Learning how to slice an onion is a basic cooking skill that all home chefs should know how to master.
To chop an onion, you just need your onion and a sharp chef’s knife.
Many many meals start with a pile of freshly sliced onion on your cutting board. This article will teach you how to dice and how to slice an onion.
Some of my favorite uses for diced onion are: Pico de Gallo, New England Clam Chowder, BBQ Chicken Pizza, and guacamole.
The best dishes for sliced onion are: Veggie One-Pot Pasta, Creamy Scalloped Potatoes, Steak Fajitas and French Onion Soup.
Onion Tips:
If you’ve ever sliced on onion before, you know it can be a little bit difficult.
How to Not Cry While Cutting an Onion
If onions make you cry (they make everyone cry), their are a couple of tips to keep the tears from flowing.
You can place the onion in the freezer for a couple of minutes before slicing so that it won’t bleed as easily. When the onion begins to bleed and the fragrance of the onion gets into your eyes, they will begin to water. Another way to keep the bleeding to a minimum is to work quickly. The more quickly you are able to cut your onion, the less likely your eyes are to water.
How to Avoid Cutting yourself While Cutting an Onion
Cutting yourself in the kitchen is never fun. Follow these tips to decrease your changes of a minor (or even major) injury while slicing your onion.
Make sure to curl your fingers when holding your onion and especially when you are slicing it. By curling your fingers, it’s impossible to cut them.
Another way to avoid cutting yourself is to always keep your knife sharp. There’s nothing more dangerous in the kitchen than a dull knife. If you are using a dull knife when cutting an onion, it is much more likely to slip and therefore more likely for you to cut yourself.
Step 1: Find the Root End & Slice Down the Center
As you can see from the pictures, I sliced the onion slightly off-center. I did this to avoid slicing directly through the root end. This will help avoid the onion bleeding, which will also help avoid crying when cutting the onion.
After cutting the onion through the center, you are set up for the next steps.
Step 2: Peel off the Skin & Chop off the Stem
After slicing the onion in half, chop off the stem and discard. Leave the root end attached. It’s best to leave it attached for two reasons:
- It will keep the onion from falling apart.
- It will prevent the onion from bleeding which will prevent you from crying.
After the skin is removed from the onion, you are ready to start chopping it up!
Step 3: To Dice, Make Vertical Cuts
If your goal is to have a diced onion, first make cuts towards the root and then make perpendicular cuts at a right angle. This will give you a perfect diced onion.
Step 4: To Slice, Make Vertical Cuts
When making slices of onion, start with the stem end that is now cut off. Begin making slices as thick or thin as you’d like them.
Slicing this way is an easy way to make slices, as they will automatically come apart in your hands.
After you have your neat onion slices, you are ready to get cooking!
Onion Options
There are lots of options for what to do with your onion after it’s sliced or diced.
Take your rings of onions and make onion rings or place full rings onto a burger for easy eating. Your slices of onion are perfect for cooking down for caramelizing or even adding to stir-frys. When you have diced onions, add your onion to salads or cook down your diced onion as your base for a spaghetti sauce.
What’s your favorite way to slice and use onions? This method of slicing onions will work for any kind of onion and it will even work for shallots and garlic, you’ll just have to work with a smaller piece of produce.
