How to Dice an Onion Like a Professional Chef

Like many tasks, there's a number of ways to dice an onion and get the job done. This is the quickest and least wasteful method favored by food service professionals.

1. Prepare your equipment. Your cutting board should be clean and dry and positioned on a solid surface. Sharpen your knife if needed before use.

2. Slice off both ends of the onion using your knife. The ends of the onion are the spots where the roots and the greens were attached before the onion was picked from the ground.

3. Make a vertical cut from one end of the onion to the other, taking care to only cut the first layer of the onion.

4. Use your hands to peel off the husk and the first layer of the onion.

5. Slice the onion completely in half, from end to end.

6. Using half the onion, slice all the way through, creating strips, do this carefully as you want the onion to hold together as much as possible.

7. Rotate the onion 90 degrees and slice all the way through, perpendicular to your first set of strips. As you cut you will note that your onion is now perfectly diced.

8. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the other half of the onion and you have a fully diced onion.

Tips & Warnings

Using a serrated knife is the way to go unless you are very good with knives Wash your hands before working with food

Check out another of my recipes here: How to Make Cajun Jambalaya

Comments (4)

djeff37 said:

	... good article on chopping onions...
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January 21, 2011
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carmen357 said:

	... Its very hard to do! Thanks for tips!
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March 24, 2011
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paul said:

	... Thanks for the onion dicing tips!
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March 26, 2011
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Carl Benjamin said:

	... I have often done this.
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March 27, 2011
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