Finely Chop an Onion
I know you’ve experienced it to, the tears that well up as you are chopping an onion. Then, that leads to you cutting as fast as you can so it can be over with. Today, I’m going to share how to finely chop an onion without crying.
Equipment
- 1 Cutting board
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion
- 1 large chef's knife
Instructions
- Using a large, sharp kitchen knife slice off the stem of the onion. Be sure to create a flat cut that can act as a stable surface for future chopping.
- Stabilize the onion on the flat, stem side of the onion that you just cut. From top to bottom, slice the onion in half.
- Now that the onion is cut in half, remove the skins easily and dispose of them.
- Lay the halves down on the cutting board and slice them with your hand holding the end where the roots are. You won’t use this part of the onion, so you can hold and stabilize the onion at the roots while you slice.
- Now, turn your slices, lay them flat so they are stacked on top of one another, and finely chop them.
Notes
Here are some tips for how to chop an onion without crying:
- Keep the cut sides of the onion that release fumes to a minimum.
- When you slice the onion in half, keep the open side of the onion face down on the cutting board.
- Move chopped onions in a bowl, away from your face, so you don’t have the fumes of those onions coming into your face.
- Get proficient at chopping onions so you can work safely and quickly, reducing the time you spend with onion fumes in your eyes.
- Use a sharp knife because a cleaner slice will emit less fumes. If you crush the onion while you slice, it’ll release more fumes.