| To start, cut the onion in half through the root. The root itself will help keep the onion together for chopping. |  |
| Rotate the onion 90 degrees and cut off the papery end (not the root end). This will make the skin easy to peel away and discard. |  |
| Peel back the onion's papery skin. It's often easiest to peel away the first layer of the onion along with the skin. |  |
| Make a series of diagonal cuts (roughly 45 degrees) into the side of the onion. Keep more space between the slices for a large chop. Make the cuts closer together for a small chop or a dice. |  |
| Now make a series of horizontal cuts to finish shaping the chop or dice. |  |
| Finally, rotate the onion again and slice crosswise against the checkerboard pattern you made in the onion. The chopped pieces will fall away from the onion. |  |