How to Open a Coconut

Whether you want to sip the sweet juice or shred the meat for sweet and savory recipes like coconut-pickled shrimp and coconut layer cake, you first need to open a coconut. Don’t be intimidated — you can do it at home with the right tools, and you’ll be rewarded with fresh, sweet coconut meat. 

How to choose a coconut

First, pick your coconut. Mature coconuts have a hairy brown shell, while young coconuts are green (or are available peeled to reveal the husk). Young coconuts contain more coconut water than mature coconuts, and are usually used for drinking, though you can scoop out the flesh as a snack. Mature coconuts have some water but contain more flesh to grate or chop into fresh coconut meat. 

Look for a mature coconut that feels heavy for its size, and shake it — you want to hear some water sloshing around. Avoid ones that are wet or moldy. When it comes to young coconuts, you don’t want to hear any sloshing, since it should be filled to the brim with water. Also look for a fully white husk, with no browning. 

If you have a young coconut, place it on a cutting board and use the pointed tip of a chef’s knife to cut a square in the top. Then use the tip of the knife to open the top. You can use a long-handled spoon to scoop out the flesh before or after drinking the coconut. 

Opening a mature coconut is a little trickier, but totally doable with a little effort. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

Step 1

To drain the water from the fresh coconut, poke a hole in the softest of the three “eyes” on the coconut using a screwdriver or metal skewer. Invert the coconut over a bowl or measuring cup, and let the sweet water drain. You can drink the coconut water, and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days for use in cooking or baking.

Step 2

Using the back of a sharp knife or a mallet, smack the coconut around its equator, rotating it evenly, until it cracks.

Step 3

Split the coconut open, and place one coconut half cut side down on a flat surface. You can use the back of a chef’s knife or a mallet to whack the coconut to loosen the flesh. To make this step a little easier, you can bake the coconut halves in a 350°F oven for 10 to 20 minutes, which will help separate the flesh from the shell.

Once you’ve loosened the flesh, use a knife or spoon to pry it away from the shell, then peel the thin brown skin using a vegetable peeler. Then, using a knife, split the meat into smaller pieces for grating, shredding, or dicing. 

Snack on your fresh coconut, or shave or grate it. To toast coconut flakes or shredded coconut, spread them in an even layer on a baking sheet and bake in an oven preheated to 325°F for eight to 10 minutes. You’ll be ready to make macaroon brownies, a coconut cream pie, or an aguachile.