Mum uses potato peeler to make cutting onions easier

Never in our wildest dreams have we ever thought of using this particular kitchen utensil..

Never in my wildest dreams have I ever thought of slicing up an onion with a potato peeler. But here we are. And we can thank random TikTok videos for getting us here. 

In the same way that I found the 'clever' way to cut an onion with no tears, I stumbled upon a wild way of slicing an onion into thin strips. Perfect for salads and not too thick to ruin the salad. 

It sounds like another useless hack, but I'm all in!

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A few slices and you're done. Or ARE you? Image: Leah Goulis / Kidspot

How to peel an onion with a potato peeler

The hack is as simple as it seems. Use a potato peeler the same way you would to peel a potato but apply it to a peeled onion. 

Cut the onion in half first, to ensure you have a flat surface to work with rather than a rounded edge. Then simply slice down on one half of the onion and in a matter of seconds, you'll have a bowl full of thinly sliced onions. 

Fry them up, toss them in a salad.. do whatever you like - they're your onions. 

The verdict is in and so are the critics

Understandably, the hack was met with a little bit of skepticism. 

Liz Macri, Kidspot's Kitchen Editor, was the first to voice the fact that she wasn't convinced. 

"I am doubtful that this would work well. I don't think the onion would stay together or be evenly chopped. It would also bruise easily on the edges. I'll pass..."

Mum Nama also wasn't buying it: "This looks good in theory but I think it would take more effort than what it's worth. I'd prefer to just whip out the knife," she said. 

The end result. Image: Leah Goulis / Kidspot

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Does it actually work? 

Well, putting after putting the clever hack to the test, I can confirm that both predictions above are not far off for how things ended up for me in the kitchen.

To give you a quick, answer the hack DOES work!

The peeler does slice the onion well but it was a bit of a messy experience. As the image above shows, the thickness of each slice varied and at times the onion got stuck in the peeler, which resulted in me having to unpick random bits of onion. 

So yes, it did work. But no, it wasn't exactly easier than just slicing it up the good old-fashioned way - with a knife and a trusty chopping board. 

Perhaps it was the type of peeler I had, or perhaps it was just another dodgy hack that tricked us. You decide...

This article was originally published in March 2023 and was updated in February 2024. 

Originally published as Mum uses potato peeler to make cutting onions easier