How To Cut A Mango
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Learn how to cut a mango with this easy step-by-step guide! Mango is a delicious stone fruit that’s perfect for eating right out of the skin, or dicing up and adding to salsas, salads and other recipes. Use my tips and tricks to pick a perfectly ripe mango, then cut it open with a knife, remove the seed, and dice it up!
Table of contents
During the summer, in peak mango season, you can find me dicing up a mango and adding it on top of yogurt, acai bowls, salads, tacos and more! This sweet tropical fruit is so delicious. And if you know how to pick out a ripe mango and dice it up, it makes it even easier to enjoy this tasty fruit.
Let’s start by talking about how to pick a ripe mango at the grocery store.
How to select a mango
Just like when you’re trying to find a ripe avocado, you want to give a mango a gentle squeeze. If it’s incredibly firm then it’s not ripe yet. If it indents when gently squeezed, that means it’s probably too ripe. An overripe mango will become a mushy mess when you try to cut it. You want a mango that has just a little bit of give to it.
I do not recommend selecting a ripe mango just by the color. Different varieties of mangos will vary in color when they’re ripe. But you can be guaranteed that a fully green mango is never going to be ripe. As mangos ripen, they change colors to become yellow, orange, or red.
You can also sniff near the stem of the mango. If it has a sweet smell, that means that it’s ripe.
How to cut a mango
- Position a mango upright on a cutting board with the stem facing up. The middle of the mango holds the seed, so you want to slice on each side of the seed, about 1 inch in from the edge of the mango.
- Once you slice both sides off of the seed, you can set the middle seed aside. For the two slices of mango, you’ll want to use a sharp knife and slice vertically and horizontally most of the way down through the mango flesh, but not through the skin. I like to make half-inch cubes, but you can make them any size you’d like.
- Pick up the sliced mango, then run a spoon between the mango flesh and the skin to remove the cubes of mango.
- Discard the skin of the mango. If you’d like, you can use a knife to try to remove any flesh left on the seed of the mango from the middle. Or you can discard the middle, and just use the mango cubes from the flesh on each side of the seed.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you cut a mango into strips? Instead of creating a grid pattern, as shown above, with vertical and horizontal cuts, simply slice the mango vertically. Use a spoon or small paring knife to go under the mango slices and remove them from the skin.
- How do you cut a mango with a glass? This is a popular mango cutting hack that many people use. The key to making this work is making sure that the mango is ripe. If it’s not, it will not work. After you’ve cut the two sides from the seed in the middle of the mango, slide the edge of a glass between the skin and the flesh of the mango. This works well for removing the skin of a really ripe mango.
- Can you eat mango skin? While the skin of a mango is edible, it has an unpleasant taste, so I do not recommend eating it. Once you’ve removed the mango flesh, simply discard the skin of the mango.
- Should mangoes be refrigerated? Once mangos are ripe, they should be moved from the counter at room temperature to the fridge. This will slow down the ripening process and will keep the mangos good for up to 5 days. Peeled, sliced or diced mango, should also be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eaten within 3-5 days.
- Can you freeze mangoes? Yes, I recommend peeling and dicing the mangoes first. Next, seal them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 6 months. Frozen mangos are great for smoothies or frozen drinks!
Ways to use mangos in recipes
Once you’ve picked the perfect mango, removed the flesh and discarded the skin, you can use the mango to make a delicious, tropical salsa. This is my favorite way to use mango and it’s perfect for topping tacos or dipping up with chips. You can also add diced mango to smoothies, frozen drinks, or salads.
Now that you know how to cut a mango, you must try all these delicious mango recipes!
- Mango Avocado Salsa (pictured above)
- Chipotle Honey Glazed Salmon Tacos with Mango Salsa
- Mango Salsa
- Frozen Mango Margarita
- Spicy Serrano Mango Margarita
- Mango Salsa Chicken
- Shrimp Mango Arugula Salad
- Pineapple Mango Kale Salad
- Caribbean Mango Avocado Ahi Lettuce Wraps
- Mango Quinoa Salad – from Bowl of Delicious
- Mango Chicken Stir Fry – from Whisk Affair
More kitchen tutorials
Become a pro in the kitchen! Don’t miss these other quick and easy how-to posts!
How To Cut A Mango
Ingredients
- 1 ripe mango
Instructions
- Start by selecting a ripe mango at the grocery store. Give the mango a gentle squeeze, it should have a little give, but not indent when gently squeezed.
- Once you have a ripe mango at home, position it upright on a cutting board with the stem facing up.
- The middle of the mango holds the seed, so you want to slice on each side of the seed, about 1 inch in from the edge of the mango.
- Once you slice both sides off of the seed, you can set the middle seed aside. For the two slices of mango, you’ll want to use a sharp knife to slice the mango into a grid pattern, most of the way down through the mango flesh, but not through the skin.
- Pick up the sliced mango, then run a spoon between the mango flesh and the skin to remove the cubes of mango.
- Discard the skin of the mango. If you’d like, you can use a knife to try to remove any flesh left on the seed of the mango from the middle. But most of the middle is seed, so you will get very little flesh between the skin and the seed.
Notes
- To cut the mango into strips, instead of cubes, simply slice the mango vertically. Use a spoon or small paring knife to go under the mango slices and remove them from the skin.
- While the skin of a mango is edible, it has an unpleasant taste, so I do not recommend eating it. Once you’ve removed the mango flesh, simply discard the skin of the mango.
- Once mangos are ripe, they should be moved from room temperature to the fridge. This will slow down the ripening process and will keep the mangos good for up to 5 days. Peeled, sliced or diced mango, should also be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eaten within 3-5 days.
- To freeze peeled and diced mango, place the mango in a freezer-safe bag, remove as much air as possible, and freeze for up to 6 months.
Nutrition Facts
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