From cleaning your grill to making a cheesy keto treat, there's more to onions than meets the
eye. Time to peel back the layers and reveal the incredible inner potential of this humble bulb!
If you've ever eaten an onion ring — and why on earth would you not have — then you'll know
how frustrating it is when the crumbs come away from the onion. Instead of that perfect
bite that's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, you’ll get a mouth full of crumbs.
You can also end up with a piece of onion hanging free that can taste a bit wet, too.
"Yuck!"
But fear not, for there's a nifty hack that solves this small yet common problem. And since onion
rings are hugely popular, you may end up using this tip posted on TikTok time and time again.
Freeze the onion after it's cut into rings, then defrost by running under
warm water. Next, remove the thin membrane on the inside of the ring.
"So it's important to note that by freezing and defrosting your onion,
you’re gonna loose some of the characteristic pungency of the
onion. So if you're a big fan of that, you may not like this hack."
When the onion rings are breaded the coating won't slide off. One comment suggests you can remove
this layer by soaking the rings in iced water, while another suggests it'll come off underwater
without freezing first. It really depends on how much effort you're prepared to put into a hack,
even if it does make chowing down on onion rings that much more appetizing!
Did someone say cheesy onion rings?
"Wooooo!"
"Wooooooooo! Whoooooo! Woooooooooo!"
That's right! And if you're following the keto diet or trying to cut down on carbs,
then this creative hack is for you. Even if you're not,
the idea of onion rings made with cheese is too tempting not to try. Especially if you
want to enjoy the crunch of a freshly cooked onion ring without breadcrumbs or batter.
These onion rings look more like onion waffles, and that's because they're made using a mini
waffle iron. You'll need to spray the hot surface of your waffle maker with oil and add some cheese.
It's up to you what you choose, but mozzarella works well. As the cheese starts to melt,
add in sections of the onion ring, laying them next to each other to fill the circle of cheese.
Sprinkle on garlic powder and top with more cheese. Close the lid and cook for a few minutes,
before removing your onion ring waffle and letting it cool and soak up any excess oil
on a paper towel. It's now ready to bite into and enjoy that satisfying onion ring crunch.
When you get grilling, do you really go for it, and sizzle lots of marinated meats,
or perhaps load up on some plant-based barbecue
recipes? After a while, your grill can get a bit clogged with stuck-on ingredients.
This means that fresh food you add might get burnt bits sticking to it, or even the taste of
whatever you've cooked up before. And you're just not going to get that fresh taste if your cooking
surface isn't clean. That's why you'll want to keep a few raw onions handy for your next cookout.
Why? Well you'll need them to rub the grates on your grill with half an onion that's been
peeled. You first let your grill heat up so the temperature is pretty high. Stab
your half-onion on the rounded part, so it's firmly stuck on the end of a fork.
Rub the cut side along the grill. The juices will steam up, helping get rid
of any burnt-on food on the grates. As well as cleaning a grill with an onion,
cook another onion on the grill. Cut round slices of onion, marinade, and spear with a metal skewer,
adding a few to one prong. Flip to cook on both sides until they're lovely and caramelized
Unless you particularly enjoy biting into a whole raw onion,
you're more than likely going to cut it down to size in one way or another. Most recipes
are quite specific about what size pieces your onion should be, and how to cook them.
A lot of the time you're required to dice an onion, and with this vegetable appearing
in so many dishes, it's a good idea to have a chopping technique that works.
If you find that you're slipping around with slices all over the board as you try and cut
into them, then a viral TikTok hack on how to dice onions more easily could resonate.
Chop the tip off an onion so that it's flat on the bottom
and it sits up on your chopping board vertically. Make sure to peel it first,
unless you enjoy the taste of the papery outer skin of onions in your food. And unless you
use your tears to season the onions, whatever you do, don't cut off the end with the root.
In centimeter gaps, make cuts from the core at the top downward, through the curved sides of the
onion, creating segments like an orange. Turn the onion onto its side and slice downward, so you're
in effect cutting across the onion. As you slice, diced onion pieces will fall down onto the board.
It's always fun when there's more than one hack to tackle the same issue. It
means you can try them all and find out which one works best for you. So,
if you're on a quest to stop blubbering every time you want to make some homemade baked onion rings,
you might want to grab a few sheets of kitchen towels before you start cutting your onion.
One of the best ways to avoid crying while cutting onions is to use a sharp knife. The reason being
is that the membranes within the cells of the vegetable are less broken down — as a result,
less of the pungent gas can escape. Aside from this, it's suggested that you wear a damp paper
towel around your neck, at the front, to stop the released gasses from reaching your eyes and nose.
Or you could take some advice from this viral TikTok that states that
the acid in onions is attracted to the nearest water source,
which is often your tear ducts. So how do you prevent that from happening?
"Get a damp paper towel, fold it up, keep it on your cutting board;
that acid will be drawn to the wet paper towel, and not your tear ducts."
You know how it goes. You add onion to a recipe, only to find that you've got a whole bag full of
these bulbs and you're not quite sure how to get through them. There are only so many
onion-based recipes after all, and even those often don't call for lots of bulbs. For example,
caramelized onion hummus only uses one large onion. If you're a fan of sharp, tangy, vinegary
tastes then why not put your onions into a jar and pickle them? Here's what you'll need to do!
Thinly slice the red onion and cover it with a marinade. The marinade is a simple concoction of
apple cider vinegar, sugar, and salt. You can also add some herbs in there too if you like,
it's really up to you. For every red onion used, marinate it in a ½ cup of vinegar,
with a teaspoon of sugar, and 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt.
Refrigerate with the onion slices covered completely. While you could dig in after
just 10 minutes, you really want to leave the jar for at least an hour,
if not overnight or longer. They'll turn a lovely pink color as they pickle,
making a tart topping for a tuna fish sandwich or a sweet-sour condiment served with tacos.
So, you've cut the ends off your onion and yanked the peel off and another layer or
two of onion has come away with that. The vegetable that's ready for chopping on your
board suddenly looks a lot smaller than it once did. According to one TikToker,
too many people are guilty of unnecessarily wasting too much of their bulbs. So with that…
"Let's not waste anymore onions!"
The post focuses on the misguided way people are often taught to cut onions.
"Cut off the root end. Cut off the bottom. Put it down,
and now cut it in half. I'm sorry but wasteful and wrong!"
The issue is that there's quite a bit of onion on these cut ends, which are generally
discarded. The right way, apparently, is to not cut either end and cut lengthways,
from each end, down the middle. At the tip end, cut off a small amount,
so you're just getting rid of the ends of the skin. You don't need to take the other end off,
as this is the tear-inducing root, and it's simply not necessary unless you're julienning.
You may want a good technique to dice an onion so you can do it quickly,
and avoid shedding too many tears - or fingernails for that matter. Or perhaps
you love onions so much that you're using them all the time and need an
effective way to chop them. Maybe you just want to improve your kitchen knife skills.
Peel your onion and cut off the tip, leaving the root intact. Cut in half lengthways and
place the cut side down on your chopping board. Make several cuts from one end to the other,
not including the root. Now chop across and you'll
have diced onion pieces. Celebrity chef Rachael Ray also dices this way.
Her advice is to remember which end to cut off and which to keep. Imagine that you're
leaving the hair on the onion, as this hairy end is where the root is and this shouldn't
be cut into. She also comments how there's no need to cut across the onion as it's already
separated naturally into layers. Making this particular chopping tip is the most…
"Logical."
Sometimes there are those ideas that, while making sense, seem to come from left field
and are loved because of their ingenuity. Much like this technique to easily peel
onions that was posted on TikTok. But first, you'll need to grab a mallet.
"I'm gettin' me mallet!"
Excellent! Now, put a whole onion into a Ziploc bag and then put this into a larger Ziploc bag,
making sure not to seal either of the two bags. Now it's time to make like the Hulk and…
"Smash."
Bash them hard with a meat mallet several times, hitting the onion hard. Reach in and
pull the skin out, which should be in big pieces. Tip out the contents of the bags
and you should have a pile of peeled, chopped-up onion. With no knife needed, and no watery eyes!
Do you know when somebody does something when they're cooking as if it's second
nature and you literally feel a "duh" moment because it makes so much sense?
You just can't believe how you couldn't have thought of it. But, because culinary wizards
like Bobby Flay have already done it, you don't need to! If you've ever grilled onions
on a barbecue, then this hack, posted on the TV channel's Instagram page is for you.
You don't need anything extra to try this,
just some red onions. Cut fairly chunky slices of red onion so that each slice is
round and the layers aren't separated. The key is to not peel your onion.
Grilling slices with the skin on them helps to keep the slices in one circular piece on
the grill. That means it's easier to flip and remove them from the grill when they're
finished cooking. You won't get any onion pieces falling through the grate into the coals either.
Don't expect to simply shake a bag of onions and they're magically peeled. If only kitchen
life was so simple! Although, you're not too far off if you've tried this clever technique
demonstrated on TikTok. However, You will need a knife to make a cut or two to your onions first.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"
Cut both ends of each onion off while they still have the skin on. So you are
basically topping and tailing them. Put the onions in an empty saucepan, adding
a few at a time. Put the lid on and, holding it securely, shake the pan for a few seconds.
When you put the pot down and look inside, you should find that your onion skins have
magically peeled away. The good news is that you now don't have to pick away at the peel
and break it off in pieces which can take a lot longer to do and is also sometimes a bit fiddly.