How To Cut Fennel

The best way to cut a whole fennel bulb into quarters and slice it.

By
Lori Rice
Lori Rice
Lori Rice
Lori Rice is a food and beverage writer and photographer. Her work can be found in CiderCraft Magazine, King Arthur Flour’s SIFT Magazine, The Coastal Table, and Plate Magazine, as well as at CraftBeer.com.
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Updated December 31, 2024
Lori Rice
One Hand Holding the Fennel Bulb While Other Hand Cuts Off Fennel Top Using a Knife, All on a Cutting Board

Simply Recipes / Lori Rice

Fennel is an herb, but it’s used more like a vegetable. It has a layered, creamy white base and long stalk with willowy sprigs of green called fronds. It doesn’t look like it will deliver flavors of licorice, but that’s how the taste is usually described. A bite of it is a pleasant surprise for the tastebuds.

The stalks are tough and typically discarded, but the wispy fronds are a lot like dill in texture. They can be chopped fine to use as an herb in soups, sautés, and baked goods.

The bulb is most often served thinly sliced and it can be eaten raw in salads, skillet cooked, or roasted in the oven. Eaten raw it is a lot like celery in texture – crispy with a high water content. Roasting fennel caramelizes the sugars and deepens the subtle licorice flavors. Both fresh and roasted fennel go well with crisp apples, citrus, and toasted nuts.

Fennel bulb and fronts with chef's knife on cutting board

Lori Rice

How To Choose a Bulb of Fennel

Fennel comes in a range of sizes. Some bulbs are as big as a softball while others are more like a tennis ball. Regardless of the size the bulb should be dense and the layers close and compact. While a little bruising here and there on white outer layers is common due to transport, be sure there are no spots of deep discoloration or decay.

The stalk and fronds should be perky, standing straight up from the bulb. A wilted stalk or dark, droopy fronds can mean the bulb has been sitting around too long at the store and is no longer fresh.

Sliced fennel

Lori Rice

Recipes That Use Fennel

How To Cut Fennel

Prep Time 5 mins
Total Time 5 mins
Servings 6 to 8 servings
Yield 2 1/2 cups

Before getting started, rinse your fennel bulb (and fronds if you plan to use them) under running water and pat dry with a clean dish towel or paper towels. During prep you will peel off the outer layers, so don’t worry if there are some wilted spots or minimum browning on the outside.

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Ingredients

  • 1 medium fennel bulb

Method

  1. Remove the stalk:

    Cut off the stalk at the point where the green meets the white bulb. If you plan to use the fronds, pull them off the stalk and save for later. The fronds can be finely chopped and used as an herb on their own, like dill.

    Cutting off fennel top

    Lori Rice
  2. Cut the bulb in half:

    Set the bulb root-side down on a cutting board. Cut the bulb in half working from the stalk end through the root end.

    Cut the fennel bulb in half

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  3. Cut it in quarters:

    Place the cut-side of the half of the fennel bulb down and cut each half into quarters.

    Slicing fennel

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    Fennel bulb cut into quarters

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  4. Remove any damaged layers:

    Peel any shriveled or browned outside layers from the bulb.

    Peel off outer layers of fennel

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  5. Slice the fennel crosswise:

    Thinly slice each quarter of the fennel, crosswise, working from the stem end to the root end. Stop just before reaching the root end and discard that part of the bulb.

    Slicing fennel crosswise

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    Sliced fennel on a wooden cutting board

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
9 Calories
0g Fat
2g Carbs
0g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6 to 8
Amount per serving
Calories 9
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 15mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 3mg 17%
Calcium 14mg 1%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 116mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.