Wednesday, April 17, 2013

10 Tips for Tear-Free Onion Cutting



Onions make me cry. I love the taste of onions in food, but I hate cutting them or preparing them for cooking. They make my eyes sting with sulfur tears. So you can imagine, I have tried several methods to stop crying while cutting up onions.  Here are some of the tricks that helped me.


  1. Leave the roots on while cutting it helps to keep the onion from stinging your eyes as much. I have found that to be true unless an onion is particularly powerful, like they tend to be in the fall.
  2. Place the onion you need to cut in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes before you cut it. This works okay, but the cold onion gets my fingers cold.
  3. Burning a candle near where you are cutting the onion. This is the method I use most, and it works well.
  4. Have the cut part of the onion away from your face, and have a fan on to blow the fumes away.
  5. Try wiping your knife with fresh lemon juice before you cut into the onion and use fresh lemon juice after on the surface you cut the onion on to dissipate the smell. I don’t always keep lemons on hand, so haven’t used this method as much.
  6. Use a food processor to cut them and contain the fumes. Just be sure to move your face away once you open the lid, and have a fan blowing. I do this when I have multiple onions to cut up.
  7. You can also cut an onion under running water, which dissipates the gases, but use caution to make sure you don’t cut yourself in the process. I am not quite good enough at knife cuts to feel I can do this one safely. I actually just try to run the onion under a bit of water after the initial peel and cut-in half before the slicing or dicing.
  8. Bite down on a toothpick or unlit match. I was surprised by how much this one helped.
  9. Eat bread while chopping onions. I like bread, but would rather not spoil dinner by chowing down on bread while I cook.
  10. Wear goggles either swimming goggles or a pair of Onion Goggles from RSVP. I wear glasses normally to see, but these really helped reduce the tears. 

RSVP Pro Onion Goggles SKU: 06-2542-02




What ways do you use to keep from crying while cutting an onion?