How to Cut an Onion
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Preparation
Step 1
Cut in half. Turn the onion upright on one of the flat ends and cut it down the middle.
Step 2
Trim the end. Trim one end of the onion and keep the other as kind of a little handle. (You could chop both ends but this way it helps the onion half stay intact.)
Step 3
Remove the skins. If the onion skin doesn’t come off easily, remove the outermost layer of the onion too.
Step 4
Slice the onion. Place one half of the onion large, flat cut-side down on your cutting board. Make even vertical slices against the grain, thin or thick depending on the size chop you want, without slicing all the way through your “handle” end so that the slices stay intact.
Step 5
Turn and chop! Holding the handle end, gently squeeze the onion to help secure your vertical slices and make relatively evenly spaced slices through your original cuts. Those cubes will start falling onto your board and you’ll have a lovely rough chop! Then repeat with the other half.
Step 6
Cut off top of the bulb. You don’t need to cut off much – just about 1/2 of an inch.
Step 7
Cut in half, root to top (optional). If you want slices instead of rings, you can cut it in half from root to top.
Step 8
Remove the skin. Keep the root intact and peel back the outer layer of the onion.
Step 9
Get your mandoline ready. There should be 3-4 different thickness levels on your mandoline that you can choose from based on what you’re looking for. Set your mandoline and you’re ready!
Step 10
Slice your onion. Put the cut side against the mandoline and move it back and forth to create slices or rings. Use a mandoline protector to keep your hands safe or stop before the root gets too close!
Step 11
Cut off both ends of the onion. No need for the root here!
Step 12
Remove the skin. If you need to remove the top layer of the onion too, that’s a-okay.
Step 13
Cut into sections. Cut the onion in half root to stem, and then once or twice more to create even sections of the onion.
Step 14
Chop in the food processor or chopper. Place the sections of onion in the food processor and pulse to your desired chop consistency.
Step 15
Save recipe for the next time?
Chef's notes
The mighty onion! Seems like you’re always going to find one of these little guys at the base of, like, every recipe. So much flavor!
Hot tip alert. Please keep in mind that an onion already has some built-in slices for you so we’ll be using that to our advantage! Some methods may have told you to slice horizontally, but, slicing horizontally through a slippery vegetable with a very sharp knife sneaking under your fingers and headed TOWARDS your body…feels just kinda downright bananas. Also unnecessary – those cuts already exist!