The Best, Least Messy Way to Cut Large Fruit

Set up your station

Set up your slicing station with the right equipment:

The first cut should be a small one

This may not strike you as news, but many fruits are round. They do not like to sit still, in fact, they enjoy rolling away. Pair that movement with a sharp knife, and cutting up melon seems more like a circus trick. The first cut keeps the ball from rolling. Make a small stabilizing cut to create a flat surface where there wasn’t one before. It takes two seconds, and it won’t rob you of your dignity. What it will do is keep your fingers and body parts safe from harm.

The first cut of my golden honeydew makes a stable surface for my bigger cuts.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Hold the fruit firmly with your non-dominant hand, and slice off a small disk of rind about three or four inches in diameter—just a simple, shallow, straight cut. Let your fruit sit on this flat spot on the cutting board. If you’re cutting a pineapple, you’ll end up cutting both the end with spiky leaves and the stem-end, so either one can be your bottom.

Remove the seeds

Now that the fruit is sitting on its flat bottom, you can make bigger cuts. If you’re cutting a fruit with a central seed pocket, like a honeydew, cantaloupe, or other muskmelon, you’ll need to clear that out next.

My knife couldn’t clear the entire diameter, so I cut through one side first and turn the melon to complete the cut.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Support the melon with your non-dominant hand pressing against one side and place the knife’s blade on the top, along the central line. Press the tip of the knife in first, and then press the heel down to make the cut.

When I’m almost through the melon, I move my left hand to the top of the cut to keep the halves from rolling away uncontrolled.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

If the fruit is too big, don’t try to cut it in half in one slice. Cut one side, and take out the knife. Turn the fruit (or the whole board, if you want) 180 degrees and complete the cut on the other side.

Use any old spoon to scoop out the seeds.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Now you have two halves. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds into the trash can or compost bin next to you.

Slice with the rind on

Sometimes the keeping the rind on matches the occasion. If you’re keeping the rind on for a handheld, picnic-style melon slice, flip one half of the melon over, so the flat, cut-side is on the cutting board (always go for a nice stable surface). Cut through in equally spaced slices, about an inch and a half apart. If the fruit is much larger than your knife you can always repeat the process of slicing the side closest to you, then spinning the fruit or the whole board and finishing the cut on the opposite end. Present delicious half-moon slices to the world, cut them into wedges, or slice in the other direction like a grid and go for the stick presentation.

Take off the rind

To make bite-sized chunks to keep in the fridge for quick snacking, next slice the rind off of the hemispheres before cutting it into pieces. Sit one half of the melon on the cutting board, seeds out, and cut side down.

I cut down and away from my body to slice off thin strips of rind.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Always cutting away from your body, cut strips of the rind off starting from the top and curving down the sides. Rotate the fruit or the cutting board so you can keep cutting off strips without torquing your body at weird angles.

Slice in one direction.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

When the skin is gone and all you have is a pure melon orb, cut the melon into slices, and cut those slices into bite-sized hunks.

Slice in the other direction for bite-sized chunks.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

How to slice a pineapple

Be sure to keep your work area clear of scattered rind strips (that’s what the nearby trash is for), and take your time. If your fruit is releasing a lot of liquid, take a break, drain the board into a cup, and take a nice juice break.