Based on a video by Chef Jean-Pierre.
A clean, even dice on an onion transforms a dish. Unevenly cut onion either burns before the thick pieces cook, or leaves you chewing through raw chunks.
This walkthrough is based on a tutorial by Chef Jean-Pierre. His method skips the traditional horizontal cut - the onion's own layers already give you the third dimension, and you end up with cleaner dice with less fuss.
Start with a good onion: heavy for its size with tight, papery skin that's still whole. A light, soft onion has already started to break down inside and won't dice cleanly.
Press the onion gently. It should feel firm, almost hard. If it gives, pick another.
Tip
Yellow onions are the all-purpose workhorse. White onions are sharper; red onions are milder and better raw.
Trim a thin disc off the tip and the root of the onion. Hold a paring knife blade-out and turn the onion into the blade rather than pushing the blade toward your hand - safer, and more control.
Keeping just enough of the root for now means you still have something to anchor the halves when you cut later.
Tip
Don't cut off too much root - you'll want some left to hold the onion together when you dice.
Score the papery skin down one side and peel it off. While you're at it, peel off the first fleshy layer underneath. It's slippery and doesn't dice cleanly - better gone.
You should be left with a bare, smooth onion.
Tip
Save the peels for stock. Onion skins give homemade broth a deep golden color.
Look at the onion and notice the thin lines running from root to tip. Those are the grain. Halve the onion with the grain - meaning cut from root to tip, not across.
This single choice is what gives you clean, even dice later. Cut across the grain and your dice fall apart into mush.
Tip
Use a sharp chef's knife and one clean stroke. Sawing back and forth crushes the onion cells and wakes up the tear-inducing compounds.
Lay a half flat-side down. Make vertical cuts along the grain, stopping just before the root end so the onion stays held together. The cuts should be as close to each other as the dice size you want.
Fingers curled back, knuckles leading. The root anchor is what keeps the whole thing from collapsing as you work.
Tip
Closer cuts give finer dice, wider cuts give bigger chunks. Match the cut spacing to what the recipe wants.
Rotate the onion 90 degrees and slice across the vertical cuts. The pieces fall away as perfect cubes - no horizontal cuts needed, because the onion's own layers gave you the third dimension already.
When you get near the root end, chop that leftover piece on its own. Done.
Tip
If the onion starts rolling, flip it so the flat cut side is down. A stable onion is a safe onion.
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