What is cooking without onions? Think about it. From butter chicken curry to French onion soup to pasta Bolognese, so many recipes from all over the world rely on some kind of allium as a foundation. It’s no wonder onions are among the first things we learn to cut. And yet, you’d be surprised to know that many of us are probably cutting onions the wrong way. Well, maybe wrong is too strong a word (you do you). But we’d be remiss if we didn’t share that there’s a chef-approved method that’s not only safer but also helps you cut onions more evenly and effeciently.
The Best Way To Cut an Onion, According To a Chef
“Show me the life hack that you randomly saw one day that is now an unconscious standard practice in your life.” This is the viral voiceover Chef Alma Fernanda used for a TikTok video she posted a few years ago. The video has since racked up over one million likes, and in it, she demonstrates how to cut an onion—except she’s not cutting it any old way.
She cuts off one end, then slices the onion lengthwise in half, keeping the root end intact. She then peels the two halves, places them cut-side down on a cutting board, and slices them vertically, making sure not to cut through the root ends. She flips the knife, makes several horizontal cuts, then flips it back and dices the entire onion into small, uniform pieces. Only at the end does she discard the stem that’s held it all together.
The brilliance of this method is that there are no stray slices or pieces flying all over the cutting board, thanks to the stem that’s anchoring it. Not to mention, you end up with tiny pieces that are a consistent size.
Some commenters point out that this is the proper way to cut an onion and that it is the technique taught in culinary schools. Many expressed disbelief that anyone would cut an onion any other way, saying, “Doesn’t everyone do that?” and “Uh…how else would you do it?”
But there is widespread agreement that many people are unaware of this method and stand to benefit from learning it. As Chef Alma Fernanda explains, “Not everyone uses this technique. I teach cooking classes and have seen so many people [who] don’t know this.”
Some say the horizontal cuts are unnecessary, but Chef Alma Fernanda believes that they make a difference in size. Doing so allows you to get a smaller dice. So, depending on what you need the onion for, this step could potentially be skipped.
If chopping onions has been your least favorite kitchen chore up until now, that is about to change after you see this video.
