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See why.The Best Nakiri
Beloved by Japanese home cooks, these traditional vegetable-cutting knives deserve a place in your kitchen.
By Published Apr. 15, 2021
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Sakai Kikumori 165mm Nakiri - Aogami 2 - Nashiji
What You Need To Know
The nakiri bōchō, or nakiri, was traditionally one of the most important knives found in Japanese home kitchens. Translated roughly, nakiri bōchō means “leaf-cutting knife”; it’s meant for slicing, dicing, and chopping vegetables, which form the backbone of Japanese cuisine. It has a rectangular blade with a relatively straight edge and a blunted tip. The edge allows you to maximize contact with the cutting board, so you can chop large bunches of leeks or carrots more efficiently. As the blade is fairly straight, you cut in a more-or-less up-and-down motion instead of rocking the blade from tip to heel, as you would with a Western knife. Relatively tall from cutting edge to spine, the blade is also great for keeping large foods or piles of greens in line as you work your way through them, allowing you to make perfectly straight, even cuts. It’s also good for scooping up the cut food when you’re done with it.
Because of its rectangular blade, the nakiri is often incorrectly labeled as a vegetable cleaver in Western markets (and in one of our previous reviews). The term “cleaver” is misleading, as it implies that this knife can be used for what we might call abuse tasks, such as hacking through chicken wings or chopping tough squash or pumpkin. It can’t! Like all Japanese knives, the nakiri is typically made of very thin, very hard, and fairly brittle metal; it should not be used to hack, twist, or force its way through tough or hard food, or it will chip.
We wanted to know which nakiri was best for home cooks, so we bought 12 models, priced from about $48 to about $255. We focused on nakiri with blades ranging from 6 to 7 inches in length—the most common size—and included both stainless-steel and carbon-steel models, using each to dice onions, mince parsley, julienne peppers, chop greens, brunoise (very finely dice) carrots, slice cabbage, slice delicata squash, and slice partially frozen steaks.
Blade Design Is Key
Most of the models were sheer pleasure to use. They dispatched vegetables small and large with aplomb, making quick work of produce prep. But a few design factors separated the models we liked from those we didn’t. While blades closer to the 6-inch end of the spectrum provided a little more control and precision when dicing onions or making brunoise, we ultimately preferred knives that were a touch longer, as they gave us more command over a greater range of vegetables, allowing us to slice wide swaths of greens or big peppers in a single stroke.
We also liked blades that were relatively tall from cutting edge to spine, as they made it easier to corral heaps of parsley and slice tall cabbages clea...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Blade: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 3 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 3 stars out of 3.
The lightest knife we tested, this nakiri was a true pleasure to use and seemed nearly weightless in our hands. With a thin, relatively tall, medium-length blade, it was capable of both coarser work (chopping greens or delicata squash) and fine, precise cuts (making carrot brunoise, mincing parsley). Its oval-profile handle felt great in our hands, and the magnolia wood used to make it helped us keep our grip on it, even when it got wet.
- Blade: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 3 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 3 stars out of 3.
The carbon-steel blade on this nakiri was the tallest we tested and one of the thinnest, so it was able to corral wide swaths of greens and large cabbages with aplomb while still making beautifully precise cuts when making brunoise carrots. And because the blade is clad in stainless steel, you won’t have to worry quite as much about rust and perfect maintenance; the carbon steel is exposed only at the edge. Its octagonal wood handle was grippy and comfortable to hold.
- Blade: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 3 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 3 stars out of 3.
Although this nakiri has a full tang, it was one of the lightest we tested, thanks to its ultrathin blade, making it especially airy and effortless to use. That thin stainless-steel blade also excelled at precise tasks—slicing cabbage paper-thin and making perfect, tiny brunoise. The blade is a tiny bit narrower than our top models, so it isn’t quite as commanding when handling tall piles of greens or herbs, but this was a minor quibble. Its polished wood handle is comfortable to grip.
Available for purchase at: www.chefknivestogo.com
- Blade: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 3 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 3 stars out of 3.
A touch heavier than other models we tested, this stainless-steel nakiri was still easy to use for long periods. Its medium-length blade was thin, making for keen, decisive cuts, though we wished it were just a hair taller to help keep tall piles of greens or herbs in line. Its composite handle was comfortable to grip.
Recommended
- Blade: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 3 stars out of 3.
Lightweight and agile, this nakiri made quick work of all the produce placed before it. Its blade was just a touch narrower than our top two options, so it didn’t command large cabbages and piles of greens quite as authoritatively. And its oval handle was comfortable to hold, if a mite slippery due to the composite material used to make it.
- Blade: 2 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 3 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 3 stars out of 3.
This gorgeous, lightweight hammered stainless-steel-clad carbon-steel knife did a nice job of handling produce of all sizes and shapes, and its octagonal rosewood handle was warm and responsive in our hands. Its slightly thicker spine meant it was particularly adept at powering through dense delicata squash, though occasionally it felt a little less precise when making more delicate brunoise or other cuts; its blade was also a touch shorter than we preferred.
- Blade: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This nakiri was lighter than its all-metal construction might suggest, though still a bit heavier than our top options. The blade itself was thin, long, and relatively tall, so it did a great job of corralling wide swaths of greens and herbs and making controlled, even, paper-thin slices of large cabbage. We just wish that the handle—made of the same slick metal as the blade—were a little easier to grasp.
- Blade: 3 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 2.5 stars out of 3.
Made in Japan by Zwilling J.A. Henckels, this nakiri had an unusual pointed tip, which aided in making precise cuts, such as when dicing onions. Its blade was relatively long and thin, handling piles of greens and herbs well. With a full tang, it was a bit heavier than some of our favorites, though still pleasant to use. One small flaw: Its composite handle is a little slick, but it’s otherwise comfortable to hold.
- Blade: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 2.5 stars out of 3.
This stainless-steel nakiri chopped and sliced beautifully, thanks to its tall, medium-length blade. And its hybrid handle—oval in profile like a traditional Japanese handle, but with a full tang for balance—was usually comfortable to hold, although its composite wood handle could be a touch slippery. Perhaps because it had a full tang and a slightly thicker spine, this nakiri was on the heavier side, so it excelled at powering through delicata squash; at times, however, it felt a tad imprecise because of that weight.
Recommended with reservations
- Blade: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 2 stars out of 3.
Because its blade was relatively long and tall, this American-designed nakiri was serviceable when used for tasks that didn’t require any precision, such as chopping greens. Its handle was comfortable enough to hold, though a touch slippery when wet. While its heavy weight and thick spine made it useful for powering through denser delicata squash, it was awkward and cumbersome to wield elsewhere, wedging unpleasantly into cabbage and peppers and crushing onions as we diced them.
Available for purchase at: www.madeincookware.com
- Blade: 2 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 2 stars out of 3.
We liked the length of the blade on this American-designed nakiri, which allowed it to corral lots of greens and herbs easily, and its plastic handle was comfortable to hold, if a little slippery when wet. But otherwise, the blade was a little narrow, so it didn’t command bigger piles of food or large cabbage as well, and its very thick spine made it harder to make brunoise and paper-thin slices of cabbage, wedging into the food more than it cut; it felt clumsy even when dicing onions, though it got the job done. Because the metal in its blade and full tang was thick, this nakiri was also one of the heaviest we tested, so it wasn’t as easy to lift and chop with for longer periods.
Not Recommended
- Blade: 2 stars out of 3.
- Handle: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Weight: 1.5 stars out of 3.
This very heavy, short-bladed knife felt more like a small meat cleaver than a nakiri in hand, delivering far more power than finesse. Its thick blade felt imprecise when used to brunoise carrot and dice onions, and when we used it to slice delicata squash, it got wedged in halfway through and couldn’t be easily removed. Because it weighed far more than any other model we tested, our arms tired more quickly when wielding it. A composite handle was reasonably comfortable to hold but a tad slippery.
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.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.
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