The Genius Trick Rachael Ray Uses To Cut Avocados

When it comes to home cooking, Rachael Ray has more than a few tricks up her sleeve, from using dry vermouth to get rid of the fishy smell of seafood to baking bacon on a broiler pan in the oven (instead of on the stove). It makes sense that the Canadian chef is a mecca of culinary hacks — she's had her own show on Food Network since 2001 and has written some 26 cookbooks over the years (via The Rachal Ray Show).

One of her best tricks, however? Easily chopping up an avocado. Whether you're making guacamole from scratch or simply like to toss cubes of fresh avocado on your salads, everyone knows that cutting up the popular fruit can be a pain. You can end up with uneven chunks or a squished mess, not to mention it can be fairly time-consuming. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be. Here's Rachael Ray's hack to cutting up an avocado faster and easier.

To successfully chop up a fresh avocado the Ray way, you don't need a paring knife — in fact, you don't need any kind of knife for the actual chopping portion of the trick. Instead, you just need a wire cooling rack (i.e., the kind you use for letting homemade cookies or brownies cool after baking) that has a grid design (via Rachael Ray magazine). Place the cooling rack over a large bowl and cut your avocado in half length-wise and remove the pit.

Then place one half of the avocado with the flesh side down on top of the cooling rack. Use the palm of your hand to press the avocado firmly against the rack. The flesh will fall into the bowl in perfect chunks as the rack slices through it, leaving the skin behind. Then repeat with the other half of the avocado. You'll be finished in an instant, and is much easier than slicing each individual piece with a knife.