How to Peel an Avocado

Need to peel an avocado for some guacamole or a Cobb Salad? You can do it with the tools you already have in your kitchen, and without making a big mess.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• avocado
• knife - a paring knife, tomato knife, or santoku knife will work especially well
• soup spoon or butter knife

1. 
    
   ripe Hass avocados

   The initial step is to choose a ripe avocado. The first clue is the color -- most avocados in the grocery store are Hass variety, and those will be very dark green and wrinkly when ripe. The best test, however, is to squeeze the avocado. It should 'give' a little to the pressure of your hand. If it squishes rather than 'gives' it's overripe, and if it doesn't 'give' at all, it's not ripe enough. If you need to ripen avocados, just place them in a paper bag with an apple and leave the bag on the kitchen counter for a couple of days.

2. 
    
   avocado half with pit inside

   The next step is to slice the avocado in half and separate the halves. Carefully slice the avocado lengthwise, all the way around. You'll know when you've sliced through, because the pit will stop the blade of your knife. Then hold each half of the avocado in the palm of each hand and very gently twist them in opposite directions. The fruit is soft and smooth and will separate easily.

3. 
    
   paring knife

   Next, remove the pit. There are a couple of ways to do this without making a mess of the fruit it is lodged in. The safer way is to use the soup spoon to gently pry the pit away from the fruit.
   
   Another way is to use leverage by way of the knife. Tap the avocado pit with the blade of the knife. It doesn't take much force for the knife to firmly lodge in the pit (in fact, if you use too much force, you're likely to splatter yourself with avocado pulp). Twist the knife handle slightly and lift. The pit should come away clean, stuck to the blade of the knife.

4. 
    
   butter knife

   The last step is to separate the avocado fruit from the skin. This can easily be accomplished with the soup spoon. Simply wedge the spoon between the fruit and the skin at the top of the avocado, and pry the fruit away, sliding the spoon along as you go.
   
   If you need sliced or diced avocado instead of mashed, try using a butter knife instead of a soup spoon. Slice the fruit with the butter knife while it is still attached to the skin, then use the same implement to pry the slices away from the skin.

Tips & Warnings

• Pitting and slicing the avocado can be made even easier with a specialized tool that can be found at cookware websites. However, at over $10 to upwards of $20 this item, usually called an Avocado Pitter or Slicer, is a bit spendy for a tool that is pretty much dedicated to only one task.
• When slicing the avocado in half, be careful of your hands. The easiest way to grip the avocado for slicing is to lay the avocado in the palm of one hand. If you do this, place a folded kitchen towel in your palm to protect yourself. Another common method is to hold the avocado against a flat surface while gripping one half with your fingertips. If you use this second method, go slowly to maintain awareness of where your fingers are in relation to the blade of your knife.

Resources

• Lots of kitchen equipment can be found here, including a $15 avocado-pitting tool.
• Health benefits of avocados (they're good for your heart).
• Avocado recipes