Slice and Dice: The Ultimate Guide to Cutting Tomatoes

If you struggle with cutting tomatoes without squishing them, fear not! There is a proper technique and knife that can make all the difference. To start, using a knife with a double-serrated blade is key. Personally, I have found the Rada Cutlery Tomato Slicing Knife to be the best option for slicing tomatoes for the past 4 years. But the right knife is only half the battle – the other half is using the proper technique. In this article, we will review a simple cutting technique that will make cutting tomatoes a breeze. Not only that, but we will also cover how to slice a tomato for different dishes, such as salads, tacos, burgers, salsa, and guacamole. Plus, we’ll discuss the best tomato knives on the market, so you can be sure to have the right tool for the job. With these tips and tricks, your festive and everyday tables will always look perfect!

Shapes of Cutting a Tomato

Use a very sharp tomato knife with a medium blade to chop tomatoes. If you want to cut the vegetable into thin slices, then you’ll need a serrated knife. Preparing tomatoes is very simple: wash in cool water, remove the peduncle, and wipe the vegetable dry. That’s it, now you can start cutting. Except for the decorative purpose of the tomatoes, there are four cutting methods mainly used for culinary purposes:

• Circles or semicircles are used for roasting, baking, and making pizza, vegetable plates, and salads. The thickness varies between 3-5 mm, but you can use even thinner circles for decoration.
• Tomatoes are often cut into slices and half slices for fresh salads and vegetable plates. You can also use this method for some stews, soups, and sauces.
• Middle cubes (7 mm) are used for cooking the first courses, sauces, gravy, and layered complex salads. Large cubes (1-1.5 cm) are most used for fresh salads, soups, and stews.

How to Cut a Tomato Into Slices

Even the simplest tomato slices can be arranged so that a vegetable plate looks like a picture and becomes worthy of the most expensive restaurant.

Cutting tomato into slices and half slices is most often used to add it to a salad because it’s not only beautiful but also allows you to keep the juicy part of the vegetable.

So, how to cut a tomato into slices:

• Cut the tomato in half lengthwise

• After that, cut each half into 3–4 slices again. If the vegetable is large or thinner slices are required, then you can divide half of the tomato into more pieces.

• Cut off the peduncle attachment point from the finished slices and use the vegetable for its intended purpose.

Well, if such slices are quite large for your culinary purposes, just cut each of them in half across and get half slices.

How to Cut a Tomato into Cubes For Tacos

The correct way to dice tomatoes in cubes turns out to be very quick:

1. Put the tomato on the cutting board upside down. Now cut it into 0.7-1 cm thick slices, but without cutting the vegetable through. Leave about 1 cm to the base of the tomato.
2. After that, cut the tomato into cubes, across the circles, but again leave 1 cm from the base.
3. Now put the tomato on its side. As we didn’t cut the vegetable through, all the cubes remain in place and don’t fall apart, so we can cut them across into cubes easily.

After cutting, we have the top of the tomato that should also be cut (after removing the place of the peduncle attachment) into random pieces sized equally to the cubes.

This type of cutting is perfect for cooking salsa and tacos.

How to Cut a Tomato for a Salad

High-quality cutting of ingredients for salad is very important, as it can make a dish gorgeous or, on the contrary, ruin it.

For a mozzarella cheese salad, it is better to cut the tomatoes into circles. Peel the skin from the tomatoes before adding them to the dish. Cut the tomatoes into circles and add a little salt. After that, you can form a snack.

For traditional salads, it is best to cut the tomatoes into cubes. Cubes can be both large and small. Squeeze the cubes lightly with your hands before adding vegetables to the dish.

For a chicken breast salad, it is best to cut tomatoes into slices. Chicken meat is added to dishes by fibers, and tomato slices will complement the look.

How to Dice a Roma Tomato

Roma or Italian tomato is not really a variety. This is a group of varieties that are mainly used for cooking tomato paste and whole fruit canning. Roma tomatoes are grown in the USA, Mexico, Australia, and the UK.

American gardeners really like this tomato for its high yield, attractive appearance, and keeping quality of vegetables, as well as their ability to retain shape and color when canned. In addition, the USA has many dishes containing tomato paste, for the manufacture of which Roma tomatoes are grown. So, how to cut a Roma tomato?

Step 1

Wash the tomato. Wash the vegetable with running water, turning it as needed to remove any dirt off its surface. If there is a sticker on the tomato, be sure to remove it before slicing.

Step 2

Make a horizontal cut and remove the top of the tomato. Cut off the top of the tomato. You should have a flat end on one side.

Some people do not do this, as they believe that the peduncle of this kind of tomato is small enough and barely visible. You can skip this step if you are of the same opinion.

Step 3

Cut the tomato in half. Slice the tomato down along to get two halves, holding it with one hand and cutting it with the other. Tomato halves must be the same size.

Step 4

Cut the tomato into vertical strips. Place the tomato halves side down flat and make vertical cuts. You should end up with thin strips of the same size.

Since Roma tomatoes are smaller than ordinary types, be careful when you cut them. Don’t cut yourself. Keep your fingers away from the knife. Hold the vegetable with your fingertips.

Step 5

Cut the tomato into cubes. Place the tomato, cut into strips, horizontally. Make vertical cuts. You should have cubes. Keep the tomato with your fingers while cutting. When you’re done, you will get even cubes.

Try to make the cuts the same distance from each other as when cutting horizontally. You should have cubes of the same size.

How to Cut a Tomato for Burgers

What could be tastier than a homemade DIY hamburger? Any burger must have a vegetable filling. The classic scheme includes green salad, tomatoes, onions (fresh or fried), and fresh or pickled cucumbers. And of course, you need to cut them all properly. Especially tomatoes.

Are you wondering how to slice a tomato for hamburgers or a vegetable plate? The most popular way to slice tomatoes is by cutting them into circles. To achieve the perfect cut, use a serrated tomato knife and slice the tomato across the vegetable instead of along it to prevent the pulp from flowing out. If the tomato is fleshy and dense, you’ll notice a beautiful pattern in the cross-section. For larger tomatoes, try cutting them lengthwise before making thin semicircle slices. You can even create a stunning rose shape by overlapping the tomato slices in a straight line and rolling them up. Give your dishes a stunning visual appeal with perfectly sliced tomatoes.

How to Cut a Tomato Like a Rose

Take half of a tomato cut across and make six cuts on it from the side of the cut that diverge by rays from the center at an equal distance from each other. The cuts should not reach 2 cm to the base.

Further, cut the corners from the middle of each segment, forming six teeth.

After that, take a thin knife with a small blade, carefully peel (cut) the skin at each tooth, and bend the cut skin with your fingers like petals.

You’ll get this beautiful flower!

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