How to Cut an Onion

red, white, and yellow onions stacked in a basket on the wall with dried thyme hanging next to it.

5 from 2 votes

Who wants to spend all day weeping over their cutting board?? Cutting an onion doesn't have to be torture. I'm going to show you how a real deal (charlatan) chef does it, with all the best tricks to keep the tears away. The next time you make Pico de Gallo, French Onion Dip, or Spaghetti, you'll impress yourself with how quickly you get this done!

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 44kcal

Author: The Food Charlatan

Equipment

Ingredients

onions

Instructions

Karen's version: (The photo tutorial above is really useful for the visuals here) Put on your goggles, you're no fool. Cut off both the root end and the paper-y end. With the flat end on bottom, slice the onion in half. Take off the peels from each half.
Set an onion half down, flat side on the cutting board. Start making vertical slices, so you end up with little half-moon shape onion slices. Use your fingers to keep the slices in place, don't let them flop down. Turn the whole cutting board around to slice from the other end when you get close to your fingers.
Once the onion is sliced all the way across, turn your cutting board 90 degrees and start dicing. Once you get close to your fingers, lay the long end of the onion down on the board and keep chopping. See photos!
Chef method: Slice the onion in half through the root end. Cut off the paper-y end. Peel the paper peel off, you will have to yank it off the root.
Make vertical slices, angling your knife across the round of the onion as necessary. Do not cut all the way through at the top; leave the root intact.
Turn the onion 90 degrees and start dicing. The onion pieces will start to fall off the end. Chop all the way to the root, then turn the onion to get any edges leftover near the root. That's it!
How to slice an onion into rings: start by cutting a little slice off one rounded side of the onion. Then place the onion on this more stable side (this keeps it from rolling so much.) Now slice through the onion at your desired thickness. You'll want thinner slices for sandwiches and burgers, thicker ones for onion rings.
If you're cutting an onion into slices for caramelizing or for putting on salads, cut off both the root end and the paper-y end. With a flat end on bottom, slice the onion in half. Take off the peels from each half. Set the flat, cut part of the onion down on the cutting board. Slice the onion into half moon shapes.
If you want to mince an onion, you're going to follow the same process that you did to chop it, but make cuts that are closer together.
When you're all finished, use your knife to slide the chopped or minced onion off your cutting board and into your soup, stew, or salsa.
Storage: If you want to save your chopped onion for later, store it in an airtight container or ziplock bag and refrigerate or freeze!

Nutrition