Home > Cooking Guides > How to Cut a Mango How to Cut a Mango January 1, 2019 | No Comments SAVE TO RECIPE BOX This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy. Step by step visual guide on how to cut a mango into cubes or strips. Plus, all your questions about mangoes answered plenty of ways to use them! How To Cut a Mango: Scooping Method (NO Peeler!) Step One: Choose a Ripe Mango First things first, it is important that you select a good mango. How do you know if a mango is ripe? While it’s VERY tempting to focus on color, don’t. It is not the best indicator of ripeness. ALWAYS judge by feel! Squeeze the mango gently; a ripe mango will give slightly (overripe will squish down). Ripe mangos will sometimes have a fruity aroma at the stem end. Step Two: cut off the stem To ensure the mango won’t be sliding or moving around while you cut it (and ensure you don’t get cut!), first lay the mango on its side and cut off the stem. Cut so the bottom of the mango is now an even surface and can stand up on your cutting board without shifting. Stand the mango upright where the stem used to be. Mangoes have a flat-ish long pit in the center. Your objective will be to cut around that pit to get 2 large pieces and 2 small pieces of fruit. Step Three: cut off the two wider, flat sides Make two cuts along the sides of the pit to get your 2 large pieces of mango Step Four: cut off the two smaller remaining sides (cook’s snack!) Remove the fruit that remains on the two narrow sides. Sometimes you’ll get a lot and sometimes not very much. If it’s enough to use, add to your recipe, otherwise, it’s your snack for doing the hard work 😉 Step Five: make vertical cuts down the mango Without cutting through the skin of the mango, gently make vertical cuts down the mango. The width of your cuts will depend on how big you need your chunks or slices to be. (If you want mango strips, not chunks, skip step 5.) Step Six: make horizontal cuts across the mango Again, without cutting through the skin of the mango, now make horizontal cuts down the mango. Again, the width of your horizontal cuts depends on the size you want the chunks to be. Step Seven: scoop out the chunks Using the sharp side of a spoon, run it along the mango where the skin meets the fruit. Gently scoop out the chunks of mango. (If your mango isn’t ripe, you may need a knife to cut out the chunks). Step Eight: eat! Eat the mango as is or add to a delicious recipe (lots of ideas at the bottom of this post). How To Cut a Mango: Peeling Method In case you don’t have a perfectly ripe mango or feel more comfortable with peeling a mango first, here are the steps to cutting a mango AFTER peeling: Step One: cut off the stem Lay the mango on its side and cut off the stem. Cut so the bottom of the mango is now an even surface and can stand up on your cutting board without shifting. Stand the mango upright where the stem used to be. Step Two: peel the mango Using either a knife or vegetable peeler, cut off the peel of the mango (as close to the fruit as possible) Step Three: cut off the two flat, wider sides Make two cuts along the sides of the pit to get your 2 large pieces of mango Step Four: cut off the two smaller remaining sides Remove the fruit that remains on the two narrow sides. Sometimes you’ll get a lot and sometimes not very much. If it’s enough to use, add to your recipe, otherwise, it’s your snack for doing the hard work 😉 Step Five: cut the wide sides into strips Lay the sides down (flat side to the cutting board) and slice into strips (as wide or thin as desired/needed for a recipe) Step Six: cut strips into chunks Cut the strips into chunks if desired. 5 ways to use perfectly cut mangoes: Mango Salsa: Serve the mango salsa with chips OR alongside grilled chicken, in shrimp tacos, or chicken tacos. Fruit Salad: add to a fruit salad or serve with a couple other tropical fruits as a fruit side dish Frozen Treat: add to an acai bowl, blend in a smoothie, or try blending diced mangos with orange juice and freezing it in ice trays for a delicious cold treat. Parfait: layer vanilla yogurt, plenty of homemade granola, and fresh mango Kebabs: grill some mango and chicken on skewers for a refreshingly healthy meal. Our favorite recipes to use up mango: (from left to right) Chicken Veggie Kabobs Asian Chicken Tacos with Mango Slaw Cilantro Lime Chicken with Mango Salsa Pina Colada Fruit Salad The BEST Mango Salsa Chicken Quinoa Bowls with a Mango Black Bean Salsa How to cut a mango: help section Storing Mangoes: Keep unripe mangos at room temperature. Mangos shouldn’t be refrigerated before they are ripe. Mangos will continue to ripen at room temperature, becoming sweeter and softer over several days, but make sure to watch them carefully because they can go from perfectly ripe to overripe quickly. A good ripe mango is always best the same day it is cut. However, mangos can be peeled, sliced, or cubed and placed in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to six months. Ripening Mangoes To speed up ripening, place mangos in a brown paper bag at room temperature. Once ripe, mangos can be moved to the fridge which will slow down their ripening process. Ripe (uncut) mangoes can be stored for 3-5 days in the fridge before needing to be used. Cutting a Mango Cutting a mango without peeling: see the first tutorial in this post! How to cut a mango with a cup/glass: check out this fun hack by Buzzfeed (scroll down past oranges and avocado hacks) Can you cut a mango in half? because of the pit, you can’t cut it exactly in half, but by cutting the two sides from the pit you have two pretty equal sized halves.
