How to Chop an Onion
on Jan 16, 2025
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Chopping an onion is easy and fast once you get the hang of it. With clear step-by-step how-to photos!
It is hard to imagine starting a dinner recipe without coming across the instructions “chop the onion.” Many of the best recipes in the world have some sort of onion in them, whether red, white, or yellow.
Chopping an onion is easy, and it gets easier with practice. Getting an evenly chopped onion takes no more time than a messy chopped onion, and in recipes where you are looking for a nice presentation, it’s worth learning how. And the more onions you chop, the faster you’ll get!
Table of Contents
How to Chop an Onion
This chopping method works with all kinds of globe-shaped onions, such as Spanish, Vidalia, Bermuda, red, white, or yellow. Buy hard onions with no trace of sprouting. Store them in a cool, dark place.
- Using a sharp chef’s knife and a cutting board, cut off the stem end of the onion. Leave the root end intact.
- Hold the onion in your non-dominant hand. Slice the onion in half crosswise through the root.
- Peel off the skin of the onion. If you remove the outer layer of the onion, the peel will come off easily. If the peel seems to be loose and you can take it off without sacrificing the outer layer of the onion, great.
- Place the onion on its flat side. Cut slices horizontally through the onion, slicing across the layers from the end where you sliced off the root to the stem end. Don’t cut all the way through. Stop just before you get to the stem end so the layers are still attached (the top layers may be loose).
Kitchen Smarts
The step above is optional but will get you to the cleanest pieces of chopped onion. You can skip the horizontal slices if you are looking for a rough chopped onion.
- Make lengthwise cuts down the onion through the horizontal slices. Again, leave the onion intact at the root end.
- Cut down across the onion to create small pieces of chopped or diced onion.
Now you are ready to use your chopped onions in all kinds of recipes: soups, stews, stir-fries, sautés, salads, dressings, and so on and so on. See below for some recipes that use chopped onion.
Tips for Chopping Onions
- As you slice the onion, curl your fingers under as you hold the onion steady. This will protect your fingertips from the blade of the knife. Your knuckles should be curled over your fingertips, and they can touch the top of the knife blade as you go.
- Know that cooking with red onions will mute their color and also add color to the other ingredients in the recipe.
How to Chop an Onion Without Crying
- Wash the onion in cold water before slicing.
- Make sure the blade of your knife is very sharp; a dull knife breaks down the onion more as you slice, releasing the compounds (called lachrymator) that cause tears by combining with the moisture in your eyes and creating a mild kind of sulfuric acid.
- Turn on the kitchen fan, exhaust, or vent near the stove, and cut your onion on a cutting board on the stovetop.
- Cut your onion near an open window.
- Wear goggles (they actually sell onion goggles! But any goggles will do). Regular glasses help, but not that much.
- Fresher onions cause fewer tears than older onions.
- If your eyes do get stingy and teary, rinse them with clean hands and cool water when you are done.
- Sweeter onions like Vidalia or Bermuda cause fewer tears than onions with a sharper onion-ey taste.
Storing Chopped Onions
You can store chopped onions in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.
More Onion How-To’s
- Caramelized Onions
- Grilled Onions
- How to Peel Pearl Onions
- How to Make Pickled Onions
- How to Cook With Vidalia Onions
Recipes With Onions
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How to Chop an Onion
Equipment
Ingredients
- Onions (as many as needed for the recipe)
Instructions
- Using a sharp chef’s knife and a cutting board, cut off the stem end of the onion. Leave the root end intact.
- Hold the onion in your non-dominant hand. Slice the onion in half crosswise through the root.
- Peel off the skin of the onion. If you remove the outer layer of the onion, the peel will come off easily. If the peel seems to be loose and you can take it off without sacrificing the outer layer of the onion, great.
- Place the onion on its flat side. Cut slices horizontally through the onion, slicing across the layers from the end where you sliced off the root to the stem end. Don’t cut all the way through. Stop just before you get to the stem end so the layers are still attached (the top layers may be loose)
- Make lengthwise cuts down the onion through the horizontal slices. Again, leave the onion intact at the stem end.
- Cut down across the onion to create small pieces of chopped or diced onion.
Notes
- As you slice the onion, curl your fingers under as you hold the onion steady. This will protect your fingertips from the blade of the knife.
- Cooking with red onions will mute their color and also add color to the other ingredients in the recipe.
- You can skip the horizontal slices(step 4) if you are looking for a rough chopped onion.
- Wash the onion in cold water before slicing.
- Make sure the blade of your knife is very sharp; a dull knife breaks down the onion more as you slice, releasing the compounds that cause tears.
- Turn on the kitchen fan, exhaust, or vent near the stove, and cut your onion on a cutting board on the stovetop. Or cut your onion near an open window.
- Wear goggles.
- Fresher onions cause fewer tears than older onions.
- If your eyes do get stingy and teary, rinse them with clean hands and cool water when you are done.
- Sweeter onions like Vidalia or Bermuda cause fewer tears than onions with a sharper onion-ey taste.
