It took me many years to work out how to cut onions without crying – particularly if they needed to be finely diced.
One strategy might have involved wearing swimming goggles. Luckily that was in the age before mobile phones and social media!
I tried holding my breath.
I tried a fancy chopping gadget (waste of time, money and space).
I tried a food processor. What a pain to clean – and if anything it made the tears worse!
I tried red onions. Brown onions. White onions. New onions. Old onions.
But still my eyes would water and sting – giving me a tiny glimpse into what those with Dry Eye syndrome experience daily.
If I was really lucky my nose would start streaming in sympathy (yes, I’m being sarcastic!).
There had to be a better way.
I’m not sure how I hit upon this method – perhaps in a kitchen hints column in a magazine – but I’ve been using it for years now and all I can say is IT. REALLY. WORKS.
And now I’m sharing my secrets with you.
How to Dice an Onion without the Tears
- Cut off the “top” and “tail” of the onion
- Peel while rinsing under cold water
- Place the onion with a flat side down on the cutting board, as this creates a stable base.
- Hold the knife in front of you and carefully make thin slices all the way across the onion, making sure you don’t cut all the way through to the bottom (try to get as close as you can, but not all the way).
- Now turn the onion 90 degrees, and make thin slices across that intersect the previous cuts. Once again, be careful not to cut all the way through (it’s not the end of the world if you do, but it does make the next step quite a bit trickier).
- Insert the knife into the middle cut, and slice it all the way through.
- Take the two resulting halves and lay them flat side down on the cutting board.
- Make more fine slices through each half and watch how you suddenly have piles of diced onion!
- You will have a bit of onion at the end of each half which is not neatly diced, but as it’s already sliced it’s quick and easy to chop finely.
And voila! Diced onions and not a tear in sight.
I’m not sure if it’s the rinsing in water while peeling, or taking a methodical approach to it, but for some reason it’s extremely rare now for an onion to make my eyes sting and water (top tip – DON’T make the mistake of touching your eyes with oniony hands, yee-ouch!).
It’s so effective I can even make up several mince meals at once and freeze them, because even though I need to chop several onions I still don’t cry.
This means I get to enjoy cooking with onions (and eating the yummy results) much more often. And considering onions are packed with nutrients like vitamin C, antioxidants and folate, as well as full of flavor – I’d say that’s a win!
How to cut onions without crying
