How to Cut Romaine Lettuce

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Romaine lettuce is one of the most commonly used types of lettuce. It’s used in everything from Caesar salad to wraps and sandwiches. Fortunately, since you might use a lot of it, cutting romaine lettuce is easy and fast to do. All you have to do is core and quarter a head of rinsed and dried romaine lettuce, and then chop, shred, or tear it any way you like.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Coring and Quartering the Heads

1
Chop the head of romaine in half, lengthwise. Holding the lettuce steady in one hand and your knife in the other, chop lengthwise down the middle of the head of lettuce. You want two long halves of lettuce.^{[1]
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- For easy cutting, use a chef’s knife and start by pressing the pointed end of the chef's knife through the open, leafy end of the head. Then, push down and pull back, making cuts until you slice through the core and have two roughly even halves.
2
Cut the cores out of each half in the shapes of triangles. To remove the cores without wasting any of the lettuce, slice them out of each half using two angled cuts. Using the pointed end of a chef’s knife, make two cuts, about 2 in (5.1 cm) deep at roughly 45 degree angles at the base of the half. Remove and discard the triangle-shaped core.^{[2]
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3
Slice each half into quarters, lengthwise. Flip each half of the head over, so the cut side is down, and slice them lengthwise into four more sections. You should now have 8 sections of cored romaine lettuce, roughly the same width, ready for chopping into smaller pieces according to your needs.^{[3]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Chopping Romaine to Size

1
Chop the lettuce crosswise into bite-sized pieces for salads. Hold one of the quartered halves of lettuce at either end with one hand, cut-side down, and cut crosswise from the leafy open end back to the base into roughly 1 in (2.5 cm) sections. Scoop up the cut lettuce into a bowl and repeat with the other half.^{[4]
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- Bite-sized, evenly-shaped pieces will give you a uniform and aesthetically pleasing look for a Caesar or other kind of salad.
2
Shred the lettuce with a knife into thin ribbons for wraps or salads. With your knife in one hand and one of the quartered halves of the lettuce in the other, slice the lettuce into very thin, ¹⁄₄ in (0.64 cm) ribbons. Finish cutting the head by repeating this process on the other quartered half.^{[5]
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- Lettuce shreds are a versatile option for salads, wraps, and sandwiches. Or, shreds make a beautiful bed for fish and chicken dishes.
3
Slice a lot of lettuce into thin shreds using a food processor. If you are making lettuce shreds for a restaurant or a dinner party, you might want to use a food processor to get the job done quickly and efficiently. To shred in a food processor, feed the ⅛ sections one a time through the feeding tube into the slicing blade of the processor.^{[6]
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- Use a pusher to get the lettuce through the blade, don’t try to push it through with your fingers.
- Don’t use a blender or the in-bowl spinning blade of the food processor for shredding lettuce because instead of slicing it, it will make it mushy. ^{[7]
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Tip: For quick clean-up, spray the feeder tube, slicing blade, and bowl with vegetable oil spray before use and rinse with water immediately after use.
4
Tear the lettuce into bite-sized, irregular shapes for salads or sandwiches. If you like the way ripped leaves look, simply hold each ⅛ cut section in one hand and tear off little bite-sized pieces with your other hand. There are no rules or guidelines to follow; you can tear it any way you like.^{[8]
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- There’s a myth that says if you tear lettuce instead of cutting it with a knife, it won’t turn brown because tearing is less damaging to the cells of the lettuce. There is no scientific evidence to back this up, yet people still prefer to tear their lettuce anyways.^{[9]
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