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See why.The Best Santoku Knives
With its petite build and curved tip, this friendly-looking Japanese blade is giving Western-style chef’s knives a run for their money. But does it offer something unique?
By Published Sept. 25, 2017
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What You Need To Know
Santoku knives became an overnight sensation in the United States in the early 2000s, when Rachael Ray declared on TV that she loved her Wüsthof model. Sales shot up, and several knife manufacturers, both Asian and Western, scrambled to create their own versions or promote their models to Americans. The appeal was the friendly shape of the blade: 5 to 7 inches long, with a rounded front edge and a boxier build than the typical chef’s knife, which usually stretches between 8 and 10 inches long and has a sleeker profile and a sword-like point. The style was developed for postwar Japanese home cooks as a more versatile alternative to vegetable cleavers— santoku reportedly means “three virtues,” which are described variously as “meat, fish, and vegetables,” or “chopping, slicing, and dicing”—and quickly became the country’s most popular kitchen knife.
We, too, were fans of the santoku style when we first tested them; many of us still swear by our 2004 winner, the MAC Superior Santoku 6 1/2" ($74.95). But now that santoku sales in the United States are rivaling those of chef’s knives and all major knifemakers are peddling versions, we wanted to recheck the competition. We bought 10 models, priced from $24.99 to $199.95, focusing on blades that were at least 6 inches long, the size we previously found most useful. Some knife experts claim that santokus are suited only for cutting softer vegetables and boneless meat, not for thornier kitchen tasks such as breaking down bone-in chicken and hard vegetables. So our question was: Are santoku knives a viable alternative to chef’s knives, or are they in fact more specialized?
To answer this question, we put every model through our usual battery of chef’s knife tests: mincing fresh herbs, dicing onions, butchering whole raw chickens, and quartering unpeeled butternut squashes. We also threw a ringer into the testing—our favorite chef’s knife, the Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 8" Chef’s Knife ($39.95)—for comparison. Then, to see if santokus add unique value to a knife collection, we tacked on precision work: cutting carrot matchsticks and slicing semifrozen strip steaks across the grain into slivers. Finally six testers, including three self-described knife novices, chopped onions and rated the knives, including how well each model performed and if it was comfortable and easy to use.
How They Handled
A great kitchen knife almost leaps into your hand, feeling natural, ready to work, and effortless as it moves through food. Some of this is individual preference, but the knife’s handle, weight, balance, and blade geometry all contribute to the user experience.
For example, we generally pre...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
Our favorite santoku wowed testers of all abilities, who raved that it felt “agile, sharp, and really good in hand.” “Solid but light,” it made “fine, level cuts” with “great precision and control.” This knife features an asymmetrical blade with a 70/30 bevel that the company hand-sharpens specifically for either right- or left-handers.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
With a deeply curved cutting edge, this “rocking” santoku permits the full Western rocking motion when chopping and slicing. Its tip is also much less curved than most, which helped it pass through food without resistance, as did its slim spine and very acute 10-degree cutting angle. Its handle was comfortable, if a bit too long for some testers.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
Thanks to its sharp cutting edge and skinny spine, this knife produced razor-thin slices and broke down a whole chicken and cut carrot matchsticks “like butter.” The wooden handle felt a hair too thick and bulky to testers with smaller hands, and its blade was on the shorter end of what we prefer.
Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
Heavy, with a wide handle and a tall blade, this knife felt more like a modified chef’s knife than a santoku. It was “sharp as get-out,” easily breaking down a chicken, but several testers felt that they lacked control grasping such a large handle, especially during butchering when the grip became slippery.
- Ease of Use: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2.5 stars out of 3.
A featherweight, this agile knife felt like the most petite santoku of the lineup, particularly where the textured handle tapered to a too-narrow neck near the blade. Mincing parsley was a pleasure, but the cutting edge felt a bit dull from the beginning, so the knife lost some performance points.
Recommended with reservations
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
Despite its sturdy, sharp blade, this “blingy” knife felt handle-heavy. Testers complained about the handle’s D shape, too. It felt slippery as we cut carrots and onions, knocked into the undersides of our wrists, and was obviously oriented for right-handed cooks. Its spine felt sharp when we used a pinch grip.
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
While this bargain blade “rocketed” through butternut squash and slid through an onion, its balance felt awkward, and it didn’t hold an edge as well as others. It struggled to slice through raw chicken skin, and by the end of testing it had dulled slightly. The grippy, cushioned handle felt secure, but its width made smaller testers’ hands splay out uncomfortably, and its spine was too sharp in a pinch grip.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
“It can cut, but it’s not comfortable,” noted one tester of this sharp blade with a hard metal handle. The spine was sharp, and its tapered neck meant that our hands slid forward toward the blade, taking away a sense of control. Butternut squash proved challenging, but the knife got through.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 2 stars out of 3.
Despite the ultranarrow angle on each side of the cutting edge, this “light,” “agile” knife didn’t feel especially sharp. That might be because its spine was nearly 2.5 millimeters wide; it thus took “some force” to dice onion, which sprayed juice into our eyes.
Not Recommended
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Performance: 1 stars out of 3.
This knife felt duller, heavier, and more wedge-like than the rest from the get-go, and testers complained that its handle was too long. It stuck in the center of two squashes, leaving us with the dodgy job of gently nudging the blade back out.
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing.
Lisa McManus
Lisa is an executive editor for ATK Reviews, cohost of Gear Heads on YouTube, and gadget expert on TV's America's Test Kitchen.
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