What to look for in a paring knife
A comfortable handle
You’ll see the term ergonomic tossed around a lot in knife reviews. It has a specific meaning, used by folks like the U.S. Department of Labor, centered on fitting tools to human beings. All people generally mean by ergonomic in the context of a kitchen tool, though, is that it’s comfortable to hold. This is particularly important with a paring knife because it is such a short tool—it’s as much handle as it is blade.
Weight
You’ll need to make very delicate cuts with a paring knife, whether you’re peeling potatoes or segmenting citrus. So a light and balanced knife will help you control that careful knifework.
A sharp tip
Again, because it’s so short, you can really utilize the tip of a paring knife for precise cuts like the ones you need to devein shrimp or suprême citrus fruit in a way that’s harder with bigger cutlery. So you want a nice pointy tip.
Other paring knives we tested
Tojiro DP 3.5-inch Paring Knife
Tojiro knives strike a terrific balance between quality and cost. The DP series paring knife had a super sharp blade out of the box, and is one of the more affordable knives that takes well to sharpening. Japanese paring knives are known for their thin blades, though we found the Tojiro’s to be particularly thin as well as longer than some others. We worry about possible chipping more than we do with the Mac, which we thought was its closest comparison in price and style.
Mercer Culinary Genesis Paring Knife
We really liked the Mercer Genesis paring knife’s sharp edge and fine point. It’s also an extremely affordable knife for the quality of its high-carbon stainless steel. Some of our testers liked its oversized, grippy handle, but others thought it made the knife difficult to maneuver. Its pointier design was better for hulling strawberries and peeling apples than slicing on a cutting board, but overall it was a good option for a lot of home cooks.
Wusthof Classic Paring Knife
Wüsthof’s Classic paring knife is sharp, well-made, and high quality. It peeled, sliced, and cut beautifully, and its balance was top-notch. We liked both the MAC and Shun knives slightly better for their blade shape, and their lower prices though. Still, if you’re a fan of classic German knife shapes, this is the one to buy.
Material Paring Knife
The Material paring knife was sleek and attractive, but its handle was heavy compared to the blade. We wish it was better balanced, but we also wish it was sharper out of the box—it took some sawing to slice strawberries and its point didn’t cut out stems as easily as we would have hoped. We did like the grippy coating on the handle, however, and people with strong knife sharpening skills might enjoy this one.
Misen Paring Knife
The Misen paring knife performed just fine, neatly coring, slicing, and peeling during our tests. We like its angled bolster, which made it easier to pinch near the blade for better handling. Ultimately, it was a good middle-of-the-road option for performance and price, but like its chef’s knife companion, we just think there are better options out there.
Victorinox Paring Knife
Inexpensive and designed for peeling, the Victorinox paring knife made it easy to turn around the apple to peel its skin. Its point wasn’t as sharp as we’d like for coring strawberries, and the skinnier blade made it tricky to cut hard cheese and slice the strawberries. It’s less versatile than other paring knives we tested, but it works well if you’re looking for a specified peeling knife.
Made In Paring Knife
Made In’s paring knife is well-made but clunky. It was by far the heaviest knife we tested, and though its blade was sharp enough, it just wasn’t very comfortable to peel with. We thought the extra weight might help it slice hard cheese, but since most of the weight is in the handle, the knife tended to rotate when it encountered resistance. We liked its build quality overall, but its also a more expensive model that just didn’t perform as well as it should.
Wusthof Gourmet Paring Knife
Like the rest of Wüsthof’s Gourmet line, the Wüsthof Gourmet Paring Knife is stamped from a single piece of steel instead of forged. This limits the overall shape to a straighter edge without much curve, and that made this knife tricky to peel with. We also didn’t like how bulky the handle felt compared to other, better-incorporated handles. In terms of sharpness, the Gourmet cut okay, but we just think you’d be better investing in a better knife or picking something cheaper.
Dalstrong Shogun Paring knife
The Dalstrong Shogun paring knife is designed with a lot of high-quality signifiers, its full-tang construction for example, but its edge wasn’t as sharp as we’d like it to be. It was also a little bulky and too heavy for peeling. Given its price point, we think you’re better off purchasing the MAC or Shun option.
Shun Kazahana Paring Knife
We liked the slight sheep’s foot tip of Shun’s Kazahana paring knife, but had big issues with the handle. The steel tends to stick out around the edges of the handle scales, and when used for a prolonged period of time, it can irritate your palms. It was sharp and neatly sliced, peeled, and cut, but we think the Shun Classic model is a better knife.
Shun Narukami Paring Knife
The carbon steel core of Shun’s Narukami paring knife was razor-sharp, but it’s also more likely to rust compared to the brand’s other knives we tested (carbon steel always is). We didn’t love the bulky handle scales compared to the Classic’s rounded handles, and with a paring knife, we’re not sure the steel upgrade is worth it. If you’re into high-end knives, however, it performed beautifully in all our tests.
Kuhn Rikon Paring Knife
The Kuhn Rikon paring knife’s price point was tempting, but ultimately it’s just not sharp enough to perform the necessary paring knife tasks. Paring knives are designed to be held higher up on the spine using your thumb to press food against the blade. Dull paring knives are far more likely to slip in use, which means they’re more dangerous than a sharp one.
J.A. Henckels Precision 4-Inch Paring Knife
The J.A. Henckels Precision Paring Knife was disappointing to use. It looked and felt like a high-end knife until we started to cut. Its point was duller than we expected, and it was tricky to pluck out strawberry stems. It also struggled to peel the apple in thin, consistent strips, and required more force to cut through harder cheese.
Farberware 3.5-Inch Paring Knife
Another cheap option, the Farberware 3.5-inch paring knife unfortunately it’s plastic handle felt cheap too. It dulled quickly, struggling to cut hard cheese, and its handle was clunky. The Faberware paring knife felt dangerous to use on strawberry stems, and it struggled to pierce apple skin when attempting to peel.
Additional testing by Jesse Raub
Need to keep growing your toolkit? Check out our favorite chef’s knives, nakiri knives and bread knife.
