Step by Step: How to Cut an Onion

Onions are full of flavor, affordable, and nutritious! Here are 8 easy steps to achieve proper and safe knife skills while dicing, mincing or chopping onions.

1. Cut the stem and the root off.


2. Cut the onion in half from stem to root. Be careful the skin can be slippery.


3. Now, that it is halved. Peel off the outer layers of the skin.


4. Move your fingers out of the way and turn the onion so the root end is on the cutting board. Make your knife cuts perpendicular to the cutting board without cutting all the way through the onion. Thinner cuts will result in smaller dice; thicker cuts for larger dice.


5. Grip an onion half firmly, curving the fingertips away from the knife like a bear claw for safety. Slice evenly following the natural grooves of the onion.


6. Gripping the onion and keeping your fingers curved away from the knife, slice across the onion in parallel cuts.


7. When the onion becomes unwieldy to grip, turn the remaining portion face down on the board and continue cutting.


8. Repeat for the second onion half, chopping the onions from the last few cuts to make even dice.

To avoid extra tears try these tips;

-Chill your onions before cutting for about 15-30 minutes. Chilling the onion will cause less evaporation, less gas.

-Use a sharp knife. A sharp knife ruptures fewer onion cells. This will lessen the amount of gas released in the air.