How to Chop Fresh Herbs

By eHow Food & Drink Editor

Chop Fresh Herbs Chop Fresh Herbs

Rate: (15 Ratings)

Fresh herbs are an important part of many recipes, and chopping them to the right size helps blend their flavors in.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Step1
Rinse your herbs and carefully dry them with paper towels.
Step2
Clean your cutting board, leaving a wide working area.
Step3
If using herbs with a woody or thick stem, like rosemary, basil, or older thyme, strip the leaves off the stems with your fingers. Save the stems for other uses.
Step4
Remove the lower stems from herbs like parsley or cilantro. (You can chop the upper stems.)
Step5
Pile the herbs on your cutting board.
Step6
Chop the herb pile roughly first, drawing the herbs into a pile as you rechop.
Step7
Finely chop the herbs by using the "hinge" method. Hold the knife firmly but not too tight with one hand, and place the fingers of your other hand on top of the knife down by the tip, both to keep the tip lightly pressed to the cutting board and to keep that hand out of the way.
Step8
Raise the knife handle up and down rapidly, using a rocking motion, with the tip of the knife acting as a hinge.
Step9
Use the knife to draw the herbs back into a neat pile after every few strokes to make sure they are chopped evenly.
Step10
Use the fresh herbs in your recipe as soon as you've finished chopping them.

Tips & Warnings

  • The best knife for chopping herbs is sharp with a wide blade, such as a chef's knife or a Chinese cleaver, that lets you chop without hitting your fingers on the cutting board. Don't use serrated-edge knives, because they won't cut cleanly.
  • Delicate fresh herbs like basil and cilantro can be torn into pieces with your fingers instead of chopping, for a rustic effect.
  • To make long strips (called "chiffonade"), commonly used for basil and mint, stack individual leaves on top of each other, then roll up the leaves. Cut thin slices off the leaf roll to make long, thin strips of herb.
  • Make sure your cutting board is clean before you chop anything. Herbs can absorb "off" flavors from remnants on the board, and hard ingredients, like chunks of peppercorns or seed spices, can damage the fine edge on knives.

Comments

| View All Comments

Chef1 said

Flag This Comment

on 12/8/2007 I have been a chef for twelve years and this was an excellent article

Flag This Comment

on 11/16/2007 This is a helpful article. We have a large herb garden but sometimes I find myself using the dried herbs in the pantry because I don't want to take time to chop up the fresh herbs. With your tips, maybe I'll do better at opting for fresh!

recipe said

Flag This Comment

on 11/1/2007 Another great way is to roll them especially if they're leafy herbs, there's more on how to do it here: http://www.fasteasyrecipe.com/blog/2007/10/can-you-smoke-it.html

TJONeill said

Flag This Comment

on 10/21/2007 A santoku knife can also be very useful when chopping herbs. Also, when drawing anything into a pile with the knife i always make sure to use the spine of the blade to prevent any unnecessary dulling from dragging the edge across the cutting board.

View All

Post a Comment

POST A COMMENT

Request a New How-To Article

Looking for more How To information? Chances are there’s an eHow member who knows how to do what you’re looking to do. Submit an article request now!

eHow Article:  How to Chop Fresh Herbs

eHow Food & Drink Editor

eHow Food & Drink Editor

Category: Food & Drink

Articles: See my other articles

Related Ads

Food & Drink

Bethenny
Meet Bethenny Frankel eHow’s Food & Drink Expert.