How To Perfectly Slice Any Tomato

Maybe instructions for slicing a tomato seem silly, especially since no matter how you slice a ripe tomato, it will still be meaty, juicy, and mouthwatering with nothing more than a sprinkle of salt. If you’ve ever had a luscious tomato fall apart before you could get it on that BLT, though, you understand that just one important trick means the difference between a sliced tomato and a perfectly sliced tomato.

Cutting against the core is the key to keeping slices intact. Each slice should have the “spokes” of tomato flesh holding it together. Tomatoes grow down from the stem, creating a series of cavities around a soft core. This core holds the cavities together, which keeps the seeds and juicy pulp in place. A tomato cut into slices parallel to the core will burst open; large sections of pulp will fall out of the tomato slices once cut.

The best knife for slicing tomatoes is a serrated knife that can easily slice through the tomato skin. Bread knives or even a steak knife with teeth can also do the job. A very sharp chef’s knife will also work for cutting fresh tomatoes.