Fast Answer
Yes — onion goggles work. The foam seal blocks onion vapor before it reaches your eyes; the only real trade-offs are that they look a little ridiculous and won't fit over glasses.
Why My Wife Won't Cook Without Onion Goggles
I got my first pair of onion goggles as a Christmas or birthday gift — I don’t remember which — and figured they were one of those gadgets you’re handed with good intentions and never actually use. I was wrong. They work, and I’ve worn them every time I chop an onion or shallot since.
You might recognize them from a Modern Family episode in which Phil hands a pair to Jay and says, “No more tears when I cook.” That’s about right. They look a little silly — silly enough that I asked my oldest daughter to model them for the photo instead of using one of me — but nobody in this house minds anymore, least of all my wife.
She’s the real proof they’re worth it. She wears hers constantly, and when her first pair finally cracked, she didn’t wait around for a replacement to show up — she wore swim goggles in the kitchen for two weeks instead. That’s not someone hedging her bets on a gadget. That’s someone who’s decided the tears aren’t worth it and isn’t going back.
Do You Actually Need a Pair?
- Good for: anyone who cries every time they cut an onion and is done just gritting through it.
- You genuinely need one if: you cook with onions often enough that the tearing up is a real, recurring annoyance — not a once-a-month inconvenience.
- You don't need one if: you wear glasses you're not willing to give up while cooking (most goggles don't fit over them), or a sharp knife and a good exhaust fan already solve it for you.
What's Actually Happening When You Cry
- Cutting an onion ruptures its cells and releases a sulfur compound that turns into a mild irritant gas by the time it reaches your eyes.
- Your eyes react by producing tears to flush the irritant out — that's the crying.
- Anything that keeps the gas from reaching your eyes stops it: a sealed pair of goggles, a strong exhaust fan, or breathing through your mouth instead of your nose.
- Anything that reduces the gas at the source helps too: a sharp knife causes less cell rupture, and a chilled onion slows the chemical reaction.
The One Thing That Sorts the Real Fixes From the Folklore
- Every fix that actually works interrupts one of two things — how much gas the onion releases, or whether that gas reaches your eyes. Sort any trick you hear into one of those two buckets and you can tell in about two seconds whether it's worth trying or just kitchen folklore.
What Actually Matters When You're Buying a Pair
- Fit: the foam should seal snugly against your brow and cheekbones — if it just rests on your face without sealing, vapor gets in anyway.
- Lens coating: an anti-fog coating matters if you're leaning over a hot pan right after chopping.
- Glasses compatibility: most styles don't fit over prescription glasses — check before you buy if this applies to you.
- Comfort for extended wear: fine for a few minutes of chopping, less pleasant if you're prepping a big batch of onions for an hour.
What Readers Have Tried Over the Years — What's Real, What's Folklore
- Has a real mechanism: a sharp knife (less cell rupture, less gas released) — this is the single highest-leverage free fix.
- Has a real mechanism: chilling or briefly freezing the onion (slows the chemical reaction that produces the irritant gas).
- Has a real mechanism: cutting off the root last, or removing it first (the compound is more concentrated near the root).
- Has a real mechanism: a strong exhaust fan on high, or cutting near an open window (dilutes and clears the gas from your breathing zone).
- Plausible, mixed evidence: running water nearby, or breathing through your mouth instead of your nose.
- Anecdotal, no confirmed mechanism: contacts vs. glasses — some cooks report less tearing with contacts in, but there's no solid explanation for it.
- Folklore, harmless to try: holding a piece of bread or a stainless spoon in your mouth. No clear mechanism, but multiple longtime readers swear by it.
- Folklore, weak or no evidence: chewing gum, lighting a nearby candle, clapping three times before you start. Included because readers reported them — take with a grain of salt.
Problem → Likely Cause → Fix
- Still tearing up with goggles on → poor seal → check for gaps against your brow and cheekbones; the foam should sit flush, not just rest on your face.
- Lenses fogging up → no anti-fog coating, or steam from a hot stovetop → wipe with an anti-fog spray, or crack a window for airflow.
- Goggles don't fit over glasses → most styles aren't designed for it → look into tactical-style goggles with prescription lens options, or lean on the sharp-knife-plus-fan combo instead.
- Still crying despite a sharp knife and a cold onion → concentrated exposure from cutting a large batch → add a strong exhaust fan or open window on top of the other fixes.
Try This Before You Buy Anything
- Sharpen your knife — commenters and food science agree this is the single highest-leverage fix, and it's free if you already own a knife.
- Chill the onion for 10–15 minutes before cutting.
- Turn on your exhaust fan, or crack a window near your cutting board.
- If you're still crying after all three, a pair of goggles is a small investment that closes the gap.
Kitchen Reference
- If you cry every time you cook → goggles, a sharp knife, and a cold onion together solve it almost completely.
- If you wear glasses → skip the goggles, lean on a sharp knife and exhaust fan instead.
- If it's just an occasional annoyance → sharpen your knife and chill the onion; that alone handles most of it.
- If you want to try a folk remedy for fun → bread or a spoon in your mouth won't hurt, just don't expect science behind it.
Onion Goggles vs. Knife-and-Fan Method
- Onion goggles: near-total protection, a small upfront cost, don't fit over glasses, and yes — you'll look silly.
- Sharp knife + cold onion + exhaust fan: free if you already have the tools, meaningfully reduces tearing, but rarely eliminates it completely for a whole onion.
- Verdict: if you cook onions often, goggles plus a sharp knife is the actual best combination — that's where the honest reviews, including the one embedded further down this post, land.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do onion goggles actually work? Yes — the foam seal blocks onion vapor from reaching your eyes, the same mechanism a strong exhaust fan or breathing through your mouth relies on.
Why do onions make you cry? Cutting an onion ruptures its cells and releases a sulfur compound that turns into a mild irritant gas, and your eyes produce tears to flush it out.
Do onion goggles fit over glasses? Not usually. Most styles seal directly against your face, so if you wear glasses, a sharp knife and strong exhaust fan are a more reliable fix.
Does a sharp knife really reduce tearing? Yes — a sharp blade ruptures fewer onion cells than a dull one, which means less irritant gas released into the air.
Does chilling or freezing an onion help? Yes, briefly — cold slows the chemical reaction that produces the gas, though it won’t eliminate it entirely.
Do swim goggles work as a substitute? In a pinch, yes — my wife used hers for two weeks while waiting on a replacement pair of real onion goggles, and they did the job.
Is breathing through your mouth actually effective? Possibly — the evidence is mixed, but it costs nothing to try, and plenty of longtime readers swear by it.
What about the bread-in-your-mouth or spoon trick? These are folk remedies with no confirmed mechanism, but they’re harmless, and some cooks genuinely find they help.
How long do onion goggles last? Until the foam seal compresses or hardens — once tears start getting through again, it’s time for a new pair.
Are onion goggles worth buying? If you cook with onions often enough that the crying bothers you regularly, yes — paired with a sharp knife, they’re the most reliable fix on this list.
Related Reading
- High priority — Quick Fixes and Tips: next to the sharp-knife point, link to keeping your knife sharp and using it well (already linked once via the embedded reader quote — reuse that link).
- High priority — When This Shines: next to the French onion soup mention, link to choosing the right soup pot.
- When This Shines: next to the caramelized onions mention, link to choosing the right saute pan.
- When This Shines (alternate): link to cast iron for slow caramelizing.
- Types/Options or footer grid: link to using a dutch oven for onion soup.
40 Responses
Hi Gary,
I need to point you to one of my videos. Look at Chapter Two of “Don’t Cry for Me, Mr. Onion” on my site. There info there on the whole tears stuff and how to mitigate the issue, including onion goggles. Peter
Even with onion goggles your daughter looks a cuuuutttiiieee, just had to say.
Excellent pages, too!
Thanks, Chris, I’ll tell her. She didn’t like that I posted that photo. – RG
Ensuring your knives are razor sharp minimises cell rupture and works for me. Imagine cutting a tomato with a blunt knife, well you would get juice all over the place, the same applies to the onion and trying to minimse acid squirting all over the place.
use a chopping machine instead, goggle will one day drop down.
I tie a long rectangular saran wrap around my eye area all the way to the back of my head like a sleeping mask. It’s cheap and works wonders.
Yong Lin! You put saran wrap on your face! Effective and funny
Interesting idea. I have to try this – once.
What do you do if you wear glasses?
Great question, Sherry. I guess you look for work a rounds. Let’s see, you could:
Try chopping your onion without your glasses, but that could be dangerous.
Wear your glasses over the goggles, but that would look really weird.
Buy safety glasses like you see on construction sites and see if they work over your glasses.
Wear contact lenses, but that could be expensive.
Try one of the other techniques for reducing tears, such as putting the onion in the freezer for a few minutes.
These look just like motorcycle goggles. They are also sealed to the face to prevent wind from irritating the eye. Most motorcycle goggles have a prescription lens option (a small form in the box you have your eye doctor fill out and then mail in).
Great advice, Dave. Thanks for sharing.
All the sulphur compounds are contained in the root of the onion – cut a cone off of the root end of the onion and throw it away before chopping, you won’t need glasses! 🙂
I know a way to stop tears when cutting onions. Turn your kitchen facet on and bring your eyes close to the running water. Works every time!
If you breathe thru your mouth the whole time you will not shed a tear
When cutting onions, light a scented candle next to your cutting board. Light the candle while you are cutting the onion and you won’t have any tears.
Excellent suggestion.
Try this: Switch your range exhaust hood to ‘High’ and put your cutting board under it. Quick & easy, no tears ever. Be sure the range is cool, first. 😉
I really like this fix. I can’t wait to give it a try.
I tried goggles. They didn’t work. I believe because the fumes enter through the sinus cavity. I’ve been able to mitigate some of the effect by breathing through my mouth rather then my nose.
The best way to avoid tears is to use a food processor. Come on guys. It’s the 21st century. What are we doing, still using such an archaic device like a kitchen knife to chop, lol!
My son’s science experiement was this subject exactly. It’s all chemistry. Keep the vapors from reaching your eyes. Your eyes react, tears and vapors mix to make mild sulfuric acid – and more burn begins. Key? Keep vapors from your eyes.
Wrap your head in clingfilm about twice, and make a hole to breathe through where your mouth is …. this is, of course, if you don’t have swim goggles! 😉
Your whole head??? It would really scare my wife if she came into the kitchen and my head was wrapped in saran wrap.
FYI These appear to be inexpensive versions of tactical goggles popular with gun users and military folk. As for your desire for prescription versions check out http://www.wileyx.com who makes such gasketed tactical goggles which can have prescription lenses made for them.
Good idea the googles. I also find that is works to run steamy hot water in the area you are cutting the onion and try not to breathe threw your nose to much. 🙂
Hi guys, here’s grandma’s solution: keep a slice of bread ( not the French baguette) between your teeth and breathe through your mouth and the slice of bread. It looks funny, but it works. I did it hundreds of times.
This tip is new to me and I can’t wait to try this and see how it works.
The easiest way is to peel the top layers, then cut the onion into 2 pieces and put them in cold water for 5 minutes. You will not cry anymore.
Always cut the root part of the onion very last and you have very few tears. Start at the ‘top’ of the onion.
I find when I wear my contact lenses I cry very little, if at all, but if I wear my glasses I cry all over the place. I agree with the comment that keeping the knives sharp reduces the tear quotient. If you hear a “thud” rather than a “knock” when the blade hits the cutting board it’s too dull.
i have been storing my onions in the refrigerator for 20 years now never do i cry when cutting onions thats my trick and it does work never mind silly goggles
Hi
Chewing gum while cutting onions always works.
Wow so many funny replies. Av been laughing so hard at most of them (pardon my humour). Well, to avoid tears while slicing your onions is easy. I made this discovery not too long ago when i moved into a new flat recently. The discovery? CUT YOUR ONIONS OUTSIDE or by your window or anywhere close to the open! Simple. Try it and thank me latter. K?
Two methods, which both work: 1) Partially freeze your onions before you cut them. Cutting/chopping becomes easier, and no tears at all. 2) Hold a stainless steel teaspoon in your mouth BEFORE you even make the first cut. It works. But the spoon has got to be in your mouth before you start handling the onions!
I love the idea, but those Oakley Thumps look terrible! I would never wear those. I hope they aganrre a design contest for the glasses or something. ..or perhaps take those glasses apart, design your own glasses and use a 3D printer, but I would still have to figure out where to get the lens part for those custom design glasses.. hmm.
just cut a piece of onion and put it on the center of your head now cut the rest of onion without fear of tears….good game of balance too….enjoy!!!
If you clap your hands three times, then run to the bedroom and back before you start chopping, it works like a charm.
Seriously though… I never cry when I cut onions while wearing contacts. If you’re not nearsighted… sucks to be you!
The best way to cut onions and not shed a tear is …………….let someone cut them for you!
Too funny.