Here's the Best Way to Cut a Cantaloupe

In the late days of summer, you'll find cantaloupes at the market that are ready to be enjoyed at the peak of ripeness. But unlike other summer produce like cherries and peaches, you can't just pop a cantaloupe into your mouth or take a bite immediately. First you've got to remove its rind and cut it up.

It's easy to cut cantaloupe into beautiful wedges, slices, cubes or even a fancy decorative bowl. Before cutting, scrub the rind thoroughly with a produce brush under running water and rinse well. This removes bacteria from the surface of the rind to prevent food-borne illness, so your knife doesn't transfer any potential germs to the inner flesh.

FYI, this method also works for other round melons like honeydew, canary melons and even watermelon!

How to cut a cantaloupe into slices or wedges

Hold the melon to keep it stable on your cutting board so it doesn't roll.

With a sharp chef's knife, cut a small sliver off both the stem and blossom ends of the cantaloupe so it's flat on the top and bottom.

Turn the cantaloupe so it's sitting on one of the flat ends. Keep holding it stable and slice in a curved motion from top to bottom to remove the rind piece by piece, working your way around the cantaloupe.

Turn the cantaloupe on its side and cut it in half.

Use a spoon to remove the seeds and pulp from the center cavity of each cantaloupe half.

Turn the cantaloupe over once more so the large flat side is against the cutting board. Cut into thin slices or wedges as desired.

How to cut a cantaloupe into cubes

Follow all the instructions above to cut the cantaloupe into wedges.

Then stack the wedges and cut into cubes.

How to cut a fancy cantaloupe bowl

Slice the stem and bottom ends off the cantaloupe as shown above, but don't remove the rind.

Instead, use the tip of your knife to carefully cut in a zigzag pattern through the "equator" of the cantaloupe. Make sure to insert the knife deeply enough to get to the center of the cantaloupe, but not so far through that it pokes out the other side!

After you've cut the whole way around the cantaloupe, gently pull the two halves apart. Scoop out the seeds as shown above.

You can fill the cantaloupe with other fruits like strawberries or cherries, melon balls, or just scoop out the melon flesh and eat it on its own.

Now that you know how to cut up a melon, check out all of our healthy cantaloupe recipes and other melon recipes.