How to Pit an Avocado

Are you sizing up an avocado, staring at the weird, bumpy, thick skin?

Yeah – inside it’s all creamy goodness. Guacamole … a topping for burgers and tacos and salads … our No-Cook Fresh Corn, Tomato and Avocado Salad … oh, so many possibilities!

But if you’re looking at that greenish-black exterior, just wondering about the easiest way to get to the guac, you’ve come to the right place! We’re here to help!

You may have seen other approaches to pitting avocados, but we’re gonna share what we’ve found to be the quickest and easiest. Because, of course, we’re all about quick and easy … that’s how we do it at THK!

So, let’s get started!

First, give your avocado a rinse to help wash away any lurking bacteria or contaminants that might travel inside the avocado as your knife slices in.

Then, run a sharp knife (preferably a good chef’s knife) around the avocado, slicing vertically (from top to bottom) all the way around in a complete circle.

Next, firmly grasp both halves of the avocado and gently twist in opposite directions. The halves should twist apart, allowing you to pull them easily away from each other. Ah-ha! You’re in!

Now the tricky part. CAREFULLY use your chef’s knife to give the pit a firm whack with the knife blade, just enough that the blade embeds a little into the pit. Turn the embedded knife so that the pit twists free of the avocado flesh. Discard the pit. Got it? Well done!

To get your beautiful avocado out of the casing, gently run a spoon between the flesh and the skin. It should easily come apart, leaving you with half of an avocado that’s ready to be sliced, diced, chopped … even mashed into guacamole! (Repeat with the other half, of course!)

We’ve seen various gadgets marketed to help you with this scooping process, but we’re not really into crowding our drawers with extraneous, single-purpose gadgets. We find a plain-old spoon works just fine.

That’s it. Seriously. Now, go make something awesome!

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