How to Chop an Onion (the fancy way)

December 3rd, 2006 Stumble it!

I’m not sure how many people already know this technique, but I love it and won’t dice an onion any other way. It’s simple to do, but perhaps difficult to describe, so I hope the photos help if you never seen this before.

Start with halving your onion, lengthwise, like the above photo.

Cut a small portion off the bottom of your onion, and remove the dead skin.

With the top of the onion facing away from you, begin making vertical cuts as close together as possible, from one side of the onion to the other. Do not, however, cut all the way through the onion! Make sure the tip of your knife stops short of the top of the onion every time you slice. The onion remains in one piece, being held together by its top.

Now you’ll be cutting horizontally, with your knife moving parallel to your cutting board towards the top of the onion. Make these cuts as close together as possible as well, and again, do not cut all the way through. Stop each cut when you get to the top of the onion so that it still remains whole.

Continue this process until you can’t make any more cuts. I always move down towards the cutting board, but you could start at the cutting board and move up if you want.

At the end of this process, your onion should still be whole and will look something like this. A few pieces may have fallen out by now, but your onion should still be all connected at its top.

To make a nice dice, simply cut down through the onion, starting from the bottom, knife perpendicular to the board, moving towards the top of the onion. Every slice should create more and more beautifully diced onion.

Here’s the finished result! Just toss out the tops and throw everything else into your pan, impressing your date with your mad knife skills.

This particular onion went into a mushroom and wild rice stew, which I’ll show you as soon as it’s finished cooking. Damn wild rice always takes so freakin’ long. Back Later.

Entry Filed under: how to, technique