Chopping, slicing and dicing onions

As part of my tips and tricks guides How To Chop Onions collates basic techniques. As part of this series I want to show you how I slice and dice onions to prepare them for use in my recipes.

This post describes various methods on how to chop, slice and dice onions of different types and colours. I discuss chopping spring onions, green onions and even shallots from thick styles to slicing onions thin.

There are many methods which allow you to end up with the same end result, however this one works for me every time and I was taught this on a BBQ course back in 2021. I was actually shown this method by a chef who was, in a previous role, the head chef at Granada TV in Manchester. That was good enough for me to sit up and listen.

Contents

• Dice, slice, chop?
• How To Chop Onions
• More Tips for Chopping Onions
• Stopping the onion tears!
• Take your time
• Your Comments

Dice, slice, chop?

There are plenty of terms around for how to chop onions and these refer to differing types of cuts. While many recipes on this site are either dice or slice, I wanted to show you what I mean by them.

Both slicing and dicing begin the same way, with dicing being the end step.

How To Chop Onions

Step 1

Let me show you how to chop onions. Cut your onion in half. You want to make sure you have a solid (non round) surface to cut on. Peel off the outer layer of the onion and also layer 2 if it is a little thick or squishy to touch.

Onions can keep for quite a while but the fresher they are the more potent. It doesn't seem to matter what type of onion being used either: brown, white or red eventually they will go mushy. While I recommend having onions as a staple ingredient in your pantry, they won't keep forever. The sooner you can use them the better.

Step 2

Keeping the root end intact, chop off the stalk end about half a centimetre in and then cut 3 or 4 horizontal cuts towards the root. Keep your fingertips out of the way when doing this and cut carefully and slowly.

The trick to a good safe cut here is a sharp knife and a sturdy chopping board. If you are trying to slice onions thin with a blunt knife then there is a real rick of it slipping and cutting you.

Step 3 (Slicing onions)

Next you need to cut towards, but not all the way to the root from left to right - cutting vertical slices in toward the root to follow the cuts you have just made. It is important here to make sure you don't go all the way to the root as it will be held together by it if dicing in the next step.

If you are wanting just slices of onions (for a Greek summer salad or similar) then stop cutting at this point and cut off the root. The slices of onion here will sit well in a salad and be a great size for eating.

Step 4 (Dicing onions)

To achieve diced onion, now you need to slice along top down across the cuts you have just made. The diced onion should fall away. Some of these may stick to your knife as you slice so carefully scrape these off the knife from the back (spine) of the blade toward the sharp edge. This will reduce the risk of an accidental cut.

For an easier way to scrape up the chopped onion, use a bench scraper or dough scraper to gather the diced onion pieces.

More Tips for Chopping Onions

Sharp knives

Use a sharp knife. I can't stress this enough. A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one as they have a tendency to slip. There are plenty of knife sharpeners around of varying costs and quality. I have found sharpening with a whetstone to be the most successful for me but this takes time and patience to learn.

Another option which I've heard good things about (but not used as of yet) are the rolling knife sharpeners which are available online. These have a magnetic side which angles the blade appropriately and then the rolling stone (no pun intended) does the sharpening. Please report back in the comments if you have used one of these.

Solid chopping board

Again, a solid surface to chop the onions on is very important too. The butchers block thick chopping boards are not going anywhere if heavy enough. Invest in a good solid butchers block chopping board and if well treated it will last a long time.

Food processors

If you don't feel comfortable dicing onions so small, use a special mini chopper such as the Kenwood Chopper Mini. This is a small food processor utility which is stored neatly in a cupboard and won't take up much room. I find these super useful when making curry or needing to get a paste effect. The pulse mode is a great way to get diced onion or garlic. These sorts of pastes are good to be added on to meats such as chicken before going on the BBQ.

Stopping the onion tears!

Tears are a part of chopping onions. There are many old wives tales to stop you from crying when chopping onions. Some of these include wearing glasses/goggles, having a bowl of water next to where you are cutting. Let me know in the comments what works for you. If you have any better tips or techniques to teach me how to chop onions.

These onion slicing and dicing tips will work for all varieties of the onion family including:

• red onions
• brown onions
• white onions
• bulb shallots
• banana shallots
• spring onions

Please note: while these types of cuts will work on garlic too, you may find a better way to cut garlic using a "squashing" method to make it in to a paste or using a garlic press.

These techniques can be applied to plenty of other fruits and vegetables to get similar styles of cuts. For example you can chop apples in a similar way, especially if needing a finely diced apple for a sauce like this pork loin and apple sauce.

Take your time

Over time you will find you get faster at cutting an onion but don't rush it. While these TV chefs make it look so easy, remember they've been doing this for years: day in day out year in year out. You will get faster and better the more you chop onions, however don't compare yourself to the professionals - I know I don't and I just take my time so I avoid any nasty slips.