Here’s How to Cut a Lime to Get the Most Juice Out of It

Limes are incredible, versatile citrus fruits that add a zesty zing to salad dressings, drinks such as margaritas and limeades, desserts like lime bars and fresh dishes like lime-marinated chicken or shrimp. But even if you’re an avid citrus fan, you may not know the best way to cut a lime to get the most juice out of it.

Limes are an expensive commodity, but their popularity hasn’t slowed down. U.S. per capita consumption of fresh citrus fruits (including limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, temples, tangerines and tangelos) was about 26.21 pounds in 2021.

Despite its popularity, most people don’t know how to cut a lime to get more juice from the fruit. It turns out that simply cutting one in half isn’t the easiest way to extract all the juice. So, the next time you pick up one of the green fruits, try this method to retrieve the most juice out of the citrus.

@keelyjean956 I was today years old when I learned how to properly cut a lime My husband blew my mind w/ this trick he was taught by a bartender in the Bahamas #fyp ♬ Summertime (feat. Citizen Cope) – Stick Figure

How to Cut a Lime

If you’re using limes for their juice, follow the tips below. Before you cut into your citrus, you may want to know how to clean lemons and limes to prevent any bacteria from transferring from the skin into the fruit itself.

Once you’re ready, follow these steps to cut your lime:

1. Prepare your cutting surface with a cutting board and a sharp knife.
2. Take a lime and hold it positioned vertically. If it’s too hard to hold it up with the protruding bottom tip, you can cut that off to make the lime sit flat.
3. Make the first cut on the end (one-third into the lime) and another cut on the other end, so your lime is equally divided into three pieces.
4. Take the middle section of those three slices and cut it into three parts.
5. The end result should look like four segments of lime, plus a middle piece, for a total of five pieces.

Whether you try this to extract lime juice for a margarita or to marinade some meat, you’ll be shocked at how much more effective this is for juicing!