How to Cut Vegetables

By: Kristin Tribbett

INTRODUCTION
When cooking, cutting vegetables is a simple yet very important technique. There are
several different cuts that serve different purposes. Each of the cuts can be used on a
variety of different vegetables. This article will cover three different cuts: slice, dice,
and julienne. It is important in cooking for your cut vegetable pieces to be equal sizes
to ensure equal cooking.

MATERIALS
 Sharp knife
 Cutting board
 Clean vegetables you want to prepare

WARNING Serious injury can occur with improper knife use. Safety risks to cutting
vegetables involve proper knife use in order to prevent any injuries involving the knife.
It is important to note that when one hand (your dominant hand) is holding the knife,
your other hand is holding the food, so it doesn’t slip. It is also important to note that
the hand holding the food is formed into sort of a claw, with the tips of the fingers
pulled back and the knuckles leaning toward the knife. This allows you to firmly hold
the vegetable, while keeping your fingertips away from the knife. Another safety risk is
contamination. Make sure to wash the vegetables, knife and cutting board before use to
prevent any contamination of the vegetable you are preparing.

SLICE

The slice is a type of cut that produces thin, typically round pieces of vegetable. This
type of cut is more commonly used with long round vegetables like carrot, onion,
zucchini, cucumber, tomato, or yellow squash. This instruction set will demonstrate the
slice using an onion; however, this technique can be used to slice any round vegetable.

Slicing an Onion
1. Cut off the two protruding ends of the onion. See figure 1.
2. Peel the skin an outer layer off of the onion and throw it in the garbage.
S

Figure 1. Cut the indicated ends off of the onion.

3. Lay the onion on its side with the two previously cut ends facing left and right.
4. Using a rocking motion cut through the onion, keeping the tip of the knife blade
touching the cutting board. Use the full length of the blade, so that the knife slides
through the onion rather than sawing it. Make each cut about ¼ of an inch thick to
produce a thin even slice. And you will have a sliced onion. See figure 2

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Figure 2. Slice quarter inch pieces of the onion, creating circular slices.

DICE
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The dice is a type of cut that produces smaller cube shaped pieces of vegetables. The
dice and the cube are very similar cuts and are done the same way. A dice is just a
smaller cut than the cube, which is slightly larger than the dice. Dicing can be used for a
variety of vegetables from round vegetables like tomatoes and potatoes to odd shaped
vegetables like peppers. To demonstrate I will have you practice with a tomato, but this
technique can be used to dice any round vegetable.

Dicing a Tomato

1. Cut the tomato in half, and lay the flat edges on the cutting board.
2. Draw the tip of the knife back through the tomato halves to make quarter inch
slices. See figure 3.

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Figure 3. Slicing the tomato into quarter inch slices.

3. Create a grid by cutting through the tomato halves horizontally, holding onto the
 top of the tomato with the fingertips of your other hand. See Figure 4.

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Figure 4. Cutting horizontally through the tomato, creating a grid.

4. Complete the dice by turning the tomato and cutting through the slices crosswise
creating small cubes. And you have a diced tomato. See figure 5.

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Figure 5. Slicing back through the tomato vertically to create a dice.

 JULIENNE

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The julienne is a type of cut that produces very thin long slices of the vegetable you are
cutting. This type of cut can also be used on a wide variety of vegetables from long
skinny vegetables like carrots and zucchini to round vegetables like a potato. I will
demonstrate how to julienne a potato, but this technique can be used to julienne any
round vegetable.

Julienne a Potato

1. Begin by cutting the potato in half so you have a flat surface. See Figure 6.

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Figure 6. Cutting the potato in half to create a flat surface.

2. Place the flat surface down on the cutting board and cut very thin half moon slices
from the potato halves. See Figure 7.

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Figure 7. Cutting the potato in very thin half moon slices.

2. Stack the potatoes in accordion fashion and move the knife down the row using a
rocking motion, keeping the tip of the knife in contact with the cutting surface.
These slices should produce very long, thin, julienne slices. See Figure 8.
Tip: Line up the potatoes with the rounded end of the half moon slices all
facing one direction and start cutting the rounded end and work down the
row.

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Figure 8. Lining the potato in accordion fashion and cutting thin julienne slices.

CONCLUSION
These three cuts are very basic cuts that can be used on a variety of different vegetables
for a variety of different dishes. Most cuts are generally used based on personal
preference. If you like a bigger thicker cut you would use the dice, but if you liked a long
thin cut you would use the julienne, where a slice is typically used on sandwiches or
salads since it produces big circular pieces. Now that you know how to prepare these
three basic cuts, you can use them in any recipe to create vegetables just the way you like
them.