onion to your desired consistency.
  
  Alternatively, use a mini food processor for ‘instant’ minced onions.
• 18 For this method, you'll need a box grater. You can peel the onion from whole or
  halved (after chopping off the stem end and removing the peel).
• 19 Rather than standing the box grater upright, turn it on its side and place it
  over a dish or tray (to catch the shredded onion).
• 20 Holding the box grater to the lower dish/tray, you can use your body weight to
  push the onion over the wider side of the grater and grate it.
  
  Alternatively, use a grating disk in a food processor to get it done quickly and
  with minimal effort (though the cleanup is a little more annoying).

Nutrition Info