How Do You Dice Tomatoes Without Squashing Them?

A tomato is a thin, tough skin around soft, wet flesh. Press a knife down on it and the skin holds while the inside gives way, so you get pulp instead of dice. The method below is about getting through that skin without pushing.

How do you dice tomatoes, step by step?

To dice tomatoes, cut out the core, halve each tomato from top to bottom, and lay the halves cut side down. Slice each half into strips, turn the strips sideways, and cut across them to make dice. Saw with light strokes rather than pressing down, and the pieces keep their shape.

1. Rinse and dry the tomato. A dry skin is less slippery on the board.
2. Cut out the core. Push the tip of a small knife in beside the stem scar at an angle and turn the tomato against the blade, cutting out a small cone. Small tomatoes may not need this.
3. Halve it through the stem end. Cut from top to bottom so each half has a flat cut face.
4. Seed it, if the dish needs it. Scoop out the seeds and their jelly with a spoon or your finger. See the section on seeding below.
5. Lay each half cut side down and slice strips. Use long, light strokes, letting the knife’s edge do the work.
6. Cut across the strips. Hold the strips together and slice across them at the same width. Each cut gives a row of dice.

The halving step is the shortcut. A potato needs a slice off one side before it sits still, which is the first move in dicing a potato. A tomato half is already flat on the bottom, so it’s steady from the first cut.

For this post I ran Today’s Mealow, the app I build, with the location set to downtown Austin. I asked for a sour Western dinner with friends. It picked a lemon tart, grilled quail with pickled vegetables and a Mediterranean salad with lemon vinaigrette from places nearby.

The salad is the one closest to this post. Diced tomato is what makes a salad like that juicy, and you can make it at home with the steps above. The quail I’d leave to the restaurant.

What knife is best for dicing tomatoes?

The best knife for dicing tomatoes is a sharp chef’s knife or a serrated knife. A serrated edge, like a bread knife or a small tomato knife, grips the skin and cuts through it even when it isn’t freshly sharpened. A dull smooth blade slides off the skin and squashes the tomato instead.

Whichever you use, let the blade travel. Draw it back and forth through the tomato in long strokes. If you find yourself pressing, the knife needs sharpening or the tomato needs a serrated edge.

Should you seed tomatoes before dicing them?

Seed tomatoes before dicing when the dish should stay dry and fresh, like salsa, pico de gallo, bruschetta or a salad that sits for a while. Leave the seeds in when the tomatoes go into sauce, soup or stew, where the extra juice cooks into the dish.

The seeds sit in a watery jelly. In a cooked dish that jelly adds flavor. In a raw one it runs off and makes the bread soggy or the salsa thin. Scooping it out is quick, and it is easier before you slice strips than after.

Do you need to peel tomatoes before dicing?

Peeling is only worth it for smooth sauces and soups, where loose strips of skin would curl up in the pot. For salads, salsa and anything raw, leave the skin on. It helps the dice hold their shape.

To peel tomatoes, cut a small X in the bottom of each one. Drop them into boiling water until the skin at the X starts to lift, then move them to a bowl of ice water. The skin slips off with your fingers. Core, halve and dice as usual after that.

How do you dice Roma and cherry tomatoes?

Dice Roma tomatoes the same way as round ones: core, halve lengthwise, lay flat, slice and cross-cut. Their firmer flesh and smaller seed pockets make the neatest dice. Cherry tomatoes are too small to slice into strips, so quarter them instead and call that a dice.

Roma tomatoes, also called plum tomatoes, are the usual pick for salsa and bruschetta, because they hold together and aren’t as watery. Large round slicing tomatoes have more juice and more seeds, which suits a sauce.

For a pile of cherry tomatoes, there’s a faster way. Put them between two flat plastic lids, press lightly on the top lid, and run a long serrated knife through the gap between the lids. Every tomato is halved in one pass.

What should I make with diced tomatoes tonight?

Diced tomatoes go into pico de gallo, bruschetta, Greek salad, tacos, pasta sauce, chili, omelets and tomato and egg stir-fry. Seeded Roma dice suit the raw dishes. Juicier dice with seeds suit the cooked ones. Pick the dish first, then decide whether to seed.

Take a taco night as an example. Pico de gallo is raw, so seed the tomatoes and cut them small to match the diced onion and cilantro. If the plan is a quick pasta instead, leave the seeds in, cut bigger, and let the pan break them down. Tomato and egg stir-fry and shakshuka both start with diced tomato, and the guide on how to make eggs covers the egg side.

Tomatoes diced, but no idea what they’re going into? Today’s Mealow asks six questions, from the meal to how you’re feeling, then picks 3 dishes from real places near you.

Give me a dinner idea

Not sure whether to cook it yourself or order it in? The kitchen test helps with that call.