7 Ways To Cut Onions Like A Pro Chef

Hi, I'm Rachel and I'm gonna show you

how chefs cut onions.

And then I'm gonna talk about all the different ways

that you can use it.

[jazz music]

First, we're gonna do a medium dice,

and I'm grabbing an onion here,

and I'm gonna cut it in half.

And I'm gonna trim off a little bit of the end.

And then I'm gonna peel some of the papery layers from top,

because these are just tough.

They're not gonna cook down.

And also, they're a little bit more slippery

than these thicker layers inside.

I'm gonna just trim this part,

but it is important, especially when you are dicing an onion

to keep this spot of the bulb attached,

just because it keeps all of the layers together.

And when you're dicing,

it'll help keep the onion in place

and you can get more even slices.

You can rest the onion on the cutting board

to get the slices.

I like turning it ever so slightly and holding it,

because this way I can see how thick

my slices are going to be.

So go ahead and slice evenly

and we're not going all the way through.

As you can see, the end of the onion is still

kind of attached.

And then slice across.

And a medium dice onion measures about

half an inch by half an inch.

And then run your knife vertically like that.

Make the final cut, giving you a medium dice.

I don't like wasting the ends,

so we're just gonna, again, slice it this way

and then cut it the other way.

I generally tend to use a medium diced onion

in soups, pasta sauces, stir fries.

Anything that I want a little bit of bite in,

so any kind of recipe that you wanna saute the onions,

or sweat the onions, and you want them to hold shape,

and you want some texture in,

medium diced would be perfect for.

[jazz music]

Next, we're gonna do a small dice.

And the difference between a medium and small diced onion

is just the size.

You use the same way of cutting as we did for a medium.

As you can see, the medium dice is definitely

larger in size than the smaller dice.

So I'm gonna start by making cuts across.

They're going to be slightly smaller,

which means more slices.

Then I'm gonna run my knife across like this

and make the second cut.

Small diced onions are sized about

one fourth inch by one fourth inch.

And then I'm gonna make this final cut,

giving me a small diced.

And I would generally use this for say a stew

where I want the onion to kind of fully dissolve

and disappear in the final result.

I also use this a lot in pasta sauces

and a lot of Indian curries when I'm too lazy to

make an onion puree.

[jazz music]

Next, slicing.

So I have my halved onion here

and I'm gonna trim off the end.

But this time, we're gonna trim off both the ends.

And then peel off the papery layers.

And then I'm gonna make even cuts across

the half of the onion.

Then I like to flip it over.

So these are sliced onions.

They're about one eighth of an inch thick.

You could certainly slice them thicker

if that's your preference, but know

that's going to kind of increase the cooking

and caramelization time.

And I would use these to make

caramelized onions, jammy onions.

They're not too thin, so they won't burn that easy.

They just kind of dissolve

into a beautiful caramelized-ness.

I have my onions for caramelization right here,

but say you wanted to slice an onion for a raw application

for say a crudo, you would basically do the same method.

Just slice them paper thin.

As you can see, I have my two vertically sliced onions,

so this would work super well in say like a raw application.

If you're making a crudo, you garnish this on top.

And then this would be amazing if you wanted it caramelized.

Same method, just one is thinner than the other.

[jazz music]

Next, I'm gonna do half moon slices.

So start by having your onion, cut the end off,

peel off all the papery layers on top,

and slice off the top bulb a little bit.

And then we're gonna go this way in this motion.

And in this too, I'm going one eighth of an inch thick.

You could go thinner if you wanted.

And I like using this cut to make marinaded onions

or to make pickled onions.

I love throwing this in salads,

just because they have a good amount of bite and snap to it.

So they add a lot of texture and crunch to them.

[upbeat music]

Mincing a shallot.

Shallots are also from the Allium family.

They're just a little bit sweeter

than say like a red onion.

So I'm gonna start by trimming off my end

and then cutting in half.

Peel off any papery layers.

Make sure you keep this root end in tact.

And sometimes, you'll see that there's like a thin

skin on this, so make sure you peel that,

because that is super slippery,

and if your knife is not sharp enough,

you can end up hurting yourself.

And now I'm gonna go ahead and make my first cut

using a paring knife.

I find that paring knife is the perfect size

for the width of the shallot.

I just feel like I have way more control.

And then vertical cuts here.

And then go back with my chef's knife.

I would use this cut in cold salads.

Since the cut is so small, it works perfectly

to kind of add that subtle onion-y flavor in the back.

I would also saute this cut lightly in butter

and use it in risottos.

And anything that didn't get cut,

just go over and run your knife.

Minced shallots.

[upbeat music]

Now I'm going to make shallot rings

and these are perfect when you wanna make

crispy fried shallots.

Okay, so peeling the outer layers for this one

will be a little bit different,

because we're not cutting this in half.

So I'm gonna go and make some incisions

ever so slightly, so it's only piercing

the first few layers and not all of the shallot.

That way, you can just go right ahead

and peel that off like that.

And now, I'm just gonna go ahead

and slice these about one eighth of an inch thick.

And that will give you perfect round rings.

I would use them to make crispy deep-fried shallots.

I would even throw them on salads

or use them to make marinaded shallots with some olive oil,

dried herbs, and vinegar.

Here are all the different ways

that you can cut onions.

Now you have all the tools to cut onions for

pretty much any recipe that you wanna use it for.

[upbeat music]

[Rachel sniffs]

I'm not crying yet, but I can sense it coming. [laughs]