How To Cut Avocados Like Bobby Flay
Perfectly ripe avocados are easy to love, but not so easy to cut. Their soft flesh requires delicate handling in order to not turn them into mush, and their slippery texture can make them difficult to get a grip on, especially if peeled. Chef Bobby Flay's diamond cut trick is just the thing for dicing avocados without any mess or fuss.
In fact, Flay's technique is the easiest method to safely dice soft fruit of all kinds as well. These are safer to cut while still in their skin because it prevents the risk of slippage, not to mention that it also eliminates the need of having to peel them.
The idea is to make crisscrossing slits in the avocado's flesh with the peel still on. The chunks will come out as uniformly shaped cubes. Flay uses these to make a simple, fresh guacamole with the addition of red onions, cilantro leaves, jalapeño chili peppers, and lime juice, but you can use this same cutting trick for any recipe that calls for diced avocado. The beauty of Flay's approach is that it eliminates a number of steps (namely peeling and slicing) while allowing you to chop up your avocado in almost no time at all.
How to dice an avocado right in the peel
To cut your avocados like Bobby Flay, start with a washed avocado. Even though you won't eat the peel, it's important to clean the outside to not transfer germs inside with your knife (per FoodSafety.gov). Flay places his avocado flat on a cutting board, then uses a sharp chef's knife to cut it in half lengthwise. To remove the pit, Flay holds the fruit in his hand and smacks the bottom of his knife's blade into the seed to pull it out. A safer, knife-free way to do this is to put your fingers on either side of the stone and use your thumbs to push against the back of the avocado ... the pit will pop right out.
@bearenger #stitch with @_mynameischo OMG WHAT 🥑 #healthyrecipes #plantbased IB @tracesoats
After pitting, Flay uses the same knife to score long cuts along a bias across the length of the avocado's flesh (up to but not the through peel), then makes another set of intersecting lines to create a crosshatch pattern — which he refers to as diamonds. Then he takes a spoon and smoothly scoops the green meat away from the peel and into a bowl. Thanks to the grid pattern cuts, the pieces fall out already diced.
In his demonstration, Flay notes that he prefers his avocados prepared chunky (via Facebook). Ina Garten's tip for achieving the chunkiest guacamole is to roughly chop it with a knife — although Flay processes his a bit more by mashing it with a fork.
More tips for dicing avocados
Iron Chef Ming Tsai uses a similar method, but he adds his own unique take in his TikTok video, which results in more diced cubes. He makes the same diamond cuts like Flay, but instead of scooping them out as-is, he uses a spoon to scrape just a partial layer off the top. He repeats this process for a total of three layers. This creates smaller cubes but in a greater quantity.
@netflix #IronChef @chefmingtsai's avocado dice hack!
Tsai's safety suggestion is to use a butter knife instead of a sharp knife. Since avocados are very soft when ripe, the dull knife goes through just as easily, and as the chef points out, its rounded end is more suitable for the round shape of the avocado. As commenters noticed, he's actually using a dinner knife, not a butter knife, but we get the idea, and it's a good one to help avoid injury.
On the topic of safety, Rachael Ray's easy trick for dicing avocados forgoes the need for a knife altogether (other than for cutting them in half). Instead of slicing and dicing, she smashes avocados through the grid of a wire cooling rack, which essentially produces the same results.