{How To Chop An Onion}

It took me a long time, nearly losing a few fingers, and crying many many tears before I found out the quickest and easiest way (in my opinion) to chop an onion.  I was watching Rachael Ray one day and she explained it while she was cooking.  It was a total aha moment for me and was when I really started cooking and finding new recipes to try.  That was the same Christmas that I asked for a good chef’s knife and cutting board.  I am much faster at it now and can almost do it without shedding a tear.  Almost. 

Choose your onion. You want one that doesn’t have any soft spots.  However, if you don’t have much choice, you can always cut that off.  And most of the time when you peel off the outer layer the soft spot will come off with it. 

Cut off each end of the onion close to the roots.  Some methods have you cutting through the roots lengthwise but I like doing it this way a little better.

Now you have more of a base so that you can chop your onion without it slipping all over the place. 

Cut the onion in half.

Peel off the outer layer from each half of the onion.  Sometimes you have to peel a couple of layers off if the onion is a bit old. 

Once you have the peeled you should have two beautiful halves, ready to chop!

Slice the onion parallel with the rings and keep it all together as much as possible.  This will make the chopping process much easier later.

Once you are finished, turn the onion 90° and chop perpendicular (oh yeah there’s my geometry teacher vocab coming out!) to your original cuts. 

You may find that as you get closer to the edge while making these last cuts, that you feel like your onion is getting a little wobbly and you are on the verge of losing a finger or two. Never fear!

When you get to the point where your onion feels like it is about to bust apart, lay it down, and finish your cuts, which will make the last few chops much more enjoyable, and you’ll save your fingertips.  Trust me.

Once you get done, you have perfectly chopped onions for soups, stews, sauces, etc.  If you want to dice the onions smaller, just make your original slices closer together. 

There you have it…The more I have chopped, the faster I have gotten.  Now chopping onions is no big whoop and I can get back to the cooking!  Good luck!