Knife Skills

Dice

Cut into uniform cubes for even cooking and a tidy look

Dicing cuts food into evenly sized cubes so everything cooks at the same rate and looks clean on the plate. It's the standard for mirepoix, salsas, and sautéed vegetables. First cut planks, then sticks, then crosswise into cubes — square edges make square dice.

Dicing is the discipline of cutting food into even cubes, and it's the quiet workhorse behind well-cooked food: when every piece is the same size, every piece cooks at the same rate, and the dish finishes evenly with nothing scorched or raw. The classical sizes are graded — brunoise (~3mm), small dice (~6mm), medium dice (~12mm), and large dice (~20mm) — and each starts the same way: square the vegetable, cut it into planks, cut the planks into sticks (a batonnet or julienne), then cut the sticks crosswise into cubes. The cube is literally the julienne or batonnet finished in one more pass of the knife.

Difficulty: Easy

Types & varieties

Brunoise

The finest dice (~3mm), cut from a julienne — for garnishes and fine sauces.

Small dice

~6mm — classic for mirepoix, salsa and even sautéing.

Medium dice

~12mm — vegetables for stews, roasts and chunky soups.

Large dice

~20mm — hearty pieces for braises and roasted vegetable medleys.

How to do it

1
Stabilize the vegetable
Cut a thin slice off one side to create a flat base so it can't roll.
2
Square it off
Trim the curved edges into a clean rectangular block; reserve the trim for stock.
3
Cut into planks
Slice the block into even planks at your target cube thickness.
4
Cut into sticks
Stack the planks and cut into batons (sticks) of the same width — a batonnet or julienne.
5
Cut into cubes
Turn the sticks 90° and slice crosswise at the same interval to produce even cubes.
6
Keep the claw and rhythm
Guide with curled fingers and let the knife rock; consistent spacing makes consistent dice.

Why size grading exists

Different sizes serve different cooking times and textures. A long-cooked stew wants large dice that hold their shape; a quick salsa or a sauce base wants small dice so the pieces soften and meld fast.

Match dice size to cooking time: small for fast cooking, large for long.
Mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) is classically small-to-medium dice.
Brunoise is small dice's finer cousin, cut from julienne.

Dicing an onion (the special case)

An onion's natural layers let you cheat: halve it root-to-tip, peel, then make horizontal and vertical cuts toward (but not through) the root, and finally slice crosswise. The layered structure turns it into neat dice with far fewer cuts than a solid vegetable.

Common uses

Mirepoix and aromatic basesSalsas and pico de galloSautéed and roasted vegetablesSoups and stewsPotato cubes for hashTomato concasséFruit for salads and salsas

Tips & pitfalls

Square the vegetable off first — round shapes can't yield square dice.
Keep planks, sticks and final cuts all the same width for true cubes.
Leave the onion's root end intact while you cut; it holds the layers together.
A sharp knife and a damp towel under the board (so it won't slip) make dicing safer and faster.
Don't aim for machine-perfection on a rustic stew — match precision to the dish.