How to Dice Tomatoes

Posted by Unknown on Friday, April 18, 2014

Tomatoes, those fabulous fruits masquerading as vegetables, are use in a seemingly infinite amount of recipes. Occasionally recipes called for diced tomatoes, or seedless diced tomatoes. Never diced a tomato before? Don't worry--here's are several ways to dice and seed tomatoes. You'll be a pro in no time.

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EditDicing Tomatoes Without Seeding Them

Buy or pick the right amount of tomatoes you will need for your recipe. Roma, also known as plum, tomatoes typically have less juice and more flesh than common beefsteak varieties. For 1 cup of diced tomatoes, use a little less than 1 lb. of fresh Roma and a little more than 1 lb. (or about 450gm) of fresh beefsteak tomatoes.

Remove the stem with your fingers before you chop tomatoes. You can also cut the top off, removing the stem and the divot the stem makes in the top of the tomato.

Slice the tomato in half lengthwise (through the spot where the stem would be).

Place your tomato cut-side down and make horizontal cuts. This may entail two or more slices, depending on how big the whole tomato is. With your hands, keep all the slices together in a stack as you work.
- You can also choose not to stack the slices. With your tomato cut-side down, and cut down through the tomato and into the cutting board, instead of cutting across. If you do this, keep the slices together and turn it 90 degrees before going to the next step.^[1]

Chop the tomato perpendicular to the slices you have made previously. Use the same size of slices that you made for the horizontal cuts. Doing this will result in a uniform dice.

Complete the dice by cutting the tomato strips into cubes of the desired size. A finer dice would require you to cut smaller cubes, while a rough chop allows you to cut the cubes in larger, less uniform pieces.

EditDicing and Seeding Tomatoes

Cut a flat slice on the bottom of the tomato. This flat end will allow you to prop the tomato up so that it stands on its own on the cutting board. This method is good for roma tomatoes because they have a large seed core and less inner flesh.^[2]

Make long cuts from the top to the bottom of the tomato. These should be petal like in shape. Place your knife at the top of the tomato and cut outwards along the inside seed core. Your cut should be a curve so that the flesh of the tomato separates from the seed core.^[3]

Cut all of the flesh away from the tomato so that only the seed core is left. Discard the seed core. Cutting the flesh from the seeds reduces the moisture content of diced tomatoes in your composed dish.

Lay the flesh slices on the cutting board. Make horizontal slices along the length of each piece. Make them as wide as you want you diced pieces to be.

Turn your slices 90 degrees and make perpendicular cuts. These cuts should result in cubes of tomato.

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EditTips

Cut a beefsteak tomato in half using a serrated knife. Serrated knives work well because they will cut your tomato without squishing it. This method works well for beefsteak tomatoes because they have a lot of separate seed chambers and a lot of inner flesh.^[4]

When dicing large or delicate tomatoes, separate each tomato into 2 stacks instead of 1 to complete the vertical slices with greater stability.

Remove the skin, if desired, by dropping whole tomatoes into boiling water for 1 minute. When cooled, peel away their skin and discard it. Recipes such as salsa and tomato sauce may require skin removal prior to dicing tomatoes.

If your regular knife is not sharp enough to penetrate the tomato, use a serrated knife.

Tabouli, pico de gallo and cooked tomato sauces may benefit from tomato seed removal.

There's plenty you can do with diced tomatoes:
- Make your own ketchup.
- Go vegetarian with tomato gravy. Tomato gravy is a great vegetarian option for your favorite holiday meals.
- Wow your guests with sherried tomato soup. This soup tastes gourmet but is secretly very easy to make.
- Give grandma a run for her money with this delicious spaghetti sauce recipe. Family and friends will soon be begging for your secret ingredient.