The Easy Fork Hack For Evenly Sliced Onions Every Time

Onions are notoriously difficult to cut, whether it's trying to chop them without crying or attempting to get uniformly sized pieces from the vegetable — this food can be quite hard to hold on to. While evenly sliced onions aren't necessary for every dish, unevenly cut onions can make it so that the onion flavor is too strong in some bites and too weak in others. Luckily, there are a few simple solutions that will help you cut consistently-sized onion pieces every time –- and they all involve using a fork.

The first and most classic fork method for cutting onions involves using a fork to hold the onion firm while dicing. To do this, first, cut the onion in half and then set it flat-side-down on a cutting board. Then, grab your fork and stab it into the onion so that it stands up straight. To dice, hold the fork in your nondominant hand, then cut rows through the onion towards the fork. Don't cut all the way through the onion, but instead stop where the fork is. Then, turn the onion to cut across the original slices creating a grid. Once you've diced part of the onion, move the fork to a new spot and repeat the process again. However, what if you don't want to dice your onion, and want to cut rings instead?

If you want to make your favorite battered onion rings, the first important step in the process is to cut all the rings the same width, so that they cook evenly. Luckily, a fork can help with this, as well. To start, first cut off the stem and the root ends of the onion so you can clearly see where the natural rings are. Then, cut a thin slice off the side of the onion to create a flat spot, and roll the onion so it is sitting flat-spot-down. Next, stab a fork into the top of the onion to get a better grip and start slicing.

If you are cutting onion rings to use as a topping for a sandwich or hamburger and want ultra-thin slices, there is a super quick vegetable peeler hack that can help. For this hack, start by removing the root and stem of the onion. Then stab the onion through the top near the stem, but a little off-center. Next, lay the onion on its side with the fork lying flat on the counter, pointing towards you. To hold the onion, simply set your non-dominant hand on top of the fork and press it against the counter. Then, use your dominant hand to grab the potato peeler and start running it against the onion, creating thin rings.

If you find yourself cutting onions almost every day to make your favorite meals, you might want to invest in a special tool to make the process easier. One super easy-to-use and inexpensive tool is the onion holder slicing assistant. This tool has multiple thin skewers attached to a handle making it look like a big fork or wide-tooth comb. To use, you stick the spikey end into the onion, then grab the handle to hold it in place. Then, take the knife and slice through the spikes. Aligning each cut against the skewers will make perfectly even slices.

While all of these fork methods can help you easily cut an onion into even slices, it might take a bit of trial and error to figure out which one works best for you. So, until then, you'll just have to keep cutting onions and making various delicious dishes (oh darn!) like a classic French onion soup or a Gordon-Ramsay-style grilled cheese sandwich.