How to Cut Onions Like a Pro: 6 Techniques

It’s essential for every cook to cut food properly, especially onions. This is because you can find them everywhere, ranging from soups to bigger meals. They also act as a base for many veggie blends as well. And the difference in their cut shapes and sizes deliver a varied taste too. That being said, 5-Minute Crafts has your back on how to cut onions the right way and make your dishes taste fantastic.

Onion cutting 101

• You’ll need a sharp knife and a cutting board to cut an onion.
• Never cut an onion through the root, cut it along its side. When you cut through the root, it releases enzymes that may incite tears in your eyes. You can also store onions in a freezer for 20 minutes before you cut them. If you don’t have time, wear swimming goggles and then cut them. This also helps in keeping the tears at bay.
• Peel off the onion skin, keeping the root in place.
• Keep one half onion flat on your cutting board. This will help you dice, slice, or wedge the onion. If you only need half, then keep the other half, with the root in place, in the refrigerator.

A. Dicing

1. Begin by cutting the onion in half through the tail end and the root. Then throw away the tail end and any traces of papery skin. Make 2 or 3 horizontal cuts through the onion, making sure that you stop before you reach the root.

• Even though it’s not recommended to cut through the root, you have to do this when you dice an onion.

2. Next, make 3 to 6 straight cuts perpendicular to the horizontal ones, just before the root to the tail end. In other words, make vertical cuts.

3. For the final dice, begin from the tail then move toward the root, and start cutting across the onion to get tiny and evenly sliced pieces. The slices must look like a true dice.

4. Get rid of the root, and your diced onions are ready.

B. Slicing (half-rings)

1. Begin by cutting off one stem end.

2. Place the onion on its flat side and cut it in half.

3. Remove the onion skins.

4. Lay the onion in a way that the large flat side is facing down and the pointy end of the onion is toward your non-dominant side. Start slicing the onion in the same direction you used when cutting the stem end off. Then continue slicing all the way till you reach another stem end.

5. Get rid of that stem end, and your sliced onions are ready.

C. Chopping

1. Here, we make 6 to 8 horizontal cuts on a half-cut peeled onion, root to tail, and side to side.

2. Your chopped onions are ready.

D. Mincing

1. Here, we take the chopped onions from the previous method and fan chop them in a way that the onions bits are 1/16 of an inch in size.

2. Your minced onions are ready.

E. Rings

1. Remove both the stem ends of the onion. Peel off the papery layer. If you see the next layer is soft or wrinkly, remove it. Create a steady base to cut the onion. You can cut a sliver off one side in order to make a flat base.

2. Now, lay the onion flat on that base and begin slicing the onion in the direction you followed in #1 while removing the stem ends. You can choose your thickness here, based on your requirements, and begin slicing carefully.

3. Once you have a bunch of slices, separate the onion layers into rings as shown in the image above.

4. Your onion rings are ready.

F. Strips

1. Begin by cutting off the stem ends. Keep the onion still by keeping it on one of the flat sides to give it a steady base. With the help of your knife, make a cut straight down, right in the middle, from one stem end to another.

2. Remove the skin of the onion.

3. Lay one of the halves center side down. Place the knife where its tip is at one stem end, with the base at the other stem end. Begin cutting slices from one stem end to the other as shown above. When the slices, in the end, seem thick, flip them over with their flat side down and then cut them into 2 to 3 equal parts.

4. Your onion strips are ready. You can use your hand to separate the layers.