Every mango is a beauty. Cut it so.

Every mango is a beauty. Cut it so.

Peel the mango

Hold the mango in one hand. With the other hand, take a vegetable peeler and gently peel away the skin of the mango vertically, from top to bottom. The mango can be a bit slippery once it’s peeled, so be careful when cutting.

There will, however, still be a bit of meat attached to the pit. Take the same approach, starting from the top down and slicing off the remaining meat.

Cut lengthwise and separate the two wide, flat sides of the mango

Cut lengthwise and separate the two wide, flat sides of the mango. Hold the mango upright in your palm, where there are two flatters, (a.k.a. the mango cheeks). Lay the mango on your cutting board and proceed to cut the two cheeks off of the pit with a chef’s knife. Cut from the top down (where the stem would be) and slightly curve your knife around the pit to get off as much meat as possible. Voila! Now you have two lovely mango halves.

Slice (or cube) Your Mango

Now that you’ve got all of the fruit off of the pit, you can begin slicing the mango halves. Depending on whether you’re adding the mango to a specific recipe or enjoying it plain, you’ll want to cut it into different shapes. Either way you’ll find a small paring knife works best for this task.

How to Slice Every Fruit

For mango slices: With the curved side of the mango—the one that had the skin on it—facing upward, slice long vertical slices at your desired thickness.

For diced mango: Cut the mango pieces into thick slices as directed above, then cut crosswise into cubes of your desired size.