The 5 Best Paring Knives of 2024, According to Our Tests

Our Favorite Paring Knife

Our favorite paring knife overall is Made In's Paring Knife. In addition to being beautifully simple in design and reasonably priced, we also appreciated this knife's full tang, which makes it durable and sturdy. If you're looking to splurge, we recommend the Wüsthof Classic Ikon Paring Knife due to its quality construction and top-notch performance. During our tests, we noted the blade felt indestructible and was effortless to use, whether mincing shallots or slicing through orange segments. 

How We Tested Paring Knives

We compared a total of 25 popular paring knives, putting each knife through a series of tests. We assessed the size, shape, weight, sharpness, and durability and used the below metrics to evaluate each knife:

• Sharpness: To test sharpness, we used each knife to slice through a sheet of paper from top to bottom. A sharp knife should glide effortlessly through paper without snagging, and you shouldn't have to rock or see the blade back and forth.
  
• Functionality: To test weight, feel, and functionality, we used each knife to peel and mince shallots, a common task for which paring knives are often used. A good paring knife should have a sharp tip that easily slices through smaller fruits and vegetables, and it should be easy to grip with one hand when peeling the skins off things like onions and garlic.
• Weight: We considered how heavy each handle felt as well as how the handle felt compared to the blade weight. Though some knives were heavier than others, we didn't necessarily see weight as a problem as long as the handle and blade felt balanced.
• Balance and Grip: We peeled shallots off the cutting board to see how each knife felt mid-air. By peeling the shallots in-air, we were able to assess how easy the handles are to grip, how heavy they are, and how comfortable or cumbersome they might feel over time. We then minced the shallots against the cutting board to determine how sharp and balanced each knife felt, from handle to tip.
• Durability: We considered any brand promises or specific manufacturer instructions when assessing each knife. If a knife was labeled dishwasher-safe, we ran it through the dishwasher on five cycles, then repeated the paper test to determine if dishwashing affected how sharp the blade was. If a knife was not labeled dishwasher safe, we washed it by hand with soap and water between each use to determine if washing affected functionality.

Factors to Consider

Blade Length

Most paring knives come in blade lengths between three to four inches, and you will want a smaller blade to handle it efficiently if you have a smaller hand. Most paring knives fall in the middle at 3.5 inches, which is a good choice for most home cooks. 

Blade Sharpness

When choosing the best paring knife, it's essential to consider how sharp the blade is, how easy it is to care for, and how comfortable it feels in your hand. Like a chef's knife, a paring knife should feel sturdy and balanced with a sharp blade that doesn't dull quickly. There should be ample space to grip, and the blade's tip should be sharp. Behn prefers carbon steel because it holds better edges than stainless steel. 

Handfeel

Since a paring knife is used for more detailed work, you want to ensure it fits snugly into your hand for optimal control. It would help if you considered the overall balance in your hand when shopping around to ensure it rests properly in the middle of your palm.

Other Paring Knives We Tested

Strong Contenders

Shun Cutlery Premier Paring Knife (Amazon)

The Shun 4-inch paring knife is as elegant as it is functional. Consistently sharp from tip to belly, the blade has a hammered finish that helps reduce dragging and gives the knife a unique, eye-catching look. Although we love this knife's squared-off blade and overall precision, it was one of the most expensive knives we tested, and its slightly longer 4-inch blade is not ideal for small hands. Overall, it's not the most versatile pick for everyday tasks.

Tojiro DP 3.5-inch Paring Knife (Amazon)

This elegant Japanese-made knife is a nicely sized paring knife with a slight weight, which makes it comfortable to maneuver for slicing and dicing tasks. Although the knife looks and feels well-crafted and sturdy, we found the blade to be a bit too thin. During our tests, we noted our concern about potentially chipping or cracking the thin blade.

Ryusen Bonten Unryu 3 VG10 Damascus 105MM (Strata Portland)

We like this pick for a special gift for someone who would get great use out of a quality paring knife. It's a knife that doubles as a work of art, and it took on every task with ease and sliced cleanly, quickly, and without a single snag. During our tests, we found it had “terrific precision” and glides “like butter” through slicing tasks. However, at $210, this feels more like a luxury knife.

Masamoto Sohonten Molybdenum (Korin)

With a full-tang blade and rosewood handle, this knife is just the right size for slicing an orange. The heel catches slightly on some tasks, and it’s not the sharpest we’ve ever tested, but it’s great for slicing tomatoes and precision kitchen tasks. We found it elegant, heirloom-quality, and a great knife to use alongside a charcuterie board. However, its performance did not justify the $150 price tag.

What Didn't Make the List

The below knives didn't make our list due to their overall performance. Some knives felt slightly difficult to grip and maneuver, while other knives felt too heavy or unbalanced in the hand. We had difficulty with a few models that featured a curved blade, which prevented us from making even contact with ingredients on our cutting boards, as well as flexible blades, which made slicing hard foods difficult. In a few cases, we also noted significant rusting or dulling after our tests.

• Kuhn Rikon 3.5-inch Knife (Amazon)
• Material Kitchen the Almost 4-inch Knife (Material)
• Sasaki Matsuta 3.5-inch Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Zyliss 3.25-inch Paring Knife with Cover (Amazon)
• J. A. Henckels Classic Precision 4-inch Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Zyliss Comfort Pro Paring 4.5-inch Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Global GS-38 3.5-inch Paring Knife (Williams Sonoma)
• Zwilling Twin Signature 4-inch Knife (Zwilling)
• MAC Chef Series 4-inch Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Opinel Carbon Steel 4-inch Paring Knife - Set of 2 (Opinel)
• Victorinox 3.25-inch Rosewood Paring Knife Straight-Sided (Amazon)
• Miyabi Kaizen II Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Victorinox 3.9-inch Swiss Classic Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Victorinox 3.25-inch Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Kyocera Ceramic Revolution Series Paring Knife (Amazon)
• Farberware Paring Knife Set (Amazon)
• Farberware 3.5-inch Ceramic Paring Knife (Walmart)
  

Our Expertise

• Jennifer Zyman is a Senior Commerce Writer for Food & Wine and a recovering restaurant critic with a culinary school degree and over 15 years of food writing experience. Her work has appeared in Atlanta Magazine, Bon Appetit, Eater Atlanta, The Kitchn, Local Palate, National Geographic, Simply Recipes, Southern Living, and Thrillist. To write this story, she used testing results and expert advice from Michael Behn, owner and head sharpener of Moshi Knives.
• Laura Denby is a former professional chef who has spent years cooking in professional and private kitchens throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Hamptons.