October 17, 2025, 12:55 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
While cucumbers, zucchini, and bell peppers can be easily chopped, onions often present a challenge. To save time and nerves, learn the best way to peel and chop onions here.
Almost every dish tastes better with an onion. If only the tedious process of peeling and chopping this vegetable weren’t involved. Either the onion skin comes off in small pieces, or cutting turns into chaos as the onion layers slip around. And let’s not forget the tears. MyHOMEBOOK shares tips in this article for peeling and chopping onions without tears.
Tips for Peeling Onions More Easily
If the skin of an onion is difficult to separate from the layer beneath, hot water can help. Place the onions in a bowl and add boiling water. After about one to two minutes, transfer the onions to ice water. This should make the skin easier to remove. The water baths also counteract the pungent onion juice responsible for eye irritation.
Another tip is to halve the onion. This makes it much easier to peel. It’s important not to remove the root end—it keeps the onion together while cutting. Instead of halving, you can also score the skin in several places from top to bottom. This helps as well.
Tips for Cutting Onions Without Tears
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Cutting Onions More Easily
The most important tip for cutting any onion without chaos is not to remove the onion’s stem. This way, you can easily cut cubes, slices, or rings. For cubes, first halve the onion. Then cut the vegetable lengthwise into strips. Important: Keep the root end intact here as well. Do not cut through the onion. The root end holds the strips together. For fine cubes, cut across again. Then you can chop the onion into cubes.
Why Do We Cry When We Cut Onions?
There are numerous tips to prevent tears when cutting onions. For example, holding water in your mouth is said to help. The reason for burning eyes is a reaction in the onion. Cutting damages the cell walls, and the enzyme alliinase meets the sulfur-containing amino acid isoalliin. This creates propanethial S-oxide. This chemical compound evaporates and irritates our eyes—tears serve as protection.
To prevent the irritating substance from reaching our eyes, it’s best to moisten the cutting board, knife, and onion. This can be repeated during cutting. Cold also helps. Placing the onion in the refrigerator beforehand reduces the enzyme’s activity, resulting in less propanethial S-oxide.