Genius onion hack will save you time and tears

A cookbook author and nutritionist in Melbourne, Australia, shared the "literally life-changing" hack to dice an onion swiftly - and people are amazed at how they didn't think of the method sooner.

Melanie Lionello took to both her Instagram and TikTok accounts, From My Little Kitchen, to share the method.

In the clip - which was viewed over 4.6 million times on TikTok and played more than 12m times on Instagram — Lionello begins the tear-free process by placing the whole onion, which already had its stem cut off, on a cutting board with the root-up.

Lionello marks multiple slices all around the onion from the root to the stem as the skin is off.

After that, she puts the aromatic vegetable on its side and creates several vertical cuts that start at the stem and make their way up to the root.

Once that's complete, the onion cutting process is complete.

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"This hack is going to save so many tears. This is how you dice a whole onion in under 30 seconds. Tell me I'm not the only one who is just learning this technique?!" Lionello wrote on Instagram.

People on both Instagram and TikTok were amazed and taken aback by the expert, time-saving onion trick.

One person on Instagram wrote: "Oh my god! This makes so much sense!"

"Wow, I'm trying this, haha, never cut an onion like this, but it looks so easy!" another added.

A third on TikTok wrote: "I always thought there has to be a better way. I was today years old when I found out about diving [onion emoji] like this."

Someone else who believed Lionello's technique was "creative" but a bit dangerous added: "That's because it's not the right way although it's creative. Cutting in half make[s] it stable and the way you hold to protect your fingers."

TikTok is no stranger to becoming a platform for life "hacks," as many people post videos highlighting how they make daily tasks easier or fun.

Some of the most viral trends, such as the onion cutting technique, are about food.

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