Notice I said ‘fewer tears’ rather than ‘no tears.’ The truth is that there is no practical way to completely eliminate eye irritation when you chop onions. But there are things you can do to drastically reduce it. I chop onions several times a week in my kitchen and I can only think of one time in the last couple of months that my eyes were affected enough to cause tears. It’s not that I am one of those people who seem to be immune to the onion’s noxious fumes. I used to cry just about every time I cut an onion. What changed? I started using a sharp knife and I learned the quickest most efficient way to chop an onion.
First Things First: What Causes the Tears?
Well, there’s nothing like a good dose of sulphuric acid in the eye to cause a few tears! That’s right, I said sulphuric acid. Now before you start breaking out the chemical gloves and goggles, let me explain. The onions themselves don’t contain sulphuric acid. But they do release a gas that, upon coming into contact with the natural tears in your eyes, forms sulphuric acid. Let me paraphrase Alton Brown here because science is definitely not much best subject!
When an onion is cut, the ruptured onion cells release enzymes which break down nearby sulfur compounds into oxides and acids. These re-form to make a gas. This gas moves into your eyes and then mixes with your tears to form sulphuric acid.–from Alton Brown in a Good Eats Moment
You’ll hear and read lots of different information about these onion fumes and a lot of it just isn’t true. For one thing, the gas doesn’t just hide out in the root end of the onion. Cutting out the root isn’t going to magically remove all the bad onion juice. It is true that the concentration is higher towards the root end, but the rest of the onion can release quite enough noxious fumes on it’s own to cause problems. Your best best is to begin cutting the onion at the stem end and work your way back towards to the root end (more on this later).
So What Can We Do About It?
So now that we know what causes the problem, what can we do to alleviate it? There are a million old wive’s tales out there that may or may not help to keep the tears at bay. But after doing some research, I’ve found that there are only a few things you can do that will actually help to combat the nasty onion fumes.
1) Use a sharp knife and work quickly: A sharp knife ruptures fewer onion cells. By using a sharp knife and mastering a method of onion-cutting that is quick and efficient, you lessen the amount of gas in the air and shorten your exposure time.
2) Cut near an open flame: The flame sucks in air and therefore pulls the gas away from your eyes. Although a kitchen candle does have some effect, it works best to be near a gas range with one or two burners turned on. Since I started using method number one, I find that I don’t have to resort to this one very often. But when I do end up with an unusually strong onion and my eyes start burning, I immediately light a match and then light my kitchen candle which is always near my chopping area. The candle has always worked for me but if your kitchen allows you to chop near a gas range, give that a try instead!
3) Chill the onion for 15 -30 minutes before cutting: The reasoning here is that chilling the onion will cause less evaporation, less gas, etc. I haven’t actually tried it because I’m not good at planning ahead! But enough people use this method that I thought I would include it.
4) Spritz the cutting board with vinegar before cutting: According to Alton Brown, this interrupts the chemical reaction and I read in several places that this does actually work. The drawback here is that your cutting board and onion will smell like vinegar. I don’t personally use this method but since it is proven to work, I decided to include it.
5) Cut the onions underwater: Well, this will of course eliminate any gas from escaping into the air and will therefore eliminate the eye irritation problem. But it’s so impractical that I put it on the list just for fun!
As you can see, I only use the first two methods when chopping onions. I won’t tell you that my way is the only way to combat tears, but I will say that it works great for me. The real key to combating onion fumes is to use a sharp knife. You want to make clean cuts that don’t smash and tear the onion. Don’t use a serrated knife or any knife that requires a sawing motion. Even though you can’t see them, try to remember to treat those little onion cells nicely and they will be much nicer to you!
What’s the Best Way to Cut an Onion?
Now we get to the good part! Learning how to chop an onion has been one of the greatest triumphs of my home-cooking career. If you read my last post, you know that onions were my least favorite food when I was younger. Ok, that’s an understatement. I HATED onions. Hated hated hated them! So, it goes without saying that I never learned a good way to chop them. And when I started forcing myself to cook with them, it was always a challenge to get the pieces small enough that the end product would have no discernible onion chunks. I would always end up hacking away at a pile of onion pieces, trying to mince them into oblivion. Meanwhile, tears would be pouring down my face because (as we now know) I was destroying all those onion cells and overwhelming my eyes with sulphuric acid.
Finally I decided that there had to be a better way. The problem was that it seemed like every home cook and Food Network star had a different method of chopping onions! Everywhere I turned, I was given different information. It took a lot of trial and error to become the onion-chopping aficionado that I am now. But it was worth it! I can now say that I love to chop onions! Seriously, I love it. It’s one thing I do in the kitchen that makes me feel like I really know what I’m doing. And that is a very rewarding feeling!
I wish I had my own video to show you because I can’t find a video anywhere that shows you my exact method. But I found a video by Chef Jean-Pierre that comes pretty darn close. The best I can do for now is give you a photo tutorial of my method and then you can watch Chef Jean-Pierre’s video. Between the two, you should be able to get the hang of it!
First, let’s familiarize ourselves with the onion. When you hear someone refer to the root end and stem end of an onion, sometimes it’s difficult to know which is which since the roots and stems are usually no longer attached! It’s important to know which one is the root end because like I mentioned earlier, this end of the onion might release more of that evil gas and we want to keep it intact for as long as possible. This is the root end:
And here is the stem end:
Now the very first thing to do when you’re ready to cut up your onion is to cut it in half. Be careful when you do this as the skin can be slippery! You want to cut right through the stem and the root, like this:
Now that you have your two onion halves, it’s time peel them. First, cut off the stem end:
Now it is very easy to peel off the outer layers of skin:
Now it’s time to start cutting!
You want to start making cuts in the onion without cutting all the way through the root end.
The spacing between the cuts depends on how big or small you want the onion pieces to be. And always make sure to keep the fingers of your ‘helping hand’ tucked out of the way!
As you can see, the onion is still held together at the root end. Now you are ready to make some crosswise cuts!
As you cut across the onion, you’ll see it turn into a perfect dice!
You can change the size of dice by making fewer cuts across the onion.
On the left, I made fewer cuts and ended up with a chopped onion. On the right, I made more cuts, closer together and ended up with diced onion. The sharper and thinner your knife, the easier it is to make more cuts close together.
Now watch Chef Jean-Pierre’s version and try not to laugh at his accent!
Now I’m sure that many of you have very different methods of chopping onions and keeping tears at bay. Please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what works best for you!
Good luck and happy chopping!
- Don’t Cry for Me from Whistlestop Cafe Cooking
- Basic Knife Skills Video from Dani Spies
- No More Tears from Culinate
- What Causes Us to Cry When Cutting Onions? from Accidental Hedonist
Nicole, really great step by steps! And gorgeous photos as expected.
One thing to add to the ‘cut with a sharp knife’ tip. Don’t cut down into the onion, chopping, as that motion will cause more of the bad stuff to get into your face. Cut using a slicing motion with some downward motion. This means using a longer knife and using the whole blade, but it does help.
2:30 pm Oct 24th, 2007Great tips, Nicole! I do a little bit of hack-cooking at home. Now I won’t have to explain the swimming goggles.
2:51 pm Oct 24th, 2007I still say the goggles are the sexiest way of chopping onions!
I’ll try chopping near open flame (new idea) and my tip is to soak them in cold water. I recently chopped half a bushel of leeks and I was in tears. I put the whole batch in my sink full of water and it did help.
2:53 pm Oct 24th, 2007While you’re cutting, hold something in your mouth, like a piece of bread or a cracker, or take frequent sips of a beverage. Also, if you have a cut onion sitting out, put a paper towel over it, and that’ll help as well.
Great tutorial!
3:35 pm Oct 24th, 2007Beautiful photos and great advice!
3:37 pm Oct 24th, 2007Nicole, you are a LIFESAVER with this post - you’d think I was a saddened, melancholic soul, with all the tears I shed while trying to cut/dice/slice an onion!! haha. thanks to your shared advice and incredible photographs (as always!!), I will no longer have to keep a box of tissues near me, while cutting/dicing/slicing an onion :0)
3:45 pm Oct 24th, 2007Curt: Thanks for the tip!
Emon: Or you could just start a new fashion trend in the kitchen!
Peter: Well don’t let me stop you!
Bethany: I’ve heard of holding a piece of bread in your mouth and even holding a matchstick between your teeth and many other things. Some say it works, some say it doesn’t. Good tip about covering up the onion that’s sitting out. After I chopped the one for the photos, I left it sitting out while I finished writing the post. When I went back in the kitchen, the onion ‘fumes’ were pretty strong! I should have covered it up!
Ruby: Thanks!
3:50 pm Oct 24th, 2007VeggieGirl: I really hope that some of these tips help! I know that some people are much more sensitive to onions than others but these tips should at least lessen the symptoms!
3:54 pm Oct 24th, 2007Wow. This post came at such a good time. I’ve been cooking soups and stews a lot lately and had pretty much given up on chopping an onion. I knew there had to be a better way. This method makes perfect sense to me and I can’t wait to try it!! Thank you so much for the step-by-step process and photos.
4:09 pm Oct 24th, 2007I’m so glad that I found this, I love to cook with onions and always wanted to find the best way to make it quicker and safer to chop/mince them. Thanks so much for the great video!
4:21 pm Oct 24th, 2007A very thorough and informative post! I have terrible knife skills. Luckily, Quinn’s are great, so he comes in very handy in the kitchen. I keep threatening to have him give me some lessons!
4:30 pm Oct 24th, 2007Jennie: Yes, I figured that soup season is a good time for a post like this. I’ve been doing lots of chopping lately because we’ve been eating soups about half the time!
Adriana: I’m glad you found it too! Thanks for stopping by
Jennifer: Thanks! My knife skills definitely have room for improvement but I’ve become more comfortable over the last couple of years. The key is practice practice practice!
5:35 pm Oct 24th, 2007This is really very interesting. I usually just cut the onion and deal with the tears. At least now, I know how to cut an onion properly. I am going to do this today when I make the meatloaf recipe from yesterday. Thank you for the great tips!
5:51 pm Oct 24th, 2007Another thing I remembered: I don’t have problems with cutting onions at all, but I wear contacts. Once when I was wearing my glasses, I could barely stand it… it seems my contacts help a lot with that, and with smoke when I’m outside cooking.
6:19 pm Oct 24th, 2007Brilliant. You forgot one thing though. A dark box used for pre-processing negatives. Remember negatives? Anyway stick your onion in, hands through the cloth, a camera is set up on the other side and a monitor on your side so you can see what you’re cutting. Remove hands from dark box. Remove onions and rapidly toss dark box in a sink filled with water. Immediately set up two large cans of house paint in the center of the room. Open the cans. The paint odor will neutralize the gasses and vice versa. Invite your friends over for a meal and a painting party. Following dinner, break out some good whiskey and dance over the onion peels while chanting simultaneous Tibetan Monk voices.
Seriously though, I loved this post. And the pictures are as great as ever.
6:48 pm Oct 24th, 2007An onion post finally! Somebody speaking about painful times cutting onions! I must say though, however strange it is, I don’t cry while cutting onions and heres why. I wear contacts, for some reason the onion doesn’t effect me while I’m cutting them up wearing my contacts. When I’m wearing my glasses it is a whole other horrific story!
11:08 pm Oct 24th, 2007Thanks for such an awesome post, that video of the French man was quite a find, he makes me smile!
I work at a bar and grill and we chop a fair amount of onions. By far the best and simplest method I’ve found is just a $4 pair of safety goggles I got at the local hardware store. The kind you’d see in a 7th grade shop class. Chic-looking? No way. But they’re cheap, simple, and oh-so-effective. Not one tear since I’ve been using them. Not one! No need to rush what I’m doing (and risk cutting myself); simply slip them on before the first cut, and slip them off when I’m done.(I have tried the swimming goggles as well- the safety goggles work much better, in my experience. They don’t fog up as much, are easier to get on, and are more comfortable. Not to mention cheaper.)
11:56 pm Oct 24th, 2007I too, wear contacts, and have no issues cutting onions. However, I’m getting lasik surgery soon and I’m going to have the optometrist get me a pair of no-prescription contacts (I teach cooking classes ,so crying like crazy in front of a room full of students isn’t cool!)
3:42 am Oct 25th, 2007However, I actually own an official pair of “onion goggles” which I found at a random kitchen supply store. They do the same trick as swim goggles, but go on like glasses (instead of a rubber band around your head), and have foam around the eyes instead of rubber. My students love them! I got them in bright lime-green, so they always elicit a good laugh!
HI Nicole
12:52 pm Oct 25th, 2007Really good one, I always chilli onion or run under water. Depends of time:). My MIL told me this longback.
opps!! its chill.. not chilli:)
12:53 pm Oct 25th, 2007One of my father’s friends told me that to avoid crying when chopping onions, one must simply keep your mouth shut. I didn’t realize it was a joke until much later in life. Isn’t that mean?
2:04 pm Oct 25th, 2007haha
I just avoid cutting the onion all together by going to In ‘n Out.
1:07 am Oct 26th, 2007That was a nice tutorial! I use onions a lot during the week too…but I’ve gotten used to the tears, so it’s not that hard anymore.
3:35 am Oct 26th, 2007Great information–love your blog. My friend and her mom swear by chewing gum while chopping onions. I’ve tried it and it does work, but hasn’t worked everytime..not sure why.
3:44 am Oct 26th, 2007MyStarbucks:
Curt: I hadn’t thought about contacts helping to protect eyes from smoke, but I guess it makes sense!
Jonathan: Hmmmm…were you drinking when you left this comment?
Lydia: That’s strange that the contacts make that much of a difference! I love Chef Jean-Pierre’s videos! He makes me laugh and always gives tons of useful information!
John: For someone who chops lots of onions, I’m sure goggles really are the best solution!
The Secret Ingredient: I wish I could see a photo of you in your onion goggles!
Padmaja: Yes, lots of people say chilling the onion or soaking it in water makes a big difference! But I usually forget to try it!
Maryann: haha
Jason: Soon I’ll be able to go to In ‘n Out, too. Except I won’t because I got sick the last time I ate there
Nabeela: Thanks! A lot of people aren’t really bothered too much by the eye irritation and like you, they just learn to deal with it. But I think some people are extra sensitive to it!
Beckie: Thanks for stopping by! I’ve heard of the chewing gum thing but I’m not sure what exactly it’s supposed to do or why it works but it seems like it does work for some people (some of the time)
12:44 pm Oct 26th, 2007One of the women in my cooking group wears swim goggles when she cuts onions. It keeps her from crying, and sends the rest of us into fits of laughter!
12:52 pm Oct 26th, 2007this is very helpful.
i never knew how to avoid the tears and just resorted to buying the frozen cut up onions!
12:47 am Oct 27th, 2007Great post. My trick, used for many many years, is to store onions in the crisper of the fridge. Onions are always chilled. No tears.
VY
1:46 am Oct 27th, 2007[…] sourced here […]
6:41 am Oct 27th, 2007[…] anything on the menu where onions were an ingredient, but it doesn’t hurt to know how to cut an onion with fewer tears! - Oh, I was sent this link by Benjamin Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog on Digg! […]
9:06 pm Oct 27th, 2007Many great posts here, but the two most practical and useful things I’ve found are:
Chill those onions. Have trouble planning ahead? Store ‘em in the fridge as soon as you bring ‘em home. Just not in the drawer with the apples. They don’t play together nicely - the onions “outgas” and make the apples go overripe too fast.
Also,
Can’t agree more with the advice to use a sharp knife and - as Curt said in the first comment - use slicing motions, not chopping motions.
Thanks for this great post!
6:53 pm Oct 29th, 2007We get white onions as well as red onions here, that are really pungent. What works best for me - all the time i might add - is to peel the onion [cut top, button, peel top layer] - cut in half, wash the cut portions for a few seconds and then proceed normally.
believe me - i have *never* ‘cried’ while cutting onions after beginning to do this.
regards,
sid
6:43 am Nov 1st, 2007I used to think that people who cried cutting onions were wimps… until I stopped wearing contacts. Now my main way of avoiding the tears is to have my contact wearing DH cut all of the onions!
The cutting onions underwater thing is not as strange as it seems. My mom and grandmother both cut things while holding them more often than do on a cutting board. (In fact, I don’t think my grandmother owns a cutting board.) For instance, they’ll stand right over the pot and cut the veggies straight into it. I’ve seen my mom cut onions while holding them under running water. (For the record, she cuts herself occasionally, but only when using a cutting board. )
3:04 pm Nov 2nd, 2007Sid: Thanks for the advice!
Sara: I’ve been hearing a lot lately that contacts really do help to shield the eyes when cutting onions. It makes sense of course but it seems like the onion fumes would still sneak in there somehow! I understand that cutting onions under water is feasible, but usually when I cut onions, I’m dicing them up pretty small! I have to use a cutting board and sharp knife but everyone has their own method
4:04 pm Nov 2nd, 2007My special tip for cutting onions is to work quickly. Breathe out of my mouth and NOT my nose. Keep the cold water running in the sink to rinse my fingers and periodically rub my hands and fingertips over the stainless steel faucet. Seems to remove the smell from my fingers and cut down on the tears.
All the best,
1:56 pm Nov 3rd, 2007Melanie
MA, USA
Melanie: Thanks for adding to the conversation! I’ve heard that rubbing your hands on stainless steel reduces the odor but I’ve never tried it. Do you know why that works? My hands always seem to smell like onions for two days!
4:06 pm Nov 3rd, 2007Hi Nicole,
I don’t know the scientific reason behind that trick. However, another juicy tidbit for everyone. Was watching foodtv today and one of the cooking shows said to freeze your onion for 20min before slicing. I tried this today and it helps!
Enjoy!
9:42 pm Nov 3rd, 2007Melanie
This is how I’ve always done it, and I love that your pictures are so perfect!
7:00 am Nov 5th, 2007Melanie: I’ve been hearing a lot lately about sticking the onion in the freezer for 20 minutes before cutting. But, I never remember to try it! And I really don’t have many problems now that I cut them this way.
justJENN: Thanks for stopping by!
8:39 am Nov 5th, 2007I used to always cry too,until I found that cutting the onions with wet hands, and running the onion under the tap for a second before cutting stops the tears and the smelly hands.
10:45 am Nov 5th, 2007The chemicals that cause the tears is absorbed through the skin too, so wetting hands reduces that.
Of course keeping the knives sharp is so important: mine are usually enough for my sons to shave by.
Sue: Thanks for the tip! I think that’s the first time I’ve heard about wetting your hands before cutting. Interesting idea! I do hate the way my hands smell after cutting onions!
4:15 pm Nov 5th, 2007Keeping onions cold is very effective. This was a habit of my wife’s we we meant ad I thought it was odd, but on hindsight I haven’t had tears cutting an onion since we moved in together. The best part about storing them in the fridge is that you never have to plan ahead (we put them in a crisper)
Also, I’ve been told by a few chefs that cutting the onion the way you suggest is supposed to help with tears as well - something about keeping the root intact…
7:03 pm Nov 5th, 2007Phaedrus: I guess I’m just concerned that keeping onions in my fridge will make everything else smell like onions! My veggie crisper is always full so I don’t really have a place to isolate them. But maybe I’ll give it a try and see how it goes!
9:44 pm Nov 5th, 2007Keeping them un peeled in a sealed crisper (i.e with the airholes shut) seesm to be enough to stop anything else from smelling. Of course, if your crisper space is limited this could be an issue…
12:43 am Nov 6th, 2007Hey, Nicole!
I am new here and this is my first response on this website. A couple of comments:
First of all you have the right technique on cutting onions and have gone beyond the Chef there. This is what I’ve been doing for years, this exact method. But I learned an extra trick:
After you cut the onion from tip to root in half, when you peel away the first or second layer of the skin (this doesn’t work well with white onions, btw, mainly yellow) don’t pull them off the root, lay them back and use them as a handle. You can then totally avoid even having your hand near the blade then as you process up the onion.
I have no pictures of this, I hope the explanation was clear enough.
I’ve read that if you have a gas stove and you turn on two burners when you slice it will prevent tearing. Haven’t tried it.
Does anyone know why shaollots, though milder in taste apparently have more of the gas that causes tearing? Shallots drive me crazy when I cut them. No matter HOW I cut them. I love them. They are just really gassy or something.
4:43 am Nov 28th, 2007tryed swimming goggles but forgot I can,t see without my glasses
10:25 pm Dec 21st, 2007thanks for helping me with my science fair report. Love the tips and funny show.
10:34 am Jan 3rd, 2008I think it sucks#
2:11 pm Jan 22nd, 2008[…] informative posts, a guide to working with gluten-free flours from Gluten-Free Girl, and learn how to cut an onion with fewer tears at Pinch My […]
1:09 pm Feb 2nd, 2008