How To Peel an Onion

Learn how to peel an onion. It can be one of the most frustrating parts of prepping food for cooking. Not only does it come off in little pieces but it will also get under your nails and you will get that onion smell following you all day!

I am going to show you the fastest and easiest way to peel an onion.

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Video: How to peel an onion

Ingredients

• onion

Equipment

• chef knife
• cutting board

3 Steps for Peeling an onion

Follow these 3 simple steps so you can peel your next onion with ease. It is really important to only cut one end off so that the onion is not falling apart as you peel it.

I also have the best way to store onions before you use them.

Cut in half

Have a sharp knife and cut the long way through both the stem and root end. This is important because you do not want to cut it across the center avoiding the stem and root end.

I have a complete post and video on how to cut an onion.

Cutting it this way will come in handy later when you decide to chop or dice.

Cut the stem end off

Now that you have two halves you are going to want to cut the stem ends of the onion off. You want to leave the root end intact so if you plan on dicing or chopping the onion you have something that is going to leave it intact.

After you cut if you can’t get the smell off, check out my post on how to get the onion smell off your hands.

You can cut as little and as much as you like. I have an entire video on how to peel an onion.

Peel the first layer

From the end that you cut off, you should be able to grab some of the first layers and peel them towards the root end. This is the part of the onion that feels real papery.

Now if you can not grab the papery layer go ahead and try to peel it back with a knife.

If you still can not peel this layer I go ahead and grab the next layer that is thicker and pull it all off. I do it this way a lot because you avoid the green part of the onion that does not have a ton of flavor.