1. When chopping herbs, it’s best to use a large, sharp knife that will cut through them cleanly. Blunt knives will bruise herbs as they slice through, which makes them turn black around cut edges.
2. Pile herbs up on a chopping board. Put tip of knife on board so it’s facing away from you.
3. Keeping the tip of blade on board, pull knife towards you first as you lift up handle, then push it away from you as you cut through herbs. Repeat, in a rocking motion to roughly chop herbs.
4. Holding herbs with your other hand, make sure to keep your fingers tucked in and use your knuckles to guide blade.
5. To chop herbs more finely, gather them back up into a pile and turn knife 90 degrees. With your free hand resting on top of blade near tip, use curved shape of blade to rock knife swiftly back and forth, working your way through pile. Repeat until herbs are chopped to required size.
6. This method can be used for both woody herbs like rosemary and soft herbs like parsley.
Use your skills to make these triple-tested recipes:
Herby butter recipe
Orange and herb roast chicken recipe
Roasted tomato and tabbouleh salad recipe
Pro paring knife, Pro chef’s knife, Pro bread knife, Zwilling J.A. Henckels. White China oval plate, Sophie Conran. Knife sharperning sword, chopping board, chef's own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
