How to Dice an Onion

Taking it way back to the basics here today. This may seem a little simplistic, but I have a little trick to make the job easy and fast. 

Chopping or dicing an onion in the food processor works well, but I hate to drag out the food processor (not to mention wash it when I'm done) for one little onion. If I only need to chop an onion, I can do it almost as fast and easy by hand as I can in the food processor.  Here is my little trick. 

1. Place the onion on a cutting board or small plate, root side down.

2. Cut rows in the onion horizontally. Do not cut all the way to the bottom, but stop about half an inch from the bottom. If you want to finely dice the onion, keep the rows close together. For a chopped onion keep the rows farther apart. 

3. Now cut the onion the other way to create a crisscross pattern on it. Again, do not cut all the way through the onion. 

When you have cut both ways the onion will resemble a mini blooming onion. 

4. Turn the onion on its side and slice all the way through. The slices will come off as diced onion. 

To use the entire onion, hen you get to the bottom of the onion, simply make a couple slices and chop them up.

I do believe it took me twice as long to explain how to chop the onion as it does to actually do it! 

I can help you with the dicing, but not the crying. Some suggest chewing gum. It doesn't work for me. Some suggest cutting the onion underwater. Seems strange, and I am afraid it would be too slippery and I'd cut off a finger. I've also read that getting the onion cold before cutting helps reduce that pungent odor that brings tears to your eyes. This seems like the best suggestion to me, but the problem is I always forget to stick the onion in the refrigerator before hand to get it cold. 

Anyone else have a sure fire trick for cutting onions and not crying?