The 4 Best Santoku Knives, According to My Tests

Pros

This extremely sharp knife offers great control.

It's the most expensive santoku I tested.

We're big fans of the Made In brand here at Food & Wine, especially its stainless steel and nonstick cookware. And the brand's new Japanese Damascus Steel Knife Set has proven its worth, too, taking the top spot in my nakiri tests as well as here.

This santoku is gorgeous, with a swirling Damascus pattern from 66 layers of steel. It proved up to every task in my testing, standing out especially well with sweet potato, which peeled like I was using a straight razor. It's on the heavier side, which was a help in splitting the dense potato, yet I had plenty of control to cut it and the steak into very even cubes. It was also a joy to break down garlic cloves with smooth and rapid chopping. I did have to put in some extra effort and sawing to get through the sticky mozzarella; the Made In wound up in the middle of the pack in that test, but at the top for all the rest.

The main negative of this knife is its price. It was the most expensive santoku in my test. I say it's worth every cent, but there are also worthy options at a far lower cost.

Blade Length:Blade Material: VG-10 stainless steel | Total Length:Handle Material: Plastic | Weight:

This santoku sliced meat and cheese with amazing accuracy and no sticking.

It had some trouble with sweet potato, and it's quite pricey.

Where the Made In santoku stood out cutting hard sweet potato, the Miyabi Kaizen one impressed me most with the way it handled softer ingredients. It went through steak like a scalpel and was able to make paper-thin slices of cheese that didn't stick to the blade in the least. On the other hand, it didn't perform so well with the sweet potato, needing a lot of extra weight to chop through the dense flesh.

The Miyabi santoku is one of the heavier knives I tested but felt notably light in my hand, a testament to its excellent balance. The blade is a standard 7 inches but the whole knife is longer than normal, thanks to an extended bolster. This leaves lots of room to accommodate different grip styles and cutting techniques. I hold knives pretty far forward, which left a lot of extra space at the butt end for me. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it's different from the rest of the santokus in my test.

In terms of cost, the Miyabi is a little cheaper than the Made In but still a good bit above average.

Blade Length:Blade Material: VG-10 stainless steel | Total Length:Handle Material: Micarta | Weight:

This knife offers an excellent grip and solid slicing at a shockingly low price.

It's not quite as sharp as the top performers in my test.

Besides the under-$40 price, my favorite thing about Mercer's santoku is the handle. The soft, rubbery Santoprene material has an almost sticky texture that's incredibly secure to hold but rinses and washes off just like the smooth plastic of other models. It's heavy enough to feel substantial, but it's still well-balanced. Combined with the grip, that makes this a very agile santoku.

Where you sacrifice to save cost with this knife is in sharpness. It did...okay in my tests, needing a lot of force to get through the sweet potato and making pretty uneven slices of mozzarella. It sliced the steak and chopped the garlic efficiently, though, and it seemed like the ingredients didn't stick to the blade as much as with other knives.

The truth is that you can get a better-performing santoku than this one — but you'll have to pay four or five times as much. The Mercer's low price makes it a truly amazing value.

Blade Length:Blade Material: Carbon steel | Total Length:Handle Material: Santoprene | Weight:

The unique shape makes this santoku especially adapted to a rocking chopping motion.

Ingredients stuck to the blade quite badly.

Zwilling's santoku looks quite different from others, with a more rounded blade edge that lends itself, as the name suggests, to a rocking chopping motion. I did indeed find it very efficient at chopping garlic, and its very sharp edge made peeling the sweet potato a breeze. This is the heaviest santoku I tested by a full ounce, which gave it more power to slice through the hard sweet potato, though that could lead to more fatigue if you're using it for hours at a time.

The other unique design element of the Zwilling Rocking Santoku is that the end of the blade angles to a point, rather than the traditional curve. I'm honestly not sure if this makes much difference in performance, as either style lets you use the point for detail work. From a purely aesthetic perspective, it's striking.

My most serious problem with this knife in my tests was how badly everything stuck to its surface. Despite the hollow edge divots that are supposed to prevent this type of thing, I had to peel each slice of cheese off the blade with my fingers, and I had to keep sweeping all the garlic back onto the cutting board every few chops.

Blade Length:Blade Material: Stainless steel | Total Length:Handle Material: Plastic | Weight:

My Favorite Santoku Knife The Made In Japanese Damascus Steel Santoku topped my tests with its sharp blade, good looks, and high performance in all situations. For a budget option, the Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku did quite well in testing despite its shockingly low price.

How I Tested Santoku Knives I tested 12 different santoku knives. Beginning with general design, handle comfort, and weight balance, I rated the knives on a variety of characteristics as I put them through a series of identical tests.

Sweet Potato Test: I used each santoku to halve, peel, and chop a sweet potato into cubes. Cutting through the dense flesh was a good way to judge each knife's power and precision with heavy items, and peeling helped observe the level of sharpness.

Mozzarella Test: To measure performance with soft, sticky ingredients, I used each knife to cut a small ball of mozzarella into slices. I noted how much effort and back-and-forth sawing I needed to get through the cheese, how easily I was able to get thin and even slices, and how much the slices stuck to the side of the knife.

Garlic Test: To rate chopping performance, I used each santoku to chop three peeled garlic cloves thoroughly. I noted how efficiently each knife cut through the garlic and how much time and effort I needed to reduce it to a fully minced texture.

Steak Test: I used each santoku to cut 3 ounces of steak into cubes, noting whether any blades had trouble slicing through meat and how easily they were able to make even pieces.

Cleaning: Between tests, I hand-washed each knife, noting those that needed extra scrubbing on the blade or handle, and any that were especially slippery when wet.

Only after completing all my other tests did I reveal the retail prices of the santokus to consider value for money. At the time of testing, the 12 santokus ranged from $38 to $199, with an average of $131.

What I Looked For in the Best Santoku Knife Blade Material and Design Steel is by far the most common material used for knives of all kinds. Japanese knives in particular are often made from carbon steel, which contains extra carbon, making it harder than normal and able to hold a finer edge for longer. The disadvantage of carbon steel is that it's more brittle and more susceptible to rust. Stainless steel is made with added chromium, which makes it shiny and rust-resistant, but softer and less sharpenable. There are many different "recipes" for steel that have different combinations of properties, and some knives also layer multiple steels together to achieve different effects.

With the santoku in particular, the exact shape of the blade is important, too. The bottom of the knife should be rounded for a rocking cutting motion, but different models have different curves that work best with different knife techniques. A santoku's broad blade gives it power and is useful for things like crushing garlic cloves, but the shape also makes it heavy for its size — and each santoku is a little different in height, length, and weight.

Another design aspect to look for is a Granton edge. This is a series of divots carved into the blade that create air pockets so food doesn't stick. It's an especially helpful feature if you plan to slice a lot of meat, cheese, and other wet or sticky ingredients.

Handle Material and Design It doesn't matter how sharp the blade is; if a knife is painful to hold or slips out of your hand, it's not a good knife. There are lots of different handle shapes available, and I find that the best ones are neither perfectly round nor perfectly square. Sharp corners are secure in the hand, but they're not particularly comfortable. Circular handles feel nice, but they're slippery, especially when wet. Round-cornered rectangles or oval shapes can both be very effective, with your favorite depending on exactly how you hold your knife.

In terms of handle material, wood and plastic are very common, along with composites like Micarta and Pakkawood, which are layers of wood and other materials bonded together in a plastic resin. Regardless of the material, you should look at the texture, which can range from perfectly smooth (easy to clean but potentially slippery) to rough and sandpapery (good for grip but can hold onto bits of food). Another handle design aspect to pay attention to is the rivets that connect the handle and blade: Ideally, these should feel perfectly smooth, with no gaps where corrosion can begin to form.

Weight and Balance Santokus are fairly light knives in general: The ones I tested ranged in weight from 3.5 to 8.8 ounces. This is not meant to be a knife that's tough to lift, but there was a noticeable difference in feel between models. A heavier knife doesn't offer as much control, but the weight helps cut through tough or dense foods with less effort. Lighter knives are more agile but less powerful, but you do want some amount of weight to hold the blade securely in your hand.

Just as important as overall weight is weight balance. Ideally, the handle and blade offset each other perfectly, which makes the knife as stable as possible and gives you the most control. But if a knife is a bit unbalanced, it's better if it's weighted toward the blade than toward the handle. A heftier blade can feel like it's pulling itself through food, while a knife that's balanced toward the handle wants to pull the blade backward out of the food.

Frequently Asked Questions What is a santoku knife?

A santoku is an all-purpose knife that can deal with most everyday ingredients in the kitchen. It has a similar design to a European-style chef's knife, but the blade is typically a little shorter and lighter, with a slight curve on the bottom that lets you use a rocking or up-and-down chopping motion. The santoku combines design elements of three different Japanese knife styles : the nakiri, designed for vegetables, the gyuto, made for slicing meat, and the deba, intended for filleting fish.

What is a santoku knife used for?

Well, just about anything. The name means "three virtues" or "three uses" in Japanese, which refers to how versatile it is. (Depending on which source you ask, those three uses could be meat, fish, and vegetables; or slicing, dicing, and chopping.) You can use a santoku just about anywhere you'd use a chef's knife.

How do you sharpen a santoku?

You can sharpen most santokus the same way you'd sharpen any kitchen knife . Any whetstone , manual sharpener, or electric sharpener should be able to handle the blade shape.

But some santokus are single-bevel, meaning that they're only sharpened from one side of the blade. (Most knives are double-bevel and sharpened equally from both sides.) It's possible to sharpen a single-bevel santoku at home, but it requires more advanced techniques. You're probably best getting a single-bevel knife sharpened professionally.

What should a santoku knife not be used for?

You can use a santoku and only a santoku to make the majority of meals, but there are some tasks it's not perfect for. As a fairly lightweight blade, a santoku isn't the right choice for breaking down large cuts of meat, or anything that requires hacking through bones. You want a thick meat cleaver instead. To make thin, accurate slices of crusty breads and delicate raw tomatoes, a serrated bread knife is best. And for detailed, delicate work like cutting garnishes or sculpting a centerpiece, a small paring knife could be the right choice.

Other Santoku Knives I Tested Strong Contenders Masamoto HC Japanese Santoku ($198 at Amazon)

I felt perfect control holding this knife, and it did a beautiful job in my tests. The reason it's not on my list of winners is that it discolored quite badly after a single rinse and wash. I washed all the test santokus together in the same way and the Masamoto was the only one with this problem, so it's a lot less forgiving than competitors when it comes to care. (Notably, Masamoto's nakiri did not discolor in my nakiri testing and was my pick for best splurge.)

Tojiro Professional Santoku ($92 at Amazon)

Tojiro's nicely priced santoku gave me great control, especially when peeling the curved surfaces of a sweet potato. However, it was not as sharp as the higher-priced models above, needing a notable amount of sawing to slice the steak and lots of chops to get through the garlic.

Victorinox 7-Inch Rosewood Santoku ($67 at Amazon)

This wood-handled santoku is a great budget buy, with an extremely sharp blade that performed much better than I expected given the lightweight design and plain wooden handle. It would have been my pick for the best value, except the Mercer Genesis did even better and is cheaper.

What Didn't Make the List None of the santokus in my test stood out as a bad performer; the models not included above just fell a bit behind the rest, either in performance or value. All five come from brands that we trust and that have produced winners in other knife category tests: Global, Mac, Misen, Shun, and Wüsthof.

Our Expertise Food & Wine senior writer Jason Horn tested 12 santokus at home and wrote this roundup. With a master's in journalism and a culinary degree, he's been writing about food and drinks for nearly 20 years, including at Liquor.com, Playboy, and Serious Eats. Our resident knife-testing expert, he's also tested and reviewed butcher knives , meat cleavers , oyster knives , brisket slicers , and more.