I Tested 11 Paring Knives to Find the 4 Best Ones for Small Prep Tasks

I’m always surprised at how many of my friends use a paring knife for every food prep task. I’ve gifted them gorgeous—but still practical!—chef’s knives only for them to collect dust in their boxes. I think my friends are drawn to the paring knives’ petiteness—it’s less intimidating than controlling an eight-inch German steel blade. And while I do think they should buck up and use a chef’s knife when they’re dicing an onion, I get the appeal of a paring knife. Its compact shape and size make it the perfect blade for delicate precision work, like coring strawberries or segmenting citrus. It’s also excellent when you need to halve a pint of cherry tomatoes. So yes, a great paring knife should be versatile and up to tackling tons of tiny tasks. And at the very least, after reviewing 11 paring knives, I can recommend a good one to my friends. 

The Winners, at a Glance 

Small but efficient, this is a great little knife. It’s in the same line as our winning chef’s knife, and is similarly sharp. I like the grippy matte handle, which comes in a couple of colors.  

If you need a paring knife and need it stat, this is a great, affordable option. It’s sharp and, in my tests, its pointed tip made precise incisions on the smallest of strawberries. 

This round-bellied blade is a great option for folks who aren’t super confident in their knife skills (no shame!). The curve encourages a rocking cut motion, which feels natural when mincing. I liked the smooth, matte handle, too. 

I was surprised how much I liked this knife, since it has a longer handle and a good bit of heft. But it was sharp and precise, and that weight helped it glide through a tomato in one clean swipe. 

The Tests

• Sharpness Measurement Test: As with all of our knife tests, before testing, I took the average sharpness of each paring knife with the Edge-On-Up Professional Edge Tester. It measures the grams of force needed to cut through a synthetic thread. The higher the number, the duller the knife. I repeated this after testing to gauge how much the knives dulled, if at all. 
• Tomato Test: Coring and slicing a tomato is a great knife test. Cutting into shiny, taut skin over squishy, tender fruit is a bit like trying to cut a water balloon. If the knife isn’t sharp enough, it’ll just seesaw and smush, making a gushing mess. This test quickly exposed dull knives. 
• Strawberry Test: Since paring knives are great for coring, I put them to the test by using each one to core three strawberries of varying sizes. This was a test of agility and precision, especially with tiny berries. 
• Shallot Test: Mincing a shallot is tricky; these small alliums don’t have much surface area and require deft, quick cuts. This was a great test of the paring knives’ agility, precision, and overall slicing ability.
• Citrus Test: Supreming citrus is arguably a paring knife’s raison d'être. The small blade can hug close to the interior lobes, skimming off both pith and rind without cutting out too much of the fruit. At least, that’s what they’re supposed to do. I used each knife to supreme an orange to put them to the test. 

What We Learned 

What Exactly Makes a Paring Knife a Paring Knife?

A paring knife is a small, pointed knife that’s useful for delicate, precision cuts like coring tomatoes or slicing up small citrus. While there is no “standard” size, in this review, I tested paring knives with blades between 3.25 and four inches. Any longer and you’re veering into petty knife territory. The handles are also small and compact, measuring between 3.5 and 4.5 inches. 

Beyond length, the blade of a paring knife is usually straighter than a chef’s knife (more on this later) and has less of a belly—you’re not using this blade to rock chop, but rather curve around things and sometimes slice down or through. 

The Best Paring Knives Were Sharp—And Stayed Sharp

It’s easy to be wooed by a sharp knife right out of the box—I know, because I’ve been bamboozled before. But the disappointment sinks in when, after a handful of uses, the knife is suddenly bouncing off a tomato. While a degree of dulling is normal, it was shocking to see some paring knives go from sharp to slipping over produce. The Mac Professional Paring Knife started out very keen; it took 33 grams of force to cut the thread on the knife sharpness reader, which is quite good. But after testing, it required an average of 158 grams of force to cut the thread, a 375% increase. 

Conversely, my favorite knives were sharp and stayed sharp: The Tojiro averaged 57 grams of force out of the box, and only dulled 17% after I ran it through the tests. This is what I expect from a quality knife. 

Lightweight Paring Knives Were Easier to Use 

Paring knives are small and nimble, and meant for precision cuts. So you don’t want it to be super heavy, or else it’ll be hard to wrangle when you’re coring a tiny strawberry or slicing horizontally through a shallot. The Zwilling Kanren Paring Knife was gorgeous, with its Micarta handle and Damascus steel blade, but it was also the heaviest paring knife I tested, weighing 4.3 ounces. It was big and tricky to control when doing detailed cutting, and felt more akin to a small chef’s knife than a paring knife. I preferred the two-ounce Tojiro, which felt substantial but didn’t weigh my hand down. The Victorinox paring knife was less than an ounce, a mere strawweight in a ring of bantamweights. While some might think this is too light to have the force necessary to puncture a tomato, I didn’t find it limiting. If anything, it felt like even more of an extension of my hand. 

Handles Are Personal 

As a person with small hands, I prefer petite handles. They offer better control and make it easier for me to get a secure grip. That said, when a paring knife’s handle is super thin and small, folks with larger mitts might feel like they’re holding a toothpick. The good news is that the handles varied widely on my winners, from the super light and slim Victorinox handle to the heavy and thick Cangshan. Take a gander at the handle style in the winners’ Key Specs so you can choose the handle that’s right for you. 

Let’s Talk Blade Shape 

Most paring knives have pointy blades without much curve to the belly—see the Victorinox blade for an extreme example, and to a lesser extent, the Wusthof knife and Tojiro. This dagger-like shape helps poke into a tomato and core it—ditto for strawberries. It also still allows for a slicing motion, but you won’t be able to make rocking cuts. 

While the Victorinox was on one end in terms of blade straightness, some knives added a little curve, like the Material and the Miyabi. This made them less agile when holding a strawberry and coring it, but made it easier to mince shallots. 

Both kinds of blades—straight and round-bellied—work well, so which you choose is up to you and how you want to use a paring knife. If you want a blade for quick, precise cuts, consider a straighter one; if you’re looking for an all-rounder that can mince, a slightly curved blade might be better. 

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Paring Knife 

A good paring knife is sharp; it shouldn’t dull rapidly either. Because paring knives are used for precise tasks, like coring strawberries, they should be nimble and agile. I preferred lighter paring knives, which felt easier to control than heavy ones. A grippy handle was a plus. Stainless steel is a good, practical blade material for most people.  

Our Favorite Paring Knives 

What we liked: With a compact handle and petite blade, this is the knife I’d reach for when tackling precise, delicate prep. It shone hulling strawberries: The blade was sharp without slipping uncontrollably through the berry, and made quick work of cutting through the tops. It performed similarly well at mincing a shallot, and felt very sharp and had little resistance when slicing up and down. The ever-so-slight curve of the blade made mincing easy. 

What we didn’t like: While it sliced cleanly through a tomato, it didn’t feel as sharp as the Tojiro and required more pressure to slip through. It’s pricey for a paring knife. 

Key Specs

• Blade material: Stainless steel
• Handle material: Polymer
• Blade length: 3.5 inches
• Handle length: 3.5 inches
• Weight: 2.3 ounces
• Handle style: Petite and slim, with a slight curve

What we liked: Victorinox is famous for its pocket knives, and its kitchen blades are also stellar, especially considering their low price. The brand’s paring knife is no exception: It’s under $20 (at time of publication) and tackled my tests with all the panache and precision of a knife five times the cost. The pointed, straight blade is excellent for petite prep tasks like halving cherry tomatoes, slicing a lime into rounds, or…coring strawberries (have I said that enough in this review?). It’s also wicked sharp right out of the box and stayed decently honed even after I ran it through the wringer. It’s been one of our favorite paring knives at Serious Eats for years. 

What we didn’t like: It dulled by 78% after my tests, though the blade still felt sharp. The straight-edge makes it better for coring and slicing than mincing. 

Key Specs

• Blade material: Stainless steel
• Handle material: Plastic
• Blade length: 3.25 inches
• Handle length: 4.5 inches
• Weight: 0.75 ounces
• Handle style: Slim, light, and grippy

What we liked: If you like the idea of a paring knife that’s like a mini chef’s knife, then this one’s for you. The curved belly makes it versatile enough to mince shallots, scallions, or herbs, in addition to other tasks like slicing citrus. It felt sharp in nearly all my tests, only dulling 23%, which is pretty mild. I loved its grippy, slim handle too.  

What we didn’t like: It wasn’t quite as sharp as my other winners, catching ever so slightly on the tomato skin. The curved blade made coring more challenging, but it did make mincing easier. 

Key Specs

• Blade material: Stainless steel
• Handle material: Composite
• Blade length: 3.5 inches
• Handle length: 3.75 inches
• Weight: 2.2 ounces
• Handle style: Slim and smooth

What we liked: This was a lesson in not judging a book by its cover—or in this case, a knife by first impressions. When I first handled the Cangshan, I thought it was bulky and heavy, and the dimpled blade looked gimmicky. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was, indeed, actually a good paring knife. The dimpled blade might’ve just been for looks, but its curved edge was keen and cut through shallots, tomatoes, citrus, and strawberries easily. The handle, while large, was surprisingly comfortable and balanced with the blade, making it a great choice for people with larger hands. It’s reasonably priced. Just goes to show that hands-on testing is essential, especially when you find a diamond in the rough. 

What we didn’t like: It dulled by 58%, which wasn’t bad, but it is still more than my other top picks. If you don’t like heavy knives with thick handles, you might not like this knife. 

Key Specs

• Blade material: Stainless steel
• Handle material: G-10 fiberglass
• Blade length: 3.5 inches
• Handle length: 4 inches
• Weight: 3.6 ounces
• Handle style: Angled and hefty

The Competition 

Also Good

• Miyabi Mizu SG2 3.5-inch Paring Knife: This knife felt sharp, whether I was slicing a tomato, hulling strawberries, or mincing shallots. The handle is compact but hefty, which I liked. The only downsides were the price and that it dulled by over 130% after testing. 
• Shun Cutlery Classic Paring Knife: People love Shun blades, and if you do, you’ll probably like this paring knife. It’s decently sharp and has a slightly curved belly, making it adept at mincing. I’m not a fan of the rounded handle, which I find slippery, but that’s a personal preference. The blade dulled 105% during testing, but still felt sharp towards the tail end of my review. 
• Tojiro DP 3.5-inch Paring Knife: This was my winner, but as soon as I finished testing, it went out of stock at every retailer. Cry! If it becomes available again, I'll update this article.

Not Recommended

• Misono Sweden Steel Series No.134 Paring 80mm: I really wanted to like this beautiful carbon steel paring knife. While its compact handle and petite form made it pleasant to use, it felt dull right out of the box.  
• Zwilling Kanren Paring Knife: This gorgeous knife has a camel-toned composite handle and a Damascus blade. But it was too heavy and bulky for a paring knife, making it tricky to core small strawberries. The blade seesawed over tomato skin. 
• Mac Professional Paring Knife: While I love the slim shape of Mac knives, this one dulled so much that I couldn’t in good conscience name it a winner. 
• Mac Chef Knife Series Paring Knife: This is a “meh” knife that performed just fine, but it struggled to cut through tomatoes. The long blade felt stiff and awkward while hulling strawberries. 

FAQs

What’s the best way to clean a paring knife?

As with all knives, hand-washing is the way to go. Dishwashers’ hot water and harsh detergents can prematurely dull and rust knives, so while it’s always tempting to be lazy, you really shouldn’t be with knives. 

What’s the difference between a paring knife and a petty knife?

A paring knife is smaller and shorter than a petty knife, which often has a longer, triangular blade. Both are great for small prep tasks, though a petty knife has a slight edge in terms of versatility and can stand in for a chef’s knife better than a paring knife. 

Why We’re the Experts 

• Grace Kelly is a senior editor at Serious Eats. 
• She’s tested loads of knives, including santoku, nakiri, and petty knives. 
• For this review, Grace minced an inordinate amount of shallots that she is still puzzling over what to do with.