How To Cut Perfect Tomato Slices Like A Professional

While Michelin-starred cutting skills aren't required in most home kitchens, the ability to slice a good tomato is always appreciated. Slicing a tomato isn't as easy as it sounds, though. Your knife should be sharp enough, the tomato is hopefully firm enough, but most importantly: It's about the technique.

Holding a tomato with your knuckles tucked in is the first step to properly slicing, though positioning the tomato will also help. The tomato should be put on its side with the top part of the tomato facing your right (if you're left-handed, the top will be on the left). From here, you should use a serrated knife and cut against the core of the tomato (in other words, horizontally). This means cutting parallel slices from the top of the tomato, right through until you reach the bottom end.

A beautiful slice of tomato will stack easily on a juicy burger, lie graciously with mozzarella and some balsamic as an appetizer, or adorn a fully packed salad. Whichever way you choose to use uniformly sliced tomatoes, even someone who hates the taste of tomatoes will be able to appreciate their presentation.

Slicing in a certain direction will ensure your slices remain intact and not squished. Of course, avoiding kitchen injuries should be the priority, no matter what kitchen tool you use. Like how you should avoid scraping your knuckles on a cheese grater by using the right technique.

If you've ever noticed the inside of a tomato, or had one leak pulp out while you sliced, it's because the core of the vegetable holds the cavities and pulp together. When you don't slice against the core, you end up with a mess of tomato because each slice will not have a piece of core to maintain the structure of the tomato at its center. 

The use of a serrated knife in your slicing is also important. This type of knife can easily slide through the tomato skin without you needing to add pressure to get through the vegetable. However, if you use even a slightly dull knife you'll end up squishing your slices. So, while a chef's knife or bread knife could also work, your best option is the serrated knife which has the sharp edges needed to cut through the tomato's firm skin. If you are going to use another option like a chef's knife, it's important to make sure it is as sharp as possible. That way, you can allow the blade to do the cutting without needing to push into the tomato which, again, will cause the tomato slices to deform.