Dicing Onions

Article by: Allrecipes | Photo by: Rita Turner

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Onions are used in the kitchen in one dish or another nearly every week. The most common complaint about cooking with onions is the "crying" sensation that occurs when they are sliced, diced, or cut into in any way. The best way to avoid crying when dicing an onion is to use a very sharp knife and to move as quickly as safety permits. This technique can also be used on another member of the onion family, the shallot .

A step-by-step instructions on dicing onions.

Learn perfect dicing techniques for this everyday ingredient.

The bottom of the onion is the end with small roots sticking out. Start this procedure by slicing the top of the onion off.

Cut the onion in half from top to bottom and peel it. Place half of the onion, flat side down, on a clean, flat cutting surface. For the rest of this procedure, keep in mind the bottom of the onion should NOT be sliced though, it should remain intact throughout this procedure.

Hold your knife 1/4 of an inch from and parallel to the cutting surface. The slice should run through the onion and be parallel to the cutting surface. Continue the process of slicing into the onion, adjusting your knife so that you are making slices that are 1/4 inch from each other. Remember to never make a cut that would break through the end of the onion. The onion will come apart if you slice through the bottom end.

Turn the onion and position the knife so the blade point is pointing at the bottom of the onion, but not cutting into it. Slice downward. Again, make the slices 1/4 inch away from each other.

Notice how the onion is still in one piece and still looks like a half of an onion. If the bottom of the onion had been removed, or sliced through at any point, the onion would have fallen apart.

Turn the onion. Beginning from the top of the onion and working toward the bottom, make one slice every 1/4 inch. The onion pieces will be squared and even, perfectly diced!