How to Cut Onions 3 Ways

Cutting onions the right way can have an impact on the texture and flavor of what you’re cooking. When making French onion soup, for example, you want thin strips that will easily cook down. For chili, you’ll want diced or minced onions for sautéing.

To sort it all out we’re sharing how to cut onions three ways – slicing, dicing and mincing.

A key to success is to have a sharp, straight edge knife with a slightly rounded belly, like the 7-5/8″ Petite Chef knife. Sharpness is important because it allows the knife to make a clean cut through the onion cells, releasing less of the enzymes that can cause you to tear up. The rounded belly will allow for easy slicing and the ability to rock the knife on the cutting board for mincing.

Other features that will help with control while cutting onions is having a knife that’s well balanced and comfortable to hold.

Try these skills out using one (or more) of our great onion-forward recipes:

Cucumber and Onion Salad

French Onion Soup With Melted Cheese

Potato and Onion Fritatta

How to Cut Onions 3 Ways

1. Use a 7-5/8" Petite Chef knife to slice off the stem-end of the onion.
2. Lay the onion flat on the cutting board, cut side down. Cut in half and remove the papery outer skin.
3. Lay one half flat on the cutting board, again cut side down, and trim off the root end.  Make even slices to desired thickness, lengthwise from stem to root.
4. To dice, repeat steps 1 and 2, leaving the root end in tact. Using the tip of the chef knife, make vertical cuts crosswise. Rotate the onion halfway and cut down to dice.
5. To mince, draw diced onion into a pile in the center of the cutting board. Keeping the tip of the knife on the cutting board, place your opposite hand on the top of the blade and rock your knife over the pile, continuing to draw the onion pieces back in to mince to desired size.