How to Cut a Peach for Your Favorite Summer Recipes!
Every fresh peach recipe starts with the same important step: slicing peaches.
The recipe you are making may dictate how you want to cut your peach! You may want diced peaches for this Peach Apple Crisp or sliced peaches to put on top of our favorite Fruit & Honey Crostinis or even our Cottage Cheese Toast.
Nevertheless, whether you want halved, sliced, or peeled and diced peaches, this step-by-step guide has you covered! See which basic method of cutting your juicy peaches works best for you!
How to Slice a Peach
- With the stem side pointing up, insert the blade of your sharp paring knife vertically until it reaches the pit. Slice around the peach in a circle.
- Twist the peach halves in opposite directions. Note: this is hard to do if the peach isn’t quite ripe!
- Remove the pit. If the peach pit sticks, cut around it or loosen it with a spoon and remove it.
- Cut the peach into slices. Place the peach halves flat-side-down on a cutting board. Cut each peach in slices of your desired thickness.
Diced Peaches
Diced peaches are the most common way to them in recipes like this gluten free peach cobbler or peach mango salsa.
To dice peaches, follow the instructions to slice them, then turn the peach slices so they are perpendicular and dice into ½-inch pieces.
Two Types of Peaches
- Clingstone peaches: Also called “cling” peaches. Clingstone peaches can be difficult to work with because the pit actually clings to the fruit. This makes it tougher to remove during the process of making cut peaches.
- Freestone peaches: Freestone peaches are the type of peach where the pit separates more easily from the peach flesh. While the pit in clingstone peaches “cling” to the peach flesh, generally, freestone peaches are easier to “free” from the peach flesh!
Recipes with diced peaches: This Healthy Fruit Salsa benefits perfectly from the addition of peaches.
How to Choose a Perfectly Ripe Peach
The peak season for peaches is typically from June to August. Here’s how to tell if a a peach is ripe!
- Smell them! Ripe peaches should have a sweet and fruity aroma.
- Pick them up. Ripe ones should feel heavy for their size as they are dense with liquid. Juicy peaches = heavier than you think!
- Give them a very gentle squeeze. Ripe peaches should have a slight give and feel just a little squishy.
- Avoid green peaches. They were likely picked too early.
- Steer clear of bruised peaches. This includes peaches with dents.
How to Ripen a Peach
3-4 day method: If your fruit isn’t quite ripe enough when you get them home, allow them to ripen at room temperature on your counter for a few days.
Quick method: Place the peaches in a paper bag. Enclosing them traps the ethylene gas they omit which triggers the ripening process. Add a banana or apple to the bag as well to boost the ethylene levels.
Removing Peach Skin
Most baking recipes call for peeled peaches. There are a few peeling methods depending on preference and how ripe the peaches are.
- Vegetable Peeler. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin away from the peach flesh, similar to peeling a potato.
- Blanch the peaches. Add ripe peaches to a pot of boiling water for 15-30 seconds then transfer them to an ice bath. Score the skin and use your fingers to peel it away.
Other step-by-step guides: How to Cut Watermelon Cubes, How to Cut a Bell Pepper, How to Cut Dragon Fruit, and How to Cut Green Onions!
FAQs
Cutting a peach is a simple process! The first step, though, is to know how you want your peaches to end up: in halves, slices, or diced. To make the process even easier, we recommend using a sharp paring knife.
You do not have to peel peaches before cutting them! Whether you peel your peaches or not will depend on personal preference and if your recipe asks for peeled peaches.
If possible, it is best to not cut your peaches until you are ready to use them. Exposing the peach flesh to air will actually speed up the ripening, or again, process. If you cut your peaches and need to store them, it is best to do so in an airtight container. They will last up to five days in the refrigerator.
Try These Recipes with Peaches
How to Slice a Peach
Save this Recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 ripe peach
Instructions
- With your non-dominant hand, hold the whole peach with the stem end facing up. Insert the blade of your sharp paring knife until it reaches the pit. The blade of your knife should run vertically with the peach stem.1 ripe peach
- Keeping the blade inserted and touching the pit the entire time, rotate the peach to slice around it until you’ve reached where you started.
- Hold both halves of the peach in each hand and twist the peach halves in opposite directions. The pit should easily come out of one-half of the peach if it’s ripe enough.
- Place each peach half flat-side-down on the cutting board. Slice peaches into wedges of your desired thickness. If you need diced peaches, turn them perpendicular to the knife and cut them into chunks.
Notes
- ch quicker than peeling each peach one by one.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
