How to Dice an Onion | Cooking Basics

In this cooking basics Instructable, I will show you a common way to dice an onion. There are some variations to this method, but in general, all the other methods are pretty much the same.

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Follow the easy steps below or watch the short video tutorial or do both!

You will need an onion and a knife, possibly a pairing knife along with your chef's knife depending on the method.

Each onion will have a stem end and a root end. To make dicing the onion easier we want to keep the root end intact.

Take a pairing knife and cut a divot around the stem end to remove it. Similar to if you are cutting out the top of a tomato or bell pepper. This step is optional, you can just take your chef's knife and slice that part off. You just lose a bit of onion that way. So it is up to you.

Look at the onion you will notice vertical lines. That is where we want to cut.

Grip the onion with a "claw" grip so the knife runs down the knuckles and the fingertips are curled away from the blade.

Slice the onion in half. A little easier and "Safer" method would be to position the onion cut side down and root side up. Then slice straight down that way.

Remove the papery outer skin, and then the first thin layer of onion underneath that.

To dice the onion make sure the root end is positioned away from you. Then grip the onion with the "claw" grip, and slice straight down with the knife getting close to the root end but not all the way.

NOTE: Some people will do a horizontal cut or two, but there really is no reason to do that, since the onion is already layered.

Make each slice about 1/4 inch from each other, moving your hand as necessary. The blade should go straight down your knuckles with your fingertips safely curled in and away from it.

Once you get close to the edge stop.

Rotate the onion half so the slits are perpendicular to your knife then to cuts straight down again gripping the onion with the claw grip. Move about 1/4 inch and slice again, this creates the small diced pieces of onion. Stop when you get close to the root end and can no longer grip it safely.

Now flip the remaining part down so it is flat and just cut around the root. So you don't waste any onion. If there are any larger pieces of onion you want to slice smaller go ahead and do that.

There you go, super easy, diced onion ready to be used in whatever recipe that you want.

Now watch those steps in action with this video tutorial.