You order a Cobb Salad in a restaurant and the stripe of avocado comes in gorgeous little cubes. Versus the mushy little blobs you usually end up with. How to get to that? Not as hard as you would think.
How to Cut an Avocado in Half
Hold the avocado in your non-dominant hand. Use your dominant hand and a very sharp knife to cut the avocado in half. Usually one does this lengthwise, across the stem and bottom. Twist the avocado to separate the two halves.
How to Remove an Avocado Pit
There are two ways to do this, and if you don’t feel super confident with a sharp heavy knife, stick to the first one! No shame! No ego! No injury!
Scoop the pit out with a spoon. Sure, you may lose a little bit of the flesh. So what? The pit is out, you are safe, and you have an avocado ready to eat.
Now if you are feeling like a boss (with the safe knife skills to back up your boss-ness), you can twist out the pit with a knife (click here for the video!). Hold the avocado in your non-dominant hand. Hold a knife in your dominant hand. With full concentration and focus, decisively thwack the blade of the knife into the middle of the pit. When it is wedges in there, turn the knife so that the pit twists in the avocado flesh and pulls out. Remove the pit from the knife and toss. Or grow an avocado plant. That’s also a cool next step. Which I have been meaning to do.
How to Cut Avocados: How to get clean, pretty avocado cubes and slices every time, with step by step photos!
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How to Cut an Avocado Into Perfect Cubes or Slices
Ok, you have two avocado halves, waiting for action! If you don’t need perfect cubes (e.g. you are making guacamole or dip or avocado toast), you can just use a spoon to scoop out the avocado and use it however you like.
Or you can cut avocado in these two ways:
Method 1: Slice avocado in the shell
Use a knife to cut lines in both directions in the avocado shell, all the way down to the skin, so that inside the shell you have cubed avocado. You can then scoop out the cubes with a spoon (which can make them a little messy) or carefully peel off the skin so that the flesh is on its own and falls apart into the cubes. This works better for cubes than slices.
Method 2: Slice on a cutting board
Or, for the neatest cubes or slices, turn the halves flesh side down, skin side up on a cutting board. Gently and carefully peel off the skin. You may have to do this in pieces, breaking off the hard skin so that the avocado half stays clean and smooth. Use a knife to cut the avocado flesh into slices or cubes right on the cutting board, whatever size your recipe calls for.
How to Keep Cut Avocados From Turning Brown
There is an enzyme in avocados that cause the flesh to turn brown when exposed to air, and pretty darn quickly as anyone who eats avocados regularly can tell you. But sometimes you don’t need to use the whole avocado, so how keep it for another time without it turning brown? First of all, only cut up as much of the avocado as you are planning to use, and leave the other part whole and in the shell with the pit still inside.
Then you can do one of the following:
- Wrap the avocado in plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic directly on the exposed avocado flesh. You can keep this on the counter for a day, or in the fridge for about 2 or 3 days.
- Place some chopped onions in a small container (like a pint container from the deli) and then place the avocado cut side up on the onions. Cover the container with a lid, and again store at room temp for a day, or refrigerate for a few days.
- Brush the exposed avocado flesh with either olive oil or lemon or lime juice. The oil will seal the flesh, and the citrus juice will prevent browning because of the acids it contains.
- Blanch the whole peeled fruit before using.
If you are still hanking for more info on avocados, we’ve got that.
And then here’s what to do with all of that beautifully sliced avocado:
- Salmon, Arugula, and Avocado Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Avocado And Cannellini Bean Crostini With Gremolata
- Sesame-Honey Quinoa and Carrot Salad with Sliced Avocado
- Chili Rubbed Flank Steak with Corn, Tomato and Avocado Salad
- California BLT
And then once you have those perfect mini cubes (or sleek slices) all mastered, you’ll be sprinkling them on everything from Turkey Posole Soup to Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup to Spinach, Mushroom, and Chicken Quesadillas.
Read more: How to Prepare Avocados.
