Cutting an avocado shouldn’t feel like a struggle… but if you’ve ever ended up with a mushy mess, you’re not alone. Today, I’m showing you exactly how to cut an avocado the right way—whether you want perfect slices for toast, cubes for salad, or just a clean, easy method that works every time.
Avocados have, for a long time, straddled the line between fruit and vegetables. It is one of those food items that you are not sure if it is a fruit or a vegetable.
Technically, avocado is a fruit, seeing as it has a single seed. It could be called a single-seeded berry. However, the fruit comes with enough savor to be regarded as a vegetable.
The avocado features mostly monounsaturated fat and this makes it an ideal source of creamy and healthy low-carb addition to most dishes. Usually, the avocado has an outer layer that is tough and protective.
This layer is referred to as the skin and it is not edible. Some avocados come with stems. The edible part of this fruit is seen after cutting it; it is a bright green flesh that surrounds the seed of the fruit.
Now, because one cannot access the creamy and healthy flesh of this fruit without cutting the avocado, it is important to touch on how to cut avocado.
How to cut an avocado?
The process of cutting an avocado is straightforward. The steps involved in the process include;
Slicing Your Avocado
Slicing your avocado requires you to place the avocado on the table and using a sharp knife to cut it lengthwise. You can also hold the avocado with one hand while using the other hand to cut the avocado.
The table or surface upon which you are cutting the fruit needs to be stable and you should use a chef’s knife to cut the fruit.
While cutting the fruit lengthwise, you should stop as soon as you notice that the knife has hit the center of the fruit.
At this point, weather you are holding the avocado or placing it on the table to slice it, start turning it spinning it slowly.
If this step is completed correctly, the knife should cut through the green flesh of the fruit around the seed or pit in the center of the fruit.
When handling the avocado, be sure to keep a steady hand and keep your hands ways from the edge of the knife to avoid an accident. Continue to cut through the periphery of the avocado.
Removing The Pit
Once you are done slicing the avocado, at this point you want to give the fruit a little twist and have the two halves separated.
Again, if you got the previous step right, a little twist should be enough to separate the two halves cleanly.
After separating the two halves, one of the halves will have the pit in it. This half should be set on the cutting board with the cut side up. You can then gently hit the pit with the sharp edge of the knife.
When carrying out this step, ensure that there are no hands or fingers on the board. This is important so that you can avoid injuries.
Twist To Remove
With the knife firmly in the pit, hold half of the avocado in one hand and the knife in the other hand, and then twist the pit until it loosens.
By doing so, this will help free the seed from the avocado, while still embedded in the blade of the knife.
If this step doesn’t work on the first try, the next thing to do is hit the knife deeper into the seed. This is where the sharp edge of the knife will come in handy because the cut is cleaner and deeper with this side of the knife.
Once the edge is fully embedded into the seed, you now can press on the pit with your thumb and pointer finger from the non-sharp edge of the knife to remove the seed.
Turn the avocado upside down with the seed facing down and insert the knife to back of the avocado while piercing through and pushing the seed out.
How To Slice An Avocado
At this point, you can now prepare the avocado whichever way you like. However, you may want to change the knife from a chef’s knife to a duller knife.
A duller knife like a butter knife, will give you more control and prevents you from cutting into the skin of the fruit or your fingers.
This will help you also avoid injuries.
You can also use a spoon starting from one side of the avocado going around the edge of the fruite to remove the meat of the fruit out.
Other Methods for Cutting Avocados
Cutting Into Sections
If the previous step doesn’t sound appealing to you, another method you can use when learning how to cut an avocado is to remove the pit, and cut the halves into two halves, making it four quarters.
At this point, the skin is very easy to remove. With your finger, it can easily be moved back. Again, you can even use a spoon to help you.
Place the cut side of the avocado down on the cutting board and dice or slice the avocado as desired.
Serve & Enjoy
After slicing the avocado, you can then remove it from the skin. To remove the skin from the fruit, you need a large spoon. Use the large spoon to scoop the fruit gently from the edge of the skin and start loosening the pieces.
Remember, after cutting an avocado, the fruit is very sensitive. If it is too soft, we recommend that you are very gentle as you are slicing the fruit. This may cause it to become smushy.
Storage: How To Save An Avocado
If you want to learn how to save an avocado, it is very possible. However, it is usually best to use sliced avocado immediately.
If you need to store excess avocados, It is best that you keep them unskinned. Wrap the fruit in a plastic wrapper and store them in a fridge for a couple days and longer at times.
More Avocado Recipes To Enjoy
If you loved this article on how to cut an avocado, we recommend you try these avocado recipes next:
Avocado Green Goddess Dressing
Salads To Pair With Your Avocado
After learning how to cut an avocado and want to learn how to pair your avocado with your favorite salads, listed below are a few suggestions.
Vegan Asparagus Salad With Cranberry Vinaigrette
It warms our hearts to see the recipes you make from this site.
We’d especially would love to know if you tried any of these recipes, tag us on Instagram or Facebook so we can see your beautiful dish.
Also, we would appreciate if could give any of the recipes a star rating!
Scotty says
I used to remove the seed as described, until my surgeon friend saw me do it. He said that one would be amazed how many people he operates on who have slipped and slices their hand removing an avocado seed. He said, “I don’t want to see you at work, so remove the seed this way.” He then proceeded to gently push the seed out by placing his thumb on the skin opposite the seed. It popped right out. No damage to the flesh, and significantly reduced risk profile.
Mirlene says
This is genius, Scotty! I appreciate you sharing this with us. Such valuable information. Thanks again for sharing. No, we do not want any accidents.