Actually, this dandy little trick is great for chopping onions or carrots. It might even work for celery, if you don’t care about it looking pretty. Like so many cooks, I hate chopping onions. I hate crying-burning eyes! With this handy trick, I barely shed a tear and still get nicely minced onions–2 or 3 at a time. Honestly, if you’re doing a whole bag of onions, you’ll still get a few tears, but way, way, way less than if you do them by hand! And this is SO EASY!
After washing your onion, chop off the ends. Peel and quarter the onion.
Drop the onions in a heavy-duty blender, like the Vitamix. Don’t do more than a couple of onions at a time! Cover the onion quarters completely with water–an inch or two higher than the onion level.
Turn the blender on for only 1-2 seconds, then turn it off and check whether the onions are the size that you want yet. Repeat 2-3 times until onions are chopped to the desired size. It’s kind of hard to see the bits of onions, but you can make them out under the foam!
Strain onions and you’re ready to cook your next masterpiece!
It’s easier to see the process with carrots. They usually take a few more pulses in the blender.
If a few get stuck in the blender like this, just swish a little water around in the container and pour it in the strainer. All the bits should come out easy-peasy!
You can freeze the onions pieces in a single layer on a piece of freezer paper or wax paper on a cookie sheet for a day, then bag them in a zipper-freezer bag. Whenever you need diced onion, grab a handful and start cooking. I’m not sure how well carrots freeze, but they are good in the refrigerator for several days.