We’ve rounded up our favourite TikToks that share some genius peeling and cutting hacks that’ll become part of your regular kitchen prep in no time.  

Unless you’re a trained chef, cutting difficult fruits and vegetables can be challenging. However, with the right approach and technique, it can become a breeze. Bonus – buying uncut fruit and veg instead of prepared works out cheaper, giving you more bang for your buck.  

Safety tips:

• Lay a thick tea towel (double up if it isn’t thick enough) under your chopping board to make sure it doesn’t slide around while you work. 

• When chopping, always make sure you have a firm grip of the fruit or vegetable and that when you slice, you make a ‘claw’ so that your fingers are pointing downwards, not splayed out – this can lead to accidents. 

Avo 

There are many ways to peel an avocado, but if you want to keep the avo half smooth and intact, try this hack the next time you’re hosting a brunch and want your avo to look Instagram-perfect. After slicing the avo in half, take a sharp knife and cut off the tip of the avo, where the kernel is. Then start peeling away the skin, and voila! Slice the avo diagonally, making sure the slices don’t stick to your knife (you can wet the knife slightly if this is an issue). Then simply fan the avo out onto a platter so friends can grab them easily with a fork.   

 

@lowcarbstateofmind #howto cut/peel an avocado #learnontiktok ♬ Dissolve – Absofacto & NITESHIFT

Garlic 

Peeling garlic is a bit of a hassle, but by far the best hack we’ve seen is to microwave the bulb of garlic for 20 seconds (for individual cloves, shorten the time), then leave to cool slightly. The skin will slide off without you having to struggle and your fingers won’t be left with that pungent sticky residue. You can also shake them around in a jar after they’ve been microwaved to loosen the skins. 

Pomegranate 

Who doesn’t enjoy eating pomegranate, right? But deseeding one isn’t a task anyone on the MyKitchen team would have voluntarily wanting to do…until we came across the quickest and easiest way!  

 

@whatgreatgrandmaate How to remove pomegranate seeds easily without making a mess. #pomegranate #pomegranatehack #healthyfood #foodhack #paleo #vegan #fyp ♬ original sound – Jean Choi

Pineapple 

Many people are reluctant to purchase pineapple in its uncut form purely because of the labour required to peel it, and most ways of slicing it waste the precious fruit. Using a large knife, slice off the top. Then slice vertically down the pineapple to remove the outer layer, making sure not too take off too much flesh (don’t remove the ‘eyes’ just yet). Now take a smaller paring knife and, working along the natural line of each row of eyes, slice left and right to remove each of them. Then cut the pineapple into smaller sections and store. 

 

@kkearah.kkraus Reply to @the_real_charlie_puth here it is finally: how to cut a pineapple 🍍 #cuttingpineapple #howtocutpineapple ♬ original sound – Kearah

Mango

This TikTokker offers two ways to peel a mango – the first approach (if your mango is very ripe) is to cut the mango into chunks and use a glass to ‘peel’ it, which will make sure you go as close to the skin as possible. The second way to get to the mango flesh easily is by cutting a grid into a slice of mango and inverting it so the ‘cubes’ pop out (this is great option for toddlers as they will enjoy gripping the cubes). 

 

@erin_dittmer Mango hack #lifehack #cooking #lifetips #fyp #mealprep #mealprepideas #fypシ #fypage #SmoothLikeNitroPepsi #viral #viralvideo #whenwomenwin #thisiswhatdreamsaremadeof ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

Butternut

Many people use a knife to peel a butternut but doing it that way means you end up taking some of the flesh off unnecessarily. Cut the butternut in half, and simply use a sharp, sturdy vegetable peeler to peel the skin away before slicing it. If you want to remove the seeds, use a spoon so scoop them out (or simply roast them with the butternut!). 

 

@rosalynndaniels Here I am showing you How to cut a butternut squash. Save your money, and stop buying #prepackagedveggies #howtocutbutternutsquash #butternutsquass #kitchencuttingboard #kitchenhack #cuttingveggies ♬ Rich Minion – Yeat