How To: Dice an Onion

Today I am going to teach you the correct way to dice an onion. Yes, believe me there is a correct way. This may sound silly to you, but knowing the proper way to chop an onion will save you time and stress. If you try to cut up an onion haphazardly, you will end up with a mess and uneven sized pieces. You need the pieces of onion to be relatively the same size so that they cook evenly. Unless for some odd reason  you like gnawing on raw onion. If that’s your thing, attack your onion.

First you need to gather your ingredients and equipment. You will need 3 things: a cutting board, a knife (preferably a chef knife), and an onion of course! Simple, right? I chose to go with a sweet onion for this demonstration but any onion will work. (Except maybe a red onion. I usually slice those in half moons or rings for salads, sandwiches and burgers, but that’s another lesson.

Grab your onion and slice it in half from root to tip!

Voilà! The little brown spot you see on the side facing up is the root. Keep this attached! You will see why.

Chop the tip off the onion. It usually sticks up like Alfalfa’s hair in The Little Rascals.

Bye bye tip!

Now peel off the outer layer of the onion.

Slice into the onion with the knife horizontally, cutting almost all the way through. Make about 4 slices.

Next, slice the onion vertically, stopping right before the root! The closer these slices are to each other, the finer the dice. The farther apart they are, the coarser the dice.

Now rotate the knife 90 degrees and slice from top to bottom.

Repeat until you are to the root.

Roughly chop the pieces if needed. Some pieces may have not been chopped thoroughly.

Congratulations! You have successfully chopped an onion into a dice. All in less than 3 minutes! Pour them into a container and cover with saran wrap if not using immediately and refrigerate.

Or toss your fresh cut onion onto a hotdog or into a pot as the base for your marinara sauce or chili. I use onion in almost every dish that is a staple in my home.

You can use this same technique for cloves of garlic to mince them!

What is your favorite dish to use onion in? Let me know in the comments!

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