How to chop an onion

When Zyliss offered to send me one of their new Santoku knives last month, I was pretty excited. I've been wanting to work on my knife skills. I love to cook, but lack a lot of the techniques that would elevate me from home cook status. One of the biggest challenges I have? How to chop an onion.

I hate chopping onions. My eyes always water like, well, you know. It's not fun. But because I like to make things like homemade salsas, quiches etc, I really need to get better with dicing.

First and foremost, you need to have a sharp knife that you are comfortable handling. What I like about the Zyliss Coated Santoku knife is it has an ergonomic handle with a rubberized handle which makes it easy to grip. The scalloped blade slices cleanly - I love it for tomatoes so I knew an onion would be no match. It's also super affordable at $14.99, so it's great for the home cook.

How to chop an onion

First you'll want to cut the onion from root to tip.

Next, cut off the end.

Now peel off the skin. This is the part where it all ends and my eyes start watering like mad.

Using your knife, make several small, vertical slices all the way through the onion.

Stop to wipe your eyes with a paper towel (NOT YOUR HANDS) lol. Then turn the onion and make small slices again, which will create your nice diced pieces .

Now in a perfect world, all of your dices would be all the same size and happy. I'm still working on that. But these are the basics on how to chop an onion.