How to Cut a Pomegranate

4.75 from 4 votes

You don’t need specialty kitchen equipment or advanced skills to cut pomegranate. Here’s the easiest–and cleanest–way to seed pomegranate in minutes.

Prep Time10

Total Time10

Course: Ingredients

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Diet: Gluten Free, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Get ready. Fill a large mixing bowl with cold water. Work over this mixing bowl to keep your kitchen clean.
Slice off the top. Use a small, sharp knife to draw a circle along the top of the pomegranate, piercing just through its skin. Peel off the top with your hands and discard.
Section the pomegranate. Look at the top of the pomegranate–you should see the white pith making a star-like shape at the top. These are the different sections. Run your knife from top to bottom of each section, piercing just the skin of the pomegranate.
Add the sections to the water. Flip the pomegranate upside down over the bowl of water. Push on the bottom of the pomegranate with your thumb to open it, then pop out each section into individual pieces.
Remove the seeds. Carefully peel back any thin white pith covering the seeds. Then, with the pomegranate submerged in water, very gently run your thumb along the peel to remove the seeds. If you notice any stubborn pith or peel sticking to the seeds, remove it.
Skim off the pith. Most of the seeds will sink to the bottom of the water, with the white pith floating at the top. Skim off and discard the pith, then drain.

If you’d like to juice the seeds but don’t have a fancy juicer, you have two options:

- Use a hand juicer (messier): Do not remove the seeds. Cut the pomegranate into sections, then slice across if necessary to make pieces that fit into your hand juicer. Add piece-by-piece to the juicer with the cut side facing down. Squeeze steadily into a large bowl–be careful, there may be splatter.

- Use a plastic bag. Set a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Remove the pomegranate’s seeds and transfer them to a large sealable plastic bag (do this in batches if you have a lot of seeds). Seal the bag, pushing out most of the air as you go. Use a rolling pin or heavy pan to whack the seeds, bursting them and releasing their juice. Pour through the strainer into the bowl, reserving the juice and discarding the small crunchy part of the seed.

Storage: Store pomegranate seeds or juice, sealed in your refrigerator, for up to 1 week. Freeze for up to 6 months. (People will tell you to spread them on a sheet tray first if you’re freezing them. You don’t need to do that, they won’t stick.)
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