Chiffonade is a technique for cutting herbs and green leafy vegetables into long, thin strips. Here’s how to chiffonade — including a video!
Chiffonade is a technique for cutting herbs and green leafy vegetables into long, thin strips. You may have seen basil, spinach or mint cut in this way. It turns it into beautiful, thin ribbons to garnish a dish. Want to know how to do it? Here’s how to chiffonade in a few simple steps: and we’ve made a video for you, too!
Video: How to chiffonade
How to chiffonade
How to chiffonade? You can use the chiffonade technique to cut herbs and green leafy vegetables into thin strips. Here are the basic steps for how to chiffonade:
- Place all the leaves in a stack, with the stems facing the same way.
- Roll up the leaves, toward the stem end.
- With a firm grip on your chef’s knife, cut the roll into thin strips cross-wise.
When we first started cooking, we had no idea the right way to hold a knife, let alone the first idea of why to chiffonade! But as we’ve learned more, we’ve started to use this technique in many of our recipes — especially those with fresh, leafy herbs like basil, mint, and sage.
Recipes to practice chiffonade
Here are a few recipes where you can practice your chiffonade cutting technique!
- Basil Egg Salad
- Pumpkin Vegetarian Stuffed Shells
- Arugula Salad with Pea Shoots
- Sweet Potato Gnocchi
- Lentils and Pearl Couscous with Mint
- Summer Quinoa Salad with Corn
- Beet & Blue Cheese Salad
More knife skills
We have an entire series to help you learn knife skills, including videos! Here are a few of our favorite knife skills posts:
- Basic Knife Skills for Home Cooks
- How to Cut an Onion
- How to Cut Kale
- How to Cut Cabbage
- How to Cut a Bell Pepper
- How to Cut Potato Wedges
- How to Cut Cauliflower
- How to Cut Leeks
- How to Cut Potatoes into Fries
- How to Cut Butternut Squash
- How to Cut an Avocado
How to Chiffonade
Chiffonade is a technique for cutting herbs and green leafy vegetables into long, thin strips. Here’s how to chiffonade — including a video!
Materials
- Herbs or green leafy vegetables
Tools
- Chef's knife
Instructions
- Stack the leaves with the stems facing in the same direction.
- Roll the leaves towards the stem end.
- With a firm grip on your chef’s knife, cut the roll into thin strips cross-wise.
Weird. I didn’t know it was done that way until now! Thanks!