I periodically re-open the lid on a topic that is near and dear to every slinger’s heart. What’s the best way to chop your onions?
From fancy machines to regular old knives, I know you must have a favorite method!
Aran Campbell got the ball rolling. He writes…
Hi Steve,
I was at harbor freight today and picked one of these food slicers and just got done chopping (and slicing) tomorrow’s onions.
I swear it cut my chopping time in half! Just sliced them real thin, gave em a few chops and I was done in no time.
Please pass this info on to your readers! It’s on sale now for $29.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/compact-food-slicer-42787.html
PS, let me know what ya think!
Aran Campbell
*************************
Nice tip Aran!
I use this chopper that I got from Walmart a long time ago. I don’t think they carry them anymore but you can get it at Bed Bath and Beyond. You just slice the onion in quarters and put each piece in the chopper. Pretty fast.
Care to reveal your favorite onion chopping gizmo or technique?
Let’s hear it in the comments!
-Steve
WOW!! I can`t believe your so lazy you won`t make your wife or kids chop them for you!GOODMORNING EVERYONE see ya I gotta go chop my own onions now.Sell a bunch for lunch be a weiner before dinner,Dennis Hillbilly Hots
Ha! I love it Dennis. 🙂
When I started this year all done by hand, then went on war path to find one that would do the job, located a very nice one on Amazon for about $32.00
You still have peal outside a d waste some of your purchase net loss about 15 percent.
When shopping at G F S. I found a 5 lb bag for less money per pound than I had been paying for white onions, all chopped and ready to use, aprox 5 day freshness and in zipp bag, no crying no work and cost if you consider your time great.
I used them till I shut down for the summer.
Jim
Doglicious
No work and no crying. Sounds perfect to me Jim!
found a nice slicer or peeler? And who makes it? What’s the name? <~~~~~ very confused
I just checked and you can still get them at Walmart.
No gizmo, just technique. put a couple inches of cold water in the sink, slice both ends of the onion and place them in the sink for a couple of minutes. Turn so both ends have soaked in the water. Usually cut the green peppers while onions sit in water. No tears!
Great tip Meg, thank you!
Steve I have what you have and it is great. I bought the slicer from HFT and you have to have THREE arms to use it because the off and on switch is a pressure switch so you have to keep your hand on it at all times and it’s on the opposite end of the slicer. See in the Picture above. I like HFT stuff just not this Slicer.
Sounds tricky. Something to think about. Thanks Joel.
I agree with the chopper from Walmart, that’s what I use. I got mine at Target for $19.99. I use the small grate for perfectly chopped onions. I can skin and chop an onion in less than a minute. I also quarter cut from the top and than chop. I do all my onions for the Farmers Market day in less than 3 minutes.
It does make a difference which way you quarter it. Thanks for mentioning that Bruce.
I use The Nemco chopper. Commercial quality. Works great.
Thanks Yank’s!
that the onion slice we got and it work great we had two other that did not work as good so we stay with this one we like it alot jerry samlin
Great!
Food processor. (While wearing a pink duct tape cowboy hat and holding a piece of bread in my mouth.) Works everytime! 😉
Robin! Not again! LOL!!!
I use a food processor. First I don the swimmers mask, then peel ALL the onions, cut in quarters and put about 6 pieces (1 1/2 onions) in processor for maybe 6-8 seconds tops…use the pulse button for chop control
I’ve try chopping onions a number of ways and have settled in the way Steve does them. The chopper is like $20.00 at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It’s fast and very few tears.
I need to pick up a spare now that I think of it. I love this chopper so much that I would be lost without it. Thanks Kevin!
Hi bought a chopper for $50.00 from tupperware and it works great. Peel your onion than cut in quarters and turn the handle about 5 or 6 times and its done. It is very small so I take it with me on bigger events to use. I love it!
Cool. I haven’t seen that one. I’ll check it out.
I use the smart and final chopper. Pre cut and bagged 3.39 and they last for at least a week. Yes I’m that guy, but it saves time and isn’t really that much more.
Time is money.
I used the food processor with the pulse setting to control the size of the bits when I first started in the business. Since then I have found that I can purchase onions both chopped and sliced from Restaurant Depot for less or at a comparable price to what I was paying for whole onions. I no longer do any chopping. Left over sliced onions can be frozen for use in cooking such as pepper and onions for sausages. I don’t do this but I know vendors who do. You can also buy chopped lettuce in a 5 lb. bag if you need any. Much cheaper than buying lettuce and chopping it yourself.
Beautiful.
Just refrigerate the onions and u will not tear or cry
I’ll try it. Thanks!
I’m gonna brag on this one Steve. Fortunately our Cash N Carry chop five pound bags fresh every morning, so I grab a few for about 5 bucks a bag.
Wow. I’d brag too…
I picked up the Zyliss Onion Chopper from Amazon after reading that it’s a bit more heavy duty than the Progressive ones…it’s quick and awesome!
Wicked!
I used the chopper that Steve recommended 3 years ago. I had to get it online from Wal-Mart and liked it so much that I ordered another three units so I wouldn’t be without in case one broke. Chopping onions quickly and in front of my customers says “Fresh” not frozen or reconstituted.
Chopping in front of the customers is brilliant. Shows quality like you said, but also contributes to the “giving the customer an experience” factor that is so important. Great comment Jack!
I still use the old fashion way of a knife but I chew gum . As you are chewing you get no tears
Another gum chewer. Robin, your bread in the mouth technique is still funnier.
I got a slapchop from walmart. it’s like a onion weasel.
then I found really cheap chopped onions at restaurant depot. even cheaper then costco has them for.
Nice!
I use the same one as Steve but I don’t get it at BBB. I get it at the As Seen on TV Store for $9.99, I always have at least 3 on hand, one for the house, one for the cart and one backup. They will break but for the money you can not find a better system, easy to clean, easy to pack, easy to use.
Duggs Doggs
Good!! Good!!
Good!! Good!! Thanks Michael.
I know this is going to sound strange but if you chew gum while you cut your onions you can say goodbye to the tears I also put them in the fridge the night before I’m going to cut them and for cutting um I just use a nice sharp knife
Larry says to chew gum. Robin says to hold a slice of bread in your mouth. What if I do both at the same time? Hmmmm…
Anybody ever used a Sabatier food chopper? Carla and I purchased on at sam’s club a few days ago and haven’t used it. I guess we will find out tomorrow, we will be taking the cart out Saturday.
Let us know how it goes Joe. Sell ’em all!
Steve, It worked great! One slap and diced! Sold about 90 dogs and 8 pounds of pulled pork sandwiches. The health dept. had a surprise inspection. We passed with 100% no violations, the other vendor must have been shutdown. Carla nor I saw them sell anything after the inspection.
I knew you’d like it. Great job on your inspection!
I use the same one Steve does. Glad to hear about where it’s available now, mine has developed a hairline crack and will finish off one of these days. Takes a couple minutes to do 2 days’worth.
My fear is that someday the company will stop making them. I like it that much!
I rarely chop onions anymore I would go with a 3 lb bag and come home with 3 1/2 lbs.
Plus our health dept wants them iced down all the time. Have only had about dozen requests this year so far(out of about 1700 dogs sold at five events. I have an upcoming event where I will sell around 1200+ for two days and the next week about the same. So for those I go to GFS buy the 5 pounder and off I go. Only because of the volume of people although I get a lot of walk bys that buy a burger or other food(from another stand) and get onions/condiments and napkins from my cart. go figure Sell em’ all.
“I would go with a 3 lb bag and come home with 3 1/2 lbs.” That’s funny Jerry. 😉
Great tips guys! But what about something to chop tomatoes?
Phil
Sonoran Sams hot dogs
I still cut my tomatoes the old fashioned way. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has a way to do it faster. I cut mine in half and then in slices for my Chicago Style dogs.
I use the same chopper for home use that Aran has at the top of this blog. I find it works well for tomatoes too. I found that Roma tomatoes are best to work with. What I do is, cut the top or “stem” off, then I cut the remainder in half, “juice or seed them”. Then just throw them on, slam and chop just like the onions. I can make pico in a flash and everything has that perfect consistency. I’ve tried with larger tomatoes, but just seems the Roma has a better, meatier texture for this chopper. It’s great!
That is very cool Garvin. Thanks! I’m going to definitely try that this week.
THE CHOPPER(THE ONE AT THE TOP)
I broke my mother- in- laws while we were “Chopping for CHOW-CHOW” ( for my NORTHERN FRIENDS) HOMEMADE RELISH ….My wife ordered two off line hit the
wrong button and they sent us 4 (FOUR) plus the parts to repair the one I broke.
now WE have 5….. GUESS WHATS SOMEONE GETTING FOR CHRISTMAS….
Msgt.Donny Hill
I just bought a Ninja chopper from Target for $9.99. It chops, purees and blends, but what I like best, is that the onions are cut smaller and stay in the bun and don’t fall out as soon as they take a bite.
It comes in great bright colors too!!
Try it, you might like it!
Lynda
Are all these onions raw? Does anyone cook their onions and also what type do you get? Sweet onions or yellow? If you cook them do you have any recipe’s you would like to share?
I do both raw chopped onions and grilled onions on my cart. I grill my onions in a tablespoon of oil and half a can of Coke. Cook it down until all the Coke boils off. Makes nice sweet grilled onions!