This is the post that made me cry.
I have a love affair with onions. I think they make anything taste better. So I was naturally a little embarrassed that—up until this past Tuesday—I didn’t know how to properly dice one of them.
Sure, I could chop an onion a whole bunch of different ways, and when a few pieces weren’t cut up so evenly I would fix it afterwards. But I didn’t really know how to dice an onion. So what did I do? I youtubed it. And you know what? It’s pretty simple!
How To Dice An Onion
Start by chopping off the “stem” end, or the one that looks hairy. After that, cut vertically from the stem end through to the “root” end. Peel the outer skin off the onion and discard.
The first cuts you’ll want to make should be parallel with the surface. Push down with your fingers on top and make 2-3 slices horizontally through the onion .
Next, readjust your hand and make cuts from the stem end to the root end about 1/4-1/2 an inch thick. You’ll want to apply pressure on both sides of the onion to make sure it moves as little as possible.
Lastly, position your hand on the root end and make cuts lengthwise, perpendicular to your last cut and parallel with the first cut you made to remove the stem. After each cut, your onion will be diced so push the onion bits away with the knife in between each slice.
Is that not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? No? Only me? OK, then. For what it’s worth, this is a great skill to learn to make evenly sized onions for soups, stews, stir-fries and sautés. It’s also bad news for your breath, but that’s a trade I’m willing to make.
I remember the first time I learned how to do this (I think by watching Rachael Ray do it), I was so excited!
i love onions…the flavor is amazing, the aroma, everything. and i love that there’s truly a technique in how to chop them too. cooking is truly an art!
ok, so now how the heck do you chop a tomato?!
Love this. I know there is a “proper” way to hold your knife when dicing and chopping, but I don’t know what it is…can you explain?
From what I can tell, there are two ways and people who do one will tell you the other way is wrong. Everyone agrees your last 3 fingers should be on the rights side and your thumb on the left. Then you’re either supposed to put your pointer finger straight along the rib of the knife, or curl it and press it steady against the knife on the right side. I like the first one, personally, but that’s just me.
Onions are like potatoes that fall apart. There are so many zillions of ways to slice them and no two times are ever the same for me…and then i always get random pieces of different sizes…but if that’s the biggest issue in my life, I’ve got a good life 🙂
Sorry you were crying…and had to touch your camera to take pics after touching raw onions. (shudder on my part!)
I read somewhere that if you hold a spoon in your mouth while you are cutting onions you won’t tear up!
i know how to shop onion but it is so suffering for me , even if someone chop onion in the kitchen and i m in living room , i can get it and tears start to come down from my eyes, i m very sensitive about it.. so what i do is to use kitchen robot:)
I love the pinch grip! Nicely chopped onion. I actually watched Youtube to learn some techniques. Great job!
A lot of cooks who’ve been around for a while tend to forget that not everyone knows the basics in a kitchen like chopping an onion properly. I think it is awesome that you have this tutorial up! And yes, everything tastes better with onions :o)
[…] did a great tutorial on how to dice an onion. Now I just need to learn to hold my knives […]
I love using onions in my cooking – this is amazingly helpful – thank you!
[…] 1 medium onion, diced […]