How can you tell if a mango is ripe?

When choosing a mango for recipes, I usually pick the ones that are red on the outside rather than the all yellow ones. To tell if a mango is ripe, simply give it a gentle squeeze. If it gives just slightly, it should be ripe enough to cut and dice for your recipes. I would avoid using mangoes that are super soft unless you’re going to blend up the mango in a recipe. Have a slightly ripe, but still firm mango will ensure that the cubes you cut remain intact.

If you have mangoes that you want to ripen faster, you can put them in a brown paper bag and even add a banana or apple to speed up the ripening process!

See how to cut a mango 3 different ways:

Step-by-step guide for cutting a mango:

1. Hold your mango upright and find the tallest side. The pit will be sitting along that line, so you’ll want to be facing parallel to that side. With a small paring knife, carefully slice half of the mango off of the pit while aiming your knife towards the center of the mango.

2. Turn your mango 180 degrees and hold the top while you slice the other half off of the pit

3. Take one half of your mango and cut lines vertically through the fruit side of the half without cutting through the skin. Be careful not to get your fingers in the way of your knife while you do this.

4. Flip your mango half so that the vertical lines you just cut are now facing you horizontally. Cut lines vertically through this side of the fruit without cutting through the skin. You should end up with grid-like lines in this half of your mango.

Method 1: using a knife

To cut your mango using a knife only, carefully turn your mango half inside-out by pressing the skin side outward with your thumbs. The fruit side of your mango half will then have equal-sized cubes sticking out. Take your paring knife and carefully slice off the cubes of mango away from you without cutting through the skin.

Method 2: using a spoon

After you’ve created a grid-like pattern in half of your mango as shown in the photo above, take a spoon and scoop out the equal-sized cubes, leaving the skin behind.

Method 3: using a cup

After you’ve created a grid-like pattern in half of your mango, take a small glass cup and use the rim to scoop out the mango cubes. You’ll do this by pulling the cup down your mango half using equal pressure.

Start at step 4 with your other mango half, and use any of the above 3 methods to cut your second side!

Mango recipes you’ll love:

Blackened Salmon Tacos with Forbidden Rice & Mango Guacamole

Mango Chicken Stir-Fry

Fiesta Mango Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Jerk Chicken with Caribbean Rice & Mango Salsa

Avocado Strawberry Mango Salsa

How to Cut a Mango: 3 different ways!

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Course How to

Keyword how to cut a mango

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Serves 1

How to cut a mango three different ways! These three easy, safe methods for cutting a mango can be done without a peeler and even using a cup. You'll use this simple kitchen hack again and again!

Ingredients

• 1 ripe, but still firm mango

Instructions

1. Hold your mango upright and find the tallest side. The pit will be sitting along that line, so you’ll want to be facing parallel to that side. With a small paring knife, carefully slice half of the mango off of the pit while aiming your knife towards the center of the mango.
2. Turn your mango 180 degrees and hold the top while you slice the other half off of the pit.
3. Take one half of your mango and cut lines vertically through the fruit side of the half without cutting through the skin. Be careful not to get your fingers in the way of your knife while you do this.
4. Flip your mango half so that the vertical lines you just cut are now facing you horizontally. Cut lines vertically through this side of the fruit without cutting through the skin. You should end up with grid-like lines in this half of your mango.
5. METHOD 1: carefully turn your mango half inside-out by pressing the skin side outward with your thumbs. The fruit side of your mango half will then have equal-sized cubes sticking out. Take your paring knife and carefully slice off the cubes of mango away from you without cutting through the skin.
6. METHOD 2: after you’ve created a grid-like pattern in half of your mango, take a spoon and scoop out the equal-sized cubes, leaving the skin behind.
7. METHOD 3: after you’ve created a grid-like pattern in half of your mango, take a small glass cup and use the rim to scoop out the mango cubes. You’ll do this by pulling the cup down your mango half using equal pressure.
8. Start at step 4 with your other mango half, and use any of the above 3 methods to cut this side!

Tips by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by Eat Love Eats