I used to dread recipes that started with “dice one medium onion.” Not because I disliked the flavor — I love what onions do to a dish — but because within thirty seconds of putting knife to bulb, my eyes would transform into waterfalls. I looked like I was mourning a beloved pet every time I made spaghetti sauce.

My wife Sarah would walk into the kitchen, see me with tears streaming down my face, and shake her head. “You know there are tricks for that, right?” she would say. I had tried a few. I chewed gum while chopping. I lit candles nearby. I even wore my swimming goggles once, which worked but made me look like I was preparing for an underwater cooking competition. None of these solutions felt practical for everyday cooking.

The breakthrough came during a dinner party at my friend Marcus’s apartment. He was prepping a French onion soup for twelve people — that means roughly eight large onions. I braced myself for the tear-gas effect, but Marcus was chopping away with complete serenity. No goggles, no gum, no candles. I had to know his secret.

“Freeze them,” he said, shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Ten to fifteen minutes in the freezer before you chop. Not long enough to freeze them solid — just enough to chill them down.”

The science behind this is wonderfully simple. When you cut into an onion, you rupture its cells, releasing enzymes that combine with sulfur compounds to form a volatile gas. That gas floats up and reacts with the moisture in your eyes to create sulfuric acid. Cold temperatures slow down those enzymatic reactions dramatically. A chilled onion releases far less of the eye-irritating gas than a room-temperature one.

I tried it the next night. I popped two onions into the freezer while I prepped the rest of my ingredients. About twelve minutes later, I took them out and started chopping. The difference was immediate and profound. My eyes stayed dry. No stinging, no tears, no looking like I had just watched the saddest movie ever made. I chopped both onions without a single tissue.

A few things I have learned through trial and error since then: do not forget about the onions in the freezer. I did this once and came back to rock-solid onion hockey pucks that were nearly impossible to cut safely. Set a timer. Also, this trick works best with a sharp knife. A dull knife crushes more cells as it cuts, releasing more of the tear-inducing compounds regardless of temperature. Sharpening your knives regularly makes every kitchen task easier, but it pairs especially well with this chilling technique.

Another method that works involves cutting onions near an open flame — a gas stove burner or a lit candle nearby. The flame burns off some of the gas before it reaches your eyes. I have tested this too, and while it helps, I find the freezer method more reliable and less dependent on your kitchen setup. Plus, I do not love the idea of an open flame near my cutting board when I am focused on precise knife work.

Some people swear by cutting onions under running water or near a vent hood. Both can work in a pinch, but the freezer trick requires zero special equipment and zero cleanup beyond what you are already doing. It fits into the natural flow of meal preparation: onions go in the freezer, you gather and prep everything else, onions come out ready for painless chopping.

I still get a laugh thinking about those goggle days. My kids have seen the photos and they think I am ridiculous. But at least now I can cook dinner without looking emotionally devastated by the experience.