How To Cut Radishes 4 Different Ways

Do you know how to cut radishes? Well, fear not! Because in today’s in-depth guide, I will take you through 4 easy ways to cut radishes so you can use them in roasts, stews, soups, and as beautiful, delicate garnishes.

You can apply these cutting techniques in many of my recipes, including Sancocho Peruano and Plantain Cups With Shrimp.

How To Clean Radishes

Before we take a plunge into the best ways how to cut radishes, we first need to know how to clean them.

As you may know, there are a couple of different radish species. But don’t worry. The cleaning, prepping, and cutting methods remain the same for all of them! You will however get varying amounts of cut or sliced radish from them.

A radish consists of a root, a bulb, a stem, and leaves. All parts are edible but used in very different ways.

To clean radishes, you can rinse them under cold running water. But, more often than not, they require more elbow grease to get off the dirt stains.

After you’ve rinsed the radishes, wipe them with a damp cloth. You can also use a vegetable brush to remove stubborn stains. Just don’t bruise the radish in the process.

Once the bulb is cleaned, you can rinse off the stem and leaves.

Dry the radishes before prepping and cutting them.

How To Prepare Radishes For Cutting

Next, you can start preparing the radishes.

Most recipes will only call for the bulb of a radish. The leaves and roots, as I’ve mentioned, are edible but are usually chopped off and discarded.

To start preparing the radish bulbs for chopping, you can remove the head first. This is a small section of the bulb itself that is attached to the stem and leaves.

Don’t cut away too much. Otherwise, you will just waste the delicious bulb.

You can also cut away the roots if they are too long.

If you want to make radish soup or creamed radish leaves, reserve the leaves for later use. To prepare them, they only have to be cleaned.

Do Radishes Need To Be Peeled?

You don’t have to peel these vegetables, and I strongly advise against it.

First, the skin of vegetables often contains the highest concentration of nutrients. Cutting them away means cutting away the vitamins and minerals you could be getting.

Secondly, especially when it comes to radishes, the contrasting skin and flesh color are what make them beautiful additions to meals.

How To Cut Radishes – 4 Ways

Now, let’s get to the good part: how to cut a radish.

There are four ways you can cut radishes. Most of these methods will allow you to use the radishes in any way that you’d like. But some cuts are better suited to certain uses and cooking methods than others.

A good example of this is chunky radishes. They may be too peppery, spicy, or bitter to eat raw and as-is in a fresh salad. However, they are perfect for making roasted radishes.

Then, you can julienne radishes. If you roast them, you will end up with crispy matchsticks that almost taste like nothing. But they are perfect for use in fresh salads or as a garnish on canapes and appetizers.

The four methods we will look at today include sliced, chunks, finely diced, and julienned. Let’s get to it!

Method 1: Sliced

This is one of the most common cutting techniques for radishes. And it’s pretty versatile. You can make thick slices for roasting or wafer-thin slices for garnish. And, of course, medium-thick sliced radishes for dishes like salads where you want the beauty of this veggie but taste them too.

After you’ve prepared your radish (removed the stem and root), you can place it on a chopping board.

Make sure that the radish doesn’t roll around. Grab it with your non-dominant hand and keep it in place.

Use a very sharp knife and start slicing. Try to make your slices in one motion. You want to avoid sawing the vegetable. Otherwise, it will create uneven rounds that are hacked.

You can also make half-moon slices (demi-circles). To start, first slice the radish in half, lengthwise. Then, place the flat side on the chopping board and start slicing some rounds.

Method 2: Chunks

Next on today’s list of how to cut radishes, we look at chunky cuts. These include cutting the radishes into halves, quarters, wedges, and large cubes.

These cuts, depending on their size, can be used for roasted radishes, in salads, or as garnish and finger food on platters.

Now, remember, you get very large and elongated radishes and small, round bulbs as well. But you won’t use half a daikon long white radish in a salad. A better cut would be chunky cubes or slices.

To start, cut the radish in half. These are great for salads if you are using smaller species, like Cherry Belle. To make quarters, cut each half into two pieces as well.

To make chunks (for long or larger radishes), you can lay the two-quarter pieces next to each other. Then, cut chunks that are a good size for what you need.

To make radish wedges, you will need to use a slightly adapted method to the ones above. First, cut the radish in two halves.

You can now cut the halves into three or four pieces. Each cut should be angled to meet in the center of the flat bottom.

Method 3: How To Cut Radishes Into Tiny Cubes

The easiest way (in my opinion) to make finely diced radishes is to first slice them. Make the slices as big or small as you want the blocks to be. Remember, you are trying to get squares here, so each side needs to be the same length.

Once you have slices, you can stack a few on top of each other or work with one at a time.

Shred the slices, making sure that the “sticks” are as wide as the height of the slices.

Once you have a bunch of matchsticks, you can simply finish the cubes by chopping them into cube-sized pieces. Again, ensure that the final cut is as wide as the height and length of the cube so far.

Method 4: Julienne

The final cut in today’s tutorial on how to cut radishes is julienne. Now, the first couple of steps in the above-mentioned cut (finely diced) are exactly how you make julienned radish.

The reason we didn’t discuss this method first is that it is less common.

Again, first, slice your radish. Then, stack some pieces or work with individual slices.

Make sure that the slices you make to create the julienned pieces are as wide as the height of the rounds.