The first thing I see when I walk into my grocery store in the summertime is those plastic tubs filled with pre-cut fruit —sliced cantaloupe, mango, watermelon, and pineapple taunt me with their convenience. I hear a voice in my head saying, “You could just grab one of these for the picnic. You won’t have to wash a knife. No one will mind!” But the closer I get, the less tempted I become. The fruit looks sad and dry and the smallest tub practically screams “EIGHT DOLLARS?!” right in my ear. If not knowing how to cut pineapple is what’s tempting you with those overpriced, dull tubs of fruit, I’m putting an end to the struggle with this easy way to cut a pineapple. Like learning how to cut watermelon, mince garlic, make a salad you actually want to eat, or store fresh herbs, it’s a simple skill that you can use for the rest of your life. Sometimes cutting a pineapple can feel like it’s you against the fruit—and your rival came with spikes, but it’s easier than you think.
How to Cut a Pineapple: Step-By-Step Guide
To cut a pineapple, you’ll need a large, sharp knife and a cutting board. If your knife is dull, use a serrated knife for anything involving the outer skin, like trimming the top and bottom. Here’s how to cut a pineapple from start to finish:
Trim the pineapple. Use a sharp knife to slice off the top and bottom of the pineapple. Halve the pineapple. Balance the pineapple on the cut end so it’s standing upright. Slice down the center from top to bottom. Separate the core. Open the pineapple so you’re looking at the center. You should see a lighter section in the middle running from top to bottom. That’s the core. Use your knife to cut a V-shape, angling the blade inward towards the middle. Unless you have a very large knife (or a small pineapple), start with the tip somewhere near the middle of the pineapple, then turn and do the other side, lining up the cuts to separate the center core. Remove the core. Make a final cut through the pineapple on both sides to create four quarters with no center core. Discard the core. Slice each quarter down the middle. Working with one quarter at a time, slice the flesh down the middle from top to bottom without piercing the skin. Slice each quarter crosswise. Cut crosswise to make small pieces, again leaving the skin intact. Some pieces may look like triangles, some may have a flat top. Both are delicious. Remove the skin. Carefully run the knife along the skin, separating the fruit from its armor. That’s it! You can serve the quarters with the skin like a boat, perhaps with some toothpicks on the side. Or, use, refrigerate, or freeze the pineapple chunks as you wish.
How to Tell if a Pineapple is Ripe
How to cut pineapple is meaningless without a perfectly ripe, juicy pineapple. Here’s how to tell if a pineapple is ripe:
It’s golden, not green. A ripe pineapple typically has a golden or yellowish-brown skin. Green is a red flag that it was picked too early. It smells good. Smell the bottom end of the fruit. If it smells sweet and tropical, that’s a green light. If it smells sour or has no smell at all, keep searching. It’s worth the squeeze. Ripe pineapples will let you squeeze them a bit without totally giving in. They won’t have any soft or mushy spots, which means it’s overripe. Too stiff and it’s probably underripe. The leaves are green and firm. If the leaves are wilted, dry, or easily pull out, it’s probably past its prime.
Unlike other fruits, pineapple doesn’t continue to ripen after it’s picked. It doesn’t have starch reserves that, in something like a peach, convert to sugars on your counter. Instead, it gets more sour and eventually begins to rot over time. That means the stakes are rather high compared with picking a watermelon. What you land on is what you get, so take your time selecting the ripest, juiciest pineapple at the market.
How to Store Pineapple
Store a whole pineapple on your counter for 2 to 3 days, keeping in mind that it gets more sour by the day. To extend your deadline to 5 days, poke some holes in a plastic bag, put the pineapple in the bag, and store it in your refrigerator. Once you’ve mastered how to cut pineapple, it’s important to store those perfect cuts correctly. Sliced pineapple will keep in an airtight container in your fridge for about three days, becoming softer and less vibrant by the day. To freeze sliced pineapple, spread the pieces onto a parchment-lined sheet tray. Set in your freezer until they become completely hard, at least 4 hours. Transfer to a freezer-safe sealable bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Better than a Pineapple Hack!
If you look up how to cut pineapple on the internet, you may see the videos online of the incredible pineapple hack where you just roll the pineapple on the counter and… Voila! Pull a spike and it instantly gives way to the fruit with no slicing involved. Guess we’ve all been doing it wrong this whole time! Unfortunately, like most food hacks I’ve seen (and a good rule of thumb for life more generally): If it looks too good to be true it probably is. While this pineapple hack might come in handy if you’re stuck on a deserted island without a knife and 12 hours to put some muscle into it, in the real world it’s quite a lot more effort than just using the trusted tools we all know and love. If you have an incredibly, perfectly, once-in-a-lifetime ripe pineapple, though, give it a try before you slice it. You never know.
What to Serve with Fresh Pineapple
Of course, you don’t need to do much with super tart, sweet ripe pineapple—the tropical fruit is delicious in its natural state. It’s also a welcome addition to fruit salad or helps to cut any vegetal flavors in a green smoothie. You can also give pineapple a light char on your grill to concentrate its flavors, just the same exact way you would grill a mango or watermelon. Pineapple is also famously talented at cutting the richness of meat–think al pastor, Mexico’s version of beef shawarma, which always includes a thin slice of pineapple on top. I like to add chunks of pineapple to kebabs, like steak shish kebabs or chicken kabobs for a little nontraditional twist. You could even dice up the pineapple chunks and add them to grilled salmon recipe with mango salsa or shrimp ceviche for a refreshing summertime meal. Browse all Mediterranean Recipes.
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