How to Cut Watermelon { 4 ways }

How to pick a good watermelon? 

• Some people say to “thump it”, we say to “spank it”.
• The key is to hold the watermelon in your other hand when you spank it, so you can feel the vibrations through the watermelon. A tighter vibration should be reflective of a crisp texture while a mealy watermelon will have a much softer vibration. It should not have a hollow sound.
• Look for the “field spot”. Yellow creamy color spot on the bottom means that it was resting on the ground and sweetened on the vine. This “field spot” should be a rich yellow color indicating it had plenty of time to lay in the field and sweeten in the sun. Avoid the green all over melons as they were usually picked too soon and didn’t get to ripen in the fields.
• Here’s all our photos to show how to pick a watermelon details and story behind our inspiration.

How To Cut watermelon Safely (Prep)

• Use these no slip cutting boards or similar. This will help you slice into the watermelon securely without the board underneath slipping on you. Or you can use a dish towel to place under your cutting board to keep it from slipping.
• If wet, dry the sharp knife, board and watermelon to ensure minimal slipping.
• A medium to large sharp chef’s knife with a thick blade.
• Make sure to have a secure hold on the watermelon to keep it from rolling.
• Don’t try to cut the whole watermelon in half at once. Cut through the rind one one side and work your way around the watermelon. Insert the knife tip into the watermelon and then cut into it a 3 or 4 inches deep. Cut through the rind, rotating the watermelon to cut the circumference. Finally, once the rind it cut through, the interior of the watermelon with break to separate into halves.
• Take it slow and avoid any injury!

How to cut watermelon in triangle shapes or watermelon wedges

• Once you’ve prepped the watermelon cut it in half.
• Cut one half into half again. You will basically have 1/4 watermelon at this point.
• Then cut that 1/4 watermelon in half again.
• Slice it in half one more time into the flesh. This will make the slices small enough for easy eating.
• Hold the tip up on one end of the watermelon and slice into serving pieces.

How to cut watermelon in sticks for easy serving 

• Halve the watermelon. Place cut side down on board.
• Cut thick 1-inch to 1.5 inch slices across the melon.
• Turn and slice again across to create sticks.
• Serve on a platter or allow guests to just serve themselves. Guests love eating cut watermelon sticks because you don’t need any utinsels!

Cutting Watermelon Cubes for Salads

Once you have your sticks cut to length, chop them up for any type of salads. From fruit salads to our popular Summer watermelon salad recipe with arugula and mint or other herbs. This is the perfect bite size pieces for easy eating. You can also use a melon baller to make water melon balls. But we feel that this method is wasteful when you scoop small balls of watermelon. The remaining watermelon can be eaten, but it’s still wasteful.

Easy watermelon recipes 

Now that you have your cut watermelon, try these refreshing and healthy fruit recipes: 

• Watermelon arugula and feta salad 
• Patriotic Red white and blue fruit salad with watermelon 
• Inside a watermelon margarita 
• Mojitos with watermelon 
• Or just blend and make watermelon aqua fresca (watermelon juice)
• here’s a great guide to different varieties of watermelon 
• this article was originally published in 2020.