They can be daunting to tackle, but it’s quite easy to learn how to cut a pineapple. This tutorial will teach you how to peel, core and cut pineapple rings and pieces.
There’s not much better than the sweet taste of fresh fruit at the peak of its season.
Pineapple
This gorgeous fruit might be daunting to break into, and that might lead to the canned fruit isle of the market.
Don’t do it!
Once you peel and cut a pineapple for the first time you’ll realize how easy it is.
How to cut a Pineapple . . .
– Cut about an inch off of the top and bottom of the pineapple.
– Stand the pineapple upright on the bottom base you’ve cut. Then to remove the skin, cut, moving your knife downwards into the fruit, just inside the skin.
– Remove the “eyes” — the spots of skin on the surface of the pineapple. Use a Paring knife to make diagonal cuts, following the line of the eyes. Then do this on the other side of them, making a “V” shaped line.
Removing the spots this way allows you to maximize the amount of fruit you can eat. 
– Now you can slice the pineapple any way you’d like to. 
– The very center of the pineapple is usually quite tough. Use a paring knife or a round cutter to remove this area.
(More detailed instructions are below.)
Recipes with fresh pineapple:
- Glazed Pineapple Guava Bread
- Roasted Hatch Chile Pineapple Salsa
- Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Pork Chops
- Coconut Sticky Rice with Spicy Pineapple
- Tropical Quinoa Salad Bowl with Shrimp
Peeled and Sliced Pineapple
Ingredients
- 1 approximately (3 pound) pineapple
Instructions
- On a clean, dry cutting board, place the pineapple on its side. Use a Chef’s knife to cut about ½ to 1 inch off of the top and bottom.
- Stand the pineapple upright on the bottom base you’ve just created. Then to remove the skin, cut, moving your knife downwards into the fruit, just inside the skin. You’ll curve your knife slightly to follow the shape of the pineapple. Go around until the pineapple until you’ve removed all of the skin.
- Remove the “eyes” — these are the remaining spots of skin on the surface of the pineapple. Rather than removing each one, one at a time, use a Paring knife to make diagonal cuts, following the line of the eyes. Then do this on the opposite side of them, making a "V" shaped space. (If you had cut all of these off when you removed the skin, you would have lost a lot of the pineapple. Using this method, you’ll get the maximum amount of fruit possible.)
- Cut the pineapple into slices. Then use a paring knife, or if you have it, a circle cutter, to remove the hard center core. (Sometimes it's not too tough, but if it is, you'll want to remove it.)
Notes
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sippitysup says
I always leave the little brown nuggies on because I like to see people squirm. GREG
Sandy miller says
Valentina,
This is how I cut my pineapple, a piece of cake and all the cubes end up about the same size.
Susan says
I’m a terrible cutter with pineapples. I always end up buying the pre-cut packaged fresh pineapple in my grocery store.
valentina says
You can do it, Susan!
Ash-foodfashionparty says
It’s exactly how I do it except for the slits, looks so neat.
Now I want a pineapple slice with salt and cayenne powder(so so good)..have you ever tried that combo?
Deb says
Oh my goodness what lush photos! I may “need” to pick up a pineapple at the store today!
Great tutorial!
Coco in the Kitchen says
Didn’t know about the spiral slices.
How very interesting.
Going to try it this w/end.
Thanks, V. Have fun in Idaho!
David says
Great tutorial! And I love the way the diagonal cuts look both before and after cutting out the eyes.
valentina says
Thanks so much, David! 😀