How to Cut Onions – Tips to Make Cutting Onions Easier and Less Painful

Ready to make an incredible dinner but need to cut some onions first? Learn How to Cut Onions without crying or feeling pain. Save your eyes from that burning sensation by avoiding these common mistakes! 

How to Cut Onions – Tips to Make Cutting Onions Easier and Less Painful

It’s the most common cooking ingredient that is used in many dishes. It’s also one of the most difficult ingredients to cut. But it doesn’t have to be this way! In this blog post, we will provide you with some tips and tricks for cutting onions so that they are easier on your eyes and hands.

We use onions all the time. At least 5 days a week, there is something with onions on our Weight Watchers menu plan. From things like Caramelized Onions to my favorite Bacon Mozzarella Onions Rings Recipe to Homemade Refried Beans, we eat a lot of onions. But I hate the way it makes my eyes water. Here are my favorite tips and tricks to cut onions without crying. 

How to Properly Cut an Onion

Onions can be a bit daunting when it comes to chopping them, but you don’t have to worry about the onion’s stem or root ends. The only thing that needs attention is cutting off enough from top of the stems and making one shallow cut on each side of the roots so they aren’t stringy anymore.

Cut onion in half, top to bottom: Place the onion large-cut side down on the board (with the shallow root cut side on top). With your hands holding up and steadying one of these halves against any surface you can find for stability, position a chef’s knife directly over this end. Cut straight down through both layers of skin so that they are level with each other at all times–don’t use more than enough pressure or force necessary to make quick work out of it.

To cut an onion, first, make lengthwise cuts with your knife. Next, tilt the blade at a 45° angle and slice away from you as you go around circles of flesh toward the root end of the onion. Slice until almost reaching this point but do not cut off either end completely!

The number of cuts you need to make depends on how big a chop or slice size you want. Fewer cuts for thick slices, more if it’s thinly sliced. Slice the onions and you are ready to use it. 

How to Cut Onions Safely

It’s the little details that make cooking easier. For instance, I’ve found it a lot less frustrating to cut onions when they’re flat on one side! You can just push them forward and let gravity do its thing without having your knife get stuck in either the onion or cutting board – plus you won’t cry like crazy too. That said, don’t go chopping away wildly because doing so releases more pungent vapors all at once which means tearing up for hours after with waterfalls of tears flowing from our eyes.

Another good technique is to use a chopping board rather than cutting directly on a plate. this will help hold the onion still.

An onion can be a bit of an ordeal to cut into. Do you peel it first or not? Cut off the top and bottom with your sharp knife before peeling! Slice one side vertically lengthwise, then slice perpendicular pieces at an angle so we don’t have any tears in our eyes from jagged edges poking us while cutting them up for cooking purposes.

If you’re going for speed over accuracy or can only find very small onions then chop without holding back.

This tip will help you avoid getting your hands all gross and smelly. When chopping onions, use kitchen tongs to pick up the onion so that you don’t touch it with your hand or get any juice on anything else in the process. You can also use gloves instead of kitchen utensils.

This tip is crucial if you either have really powerful hands or like chopping onions in bulk. If you want to cut a lot of onions then slice one layer at a time from the bottom up and stack them on top of each other when done so they don’t go bad too fast!

To prevent the onion from turning brown or oxidizing, don’t cut it too far into the center as this will only cause more of a reaction. When you do finally chop through to that place where it’s white inside, be sure to use clean hands and a dry cutting board so your food doesn’t turn around on you!

How to Store Cut Onions

Once you have diced and sliced the onions, you can use them immediately. You can also store them in the fridge. I also like to cut my onions and freeze them. This makes it easy to have cut onions when I need them. It is a huge time saver when making dinner. I store my cut onions in a freezer bag and freeze them flat. 

How to Cut Onions Without Crying

The worst thing about onions is how they make our eyes water! There are all kinds of crazy ideas on how to cut onions without crying, but these are tried and true, kind of scientific ways to cut onions without crying. 

Cooking with an open window is always advisable because it allows for the release of many unpleasant odors such as sulfur compounds from onions. These can make your eyes water, and may even turn people who don’t enjoy cooking away! You’ll get less sniffles too if there’s plenty fresh air circulating through while this process takes place instead.

Cut onions under cold water to prevent them from oxidizing and causing heartburn. This only works for small cuts when you can use kitchen sheers, but I do not recommend this when using a large knife in the kitchen. 

Use a paring knife first and then switch to larger knives as needed which will help reduce tears because you’re working with large slices rather than trying to cut straight through an onion at one go.

The freezer can help you out in a pinch when it comes to chopping onions! Frozen peas will keep things cool for your hands and reduce the amount of tears. Carrots are also helpful because their icy nature helps decrease saliva production, which means less tearing as we eat our meal later on. 

Be sure to keep vinegar on hand, as well as salt mixed into it. This will help neutralize any gases before they escape and make us teary-eyed!

After you’ve diced your onion, grab a candle. Yes! A lit candle! It might sound strange but this is actually one of the best ways to stop your tears from flowing because it neutralizes those sulfuric compounds that are causing pain in our eyes when we cut onions. All you need to do is light up a small or medium-sized unscented candle and hold it as close as possible without touching its flame to where you’re cutting on the top half of an onion. If there are no candles around then sliced lemons can also be used for their natural antihistamine properties which will help deplete histamines (the things that make us cry) while we’re chopping.

Put the chopped onion in a colander and rinse it under cool running water. This will help to get rid of some of the onion’s powerful sulfuric compounds that are causing all those tears!

If you’re cutting onions on your kitchen counter, then place the chopped pieces into a basin or plastic bag (or better yet, put them straight into the pot where they’ll be used) so as not to make a mess everywhere. You may also want to consider using paper towels instead of dish rags because these will soak up any lingering odors from this culprit once it has been washed away .

And if you’re pregnant, it’s a good idea to steer clear of slicing these babies. This is because during pregnancy your body produces extra tears which brings more of those dangerous sulfuric compounds into contact with your eyes and makes them more sensitive than usual. You don’t want any unnecessary eye-irritation while expecting! And it is a great excuse for someone else to cut the onions.

Move the acrid fumes away from your face by using a fan. The best time to deal with these little devils is when it’s not too hot outside or other people will be affected as well.

Finally, if all else fails – wear goggles It sounds like a joke, but honestly, you can and it works.

I hope this article has helped you understand how to chop an onion without crying too much. Cutting onions can seem like such a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be if we take the proper precautions beforehand. The next time you find yourself with an ugly bulb of yellow in front of you at the grocery store, just remind yourself that there’s no need for tears because these tips will make cutting onions easy and painless!”