How To "Halve" a Pint of Cherry Tomatoes

No, this isn’t a how-to for eating half a pint of cherry tomatoes.

Have you ever looked at a cherry tomato recipe and been discouraged by the thought of individually slicing an entire pint of cherry tomatoes in half? Maybe you even thought, “there’s gotta be a better way!” Well, there is!

To easily slice a large quantity of cherry tomatoes into halves, you’ll need a long serrated knife (like a bread knife) and some combination of two flat surfaces (two dinner plates, two cutting boards, one plate and one cutting board), and, of course, the tomatoes.

Take the green tops (calyxes) off of all the tomatoes, and then place them on a flat dinner plate or cutting board. Put the second plate or cutting board on top, sandwiching the tomatoes in the middle. Then, while applying gentle pressure to the top board/plate to keep the tomatoes in place, slide and slice your knife through the middle using a gentle sawing motion. You may need to rotate the plate to get all the way to the other side. Once you make it through remove the top plate/board and marvel at the plate of sliced tomatoes!

Full disclosure: I have yet to accomplish this without having to slice a few of the tomatoes individually at the end – somehow at least 3 escape my knife every time, but it sure does “cut” out a lot of the work!