Whole coconuts are insanely cheap right now.
Until recently, I believed that if you didn’t have a machete at home, breaking open a coconut was next to impossible.
Thankfully, I’ve landed on the easiest way to break open a coconut with the tools you have around your home and in 7 simple steps.
Y’all ready for this?
Step 1: Poke a hole in your coconut
There are 3 holes at the top of the coconut. One will be weaker than all the others. Poke each one with the tip of a sharp knife. When the knife inserts easily, you’ve found the weakest link! Poke a hole with your knife.
Step 2: Drain [and reserve] the coconut water
Flip the coconut over onto a cup or bowl and allow to drain. Reserve the water and whip up a batch of fresh electrolyte filled lemonade {1 cup coconut water, 1 cup filtered water, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, pinch stevia}
Step 3: Place your coconut in the oven
Preheat your oven to 375F and place your coconut on a baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until you see a crack developing, like this one.
Step 4: Wrap your coconut
Remove your coconut from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of moments. Then, wrap it in a tea towel and throw it into a black garbage bag.
Step 5: SMASH the life out of your coconut
Go outside to a front step or concrete area. Lift the coconut over your head and BASH it into the concrete. Do this a couple of times until you feel the pieces break, or until you feel your stress wash away from you. It’s a therapeutic experience 
If there are observers, open the bag to reveal the coconut pieces before you go back into the house. This will avoid awkward conversations with the neighbors later.
Step 6: Separate the shell from your dear coconut
Wedge a knife in between the flesh and the hard shell to separate the shell from the meat.
Step 7: Peel the fiber away from your coconut
You’ll be left with white meat covered in a light brown fiber. Peel away the fiber with a vegetable peeler, as you would a potato.
You’ve now successfully opened your first coconut. Dig in!
Or… wait for tomorrow’s recipe
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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Awesome tutorial!! I’ve seen a couple recipes lately that called for a whole coconut, and immediately turned away. I guess now I know it’s not so bad
Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Noooo you’re making us wait?? I keep seeing whole coconuts at the store and wanting to buy them, but I never know what to do with them!
I’ve never opened a coconut in my life. I have a big muscleman who climbs up a coconut tree, tears the husk of the nut, and proceeds to smash open the coconut with his bare hands-all under 2 minutes. Totally true.
But….I guess this will work, too, when he isn’t around (or there isn’t a coconut tree around!)
haha you’re awesome Alex. I wish I had my own muscleman to break open my coconuts haha
Leanne this is awesome! Although I wish you had recorded you smashing the coconut
This is awesome! I also wondered who owns a machete to open these glorious things. I think fresh coconuts are a drink and dessert in one. When I was in Thailand I would always ask for a spoon and try and scoop out the flesh at the end of the meal. So delish!
I have never opened a coconut before, but now I really want to! I can’t wait for tomorrow now!
I’ve never bought a whole coconut before but the thought of the smashing process makes me want to go get one right now!!
Love this!! I’ve never bought a coconut before. Looks fun… love the part about revealing the coconut pieces before going back into the house…haha..love it!!
love it. My husband always helped with it but will try your version next time.
I’m going to buy a coconut just so I can smash one! I’ll bet that’s a great way to take your day’s frustrations AND get a tasty snack at the end
I’m with Holly – I think you need to repeat this tutorial in a video
I loved this – reminds me of opening coconuts fresh from the tree in my grandpa’s yard when I was a kid (we used a hammer).
Gosh, I should do that! haha
That sounds awesomely fun! And you get delicious coconut as the result!
I’ve never bought a whole one before, but I may have to venture out and get one.
Awesome, I had no idea about the oven trick. We always just beat ours with a hammer. Explaining that one to the neighbors is still awkward, haha.
I tried it with the hammer and it’s never worked for me. I find it so hard to remove the fiber from the meat afterward! I’ll have to give it another go. Yes, neighbors ALWAYS look at me funny when I’m bashing my food outside.
Great tutorial Leanne! My mother taught me something similar and I always loved bashing them
This looks so easy! Movies and TV make it seem so dramatic, haha.
Sorry to be so childish, but your second picture made me giggle it looks like the coconut is taking a twinkle
. Thank you for this post! Do you know the best way to but a mango?? mangos frustrate me when I cut then I dont get enough fruit with them but I know theres a special way to cut them so I do!
-Alyssa
hehe it does! Here’s the video that taught me how to cut the perfect mango http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLdPjpELyU super easy!
I love the tutorial!
Basically if you have anger issues, are upset, need to just let it all out…all you need to do is open a coconut and you’ll feel better
100% agreed!
I think the idea of bashing a coconut over my head onto the ground like a sledgehammer sounds like a blast hahah =D I’m going to try this! & make some lemonade of course too!
You. Are. A. Genius.
Ahh love this! I have never bought a coconut purely because I thought it would be such a pain to open it! Next time I see one it’s getting purchased!
If not for any other reason than that I want to have a public hissy fit AND have an excuse! 
I’ve been wanting to pick up a whole coconut for a while now. Now I have no excuse not to. I grabbed fresh coconut at Grand Central Station and it was delicious.
This is one way to open up and get that white fresh flesh out of the coconut.
I use a diffrent method that I’ve learned from my grandfather.
You take a hammer in one hand and the nut in the other. Now hit the nut just with a mild hit and after that turn the nut a littlebit and hit again. You go so round the coconut until suddenly it cracks a bit and the lovely water tries to seep out. Keep turning and hitting until the nut cracks totaly. Done in less than a minute.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ll have to try it with my next coconut. Thanks again
I feel so embarassed now that I had to learn how to open a coconut this way. I come from a country (Philippines) that has tons of coconut but I really do not know how to open one myself. We always get to buy them ready prepared. I can’t wait to bash my first coconut.
There’s an even easier way of doing this… one that won’t get your neighbours alarmed and suspicious either
Check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-gJC2mcebs
You don’t need to hit hard, just a couple of swift hits around the coconut with the back of a knife does the trick! Ever since I discovered that opening up a coconut was really THAT easy, I’ve been enjoying them on a regular basis.
Can’t wait to see what goodies you will be whipping up with yours…
Thank you so much for this! I had no idea you could open up a coconut successfully without a machete
What a great post! I’ve never actually opened up a coconut before and I assumed there was an easier approach to doing it other than using an ice skate (ie. Castaway) haha, this is so informative! Love coconut
Oh my gosh, I’d completely forgotten about that part in the movie! Yes, this is MUCH easier!
wow that seems like lots of work
lovely pictures
hope this tip helps
all we do is remove the water first or keep a bowl in the bottom to catch the water then with the eye of the coconut in the side we hold the coconut with the left hand and tap it in the middle of the coconut with a back of a butcher knife while turning the coconut slightly so it doesn’t hit the same spot. it will crack into a perfect half and then you can use a coconut grater to grate fresh coconut or cut pieces using a knife
This is a great post. So many people won’t buy them as they think they are difficult to deal with. I do mine almost the same but don’t heat it first. Once our weather cools I am going to try this method, see if it cracks easier for me. I just cracked one yesterday for kabobs. So good.
Great tutorial, especially for getting the coconut smashed into bits which makes it easier to remove the flesh.
The other method, which doesn’t require heating up is by tapping the shell all the way around with the back of a knife – you can hold the coconut in one hand. The shell will open and split in half. You can do the same across to get quarter pieces and get the flesh out