To Find the Best Electric Knives for Carving Turkey and Other Roasts, I (Very Carefully) Tested 8 of Them

Early in my fine dining restaurant career, I started a new job and was shocked to see one of the cooks slicing roast chicken with an electric knife. I wasn’t a stranger to electric knives, as my parents had one when I was young. I just didn’t think they had a place in a commercial kitchen.

Looking back now, I understand. Not every cook keeps their knives as sharp as they should, and the chef wanted clean cuts with the skin intact for texture and presentation. An electric knife could do exactly that. To find the best electric knives, I took eight popular models into my kitchen and sliced a whole lotta bread, chicken, and ham. 

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Electric Knife

Cuisinart Electric Knife Set With Cutting Board CEK-41

$50 at Amazon $50 at Williams Sonoma View on Cuisinart.com

This high-bladed (it’s not a wide blade, it’s just tall compared to others) knife was surprisingly nimble cutting around ham bones. It also made short work of slicing a roasted chicken. 

The Best Budget Electric Knife

Proctor Silex Easy Slice Electric Knife

$20 $19 at Amazon

This electric knife is a model of simplicity. But don’t let the lack of bells and whistles fool you: It outperformed several other knives in its ease of use and effectiveness.

The Best Electric Knife Set

NutriChef Portable Electrical Food Cutter Knife Set

$35 $33 at Amazon $29 at Wayfair View on Kohls.com

This electric knife set from Nutrichef includes meat and bread blades, as well as a wooden stand to keep everything organized. It performed very well slicing bread and ham.

Another Great Electric Knife Set

Hamilton Beach Electric Knife

$25 at Amazon $22 at Target $22 at Macy's

The Hamilton Beach set comes with a meat fork to stabilize roasts or poultry and a plastic storage case to keep everything organized. It produced thin and medium-thick slices of chicken and ham with relative ease.

The Tests

• Bread Test: To test each knife’s sharpness, design, and versatility, I used each one to slice a loaf of soft bread. Each knife had to do four cuts in progressively thinner slices, ranging from one-half inch to almost see-through.
• Roast Chicken Test: My next test involved carving a roast chicken, as carving poultry is a common task for electric knives. I needed a point of comparison to gauge how well they performed. So I carved my first chicken with the Wüsthof Classic Carving Knife, the winner of our carving knife review. I disconnected the thigh at the backbone (preserving the oyster, naturally), then removed the drumstick. I removed the wing and cut five slices of white meat as thinly as possible. With that baseline established, I repeated these cuts with each electric knife, judging the ease of separating joints, the thinness of the slices, and the overall feel and controllability of the knife. I then cleaned each knife per the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Ham Test: The winners of the previous tests moved on to meet the final boss: a bone-in ham. I sliced five pieces of ham, starting with a thick cut and moving to progressively thinner cuts, directing the blades around the bone to see how precisely each knife sliced. 

What We Learned

How Do Electric Knives Work?

I once tried to explain to a friend that a reciprocating saw was a giant electric knife for cutting wood and metal. Now, I have to explain that an electric knife is a small, dual-bladed reciprocating saw because the popularity of these two tools has since been inverted. The two blades of an electric knife are slightly offset and work in a push-pull motion, with one traveling outward while the other travels in. That doubles the cutting power for each stroke, creating cleaner cuts and, yes, beautifully sliced poultry skin. 

Finger Guards Were Good But Clumsy

When you’re dealing with two rapidly vibrating blades, a molded piece of plastic that keeps the fingers clear of them is a pretty solid safety feature. However, when slicing items like bread, the finger guard of several models made contact with the cutting board before the blades cut all the way through, leaving the bread slices connected at the bottom. I tried angling the blades to pull them through the bread for a clean cut, but not every knife with a finger guard agreed with that idea. I had to move the knife back towards me, where the finger guard wouldn’t hit the board or counter, and cut perpendicularly before the blades sliced all the way through. It may have been only my perception, but I cringed for my countertop’s safety throughout this process. 

Safety Switches Were Also a Good Idea, But Not Always Well-Designed

Some of the knives I tested had a two-part safety mechanism: a kill switch that you depress and a power button that only engages after engaging the kill switch. This arrangement reduces accidents, but sometimes the idea was better than the execution. The Brentwood Stainless Steel Electric Carving Knife had an awkward arrangement that made it difficult to keep both switches engaged and frequently cut out mid-slice. The NutriChef Cordless Electric Knife had a better switch arrangement, but the knife ran for about half a second after releasing both switches—concerning!

Sometimes Simpler Was Better

Electric knives aren’t new by any means, which leaves plenty of room for feature and safety innovation over the years. However, most of my favorites employed a simple design similar to the first electric knife I saw as a kid—that is, just a handle and blades. Many of the newer models’ safety features reduced their precision and comfort during use, leading to more struggling while slicing with a vibrating blade, which hardly felt safer. 

The Criteria: What to Look for in an Electric Knife

The first consideration is how well they cut. Can they cut clean slices and work around joints and bones? That flexibility is key in a good electric knife. The second consideration is the same with any knife: How does it feel in your hand? A good electric knife should be comfortable to grip, with easy-to-use safety features (if present), and not too heavy for you to use effectively.

Our Favorite Electric Knives

The Best Electric Knife

Cuisinart Electric Knife Set With Cutting Board CEK-41

$50 at Amazon $50 at Williams Sonoma View on Cuisinart.com

What we liked: If I were to score my favorite knives on a scale of one to five (which I did, because I liked several of them) there would be only a quarter of a point difference between them. The Cuisinart, at first glance, looked clumsy with its tall, one-inch blade, but I was pleased with the delicate cuts it made. It’s comfortable to hold and powered through chicken joints, cut thin slices of bread and white meat, and gracefully slid around a ham bone. It was also easy to clean, only requiring a light scrub with soapy water.

What we didn’t like: I couldn’t get a clean bread slice until I held the finger guard past the edge of my counter, which I found unnerving since I didn’t want to slice into the butcher block.

Key Specs

• Weight: 23 ounces
• Blade length: 7.75 inches
• Handle length: 9 inches
• Total length: 17.5 inches
• Cord or cordless: Corded
• Materials: Plastic, stainless steel
• Accessories: Plastic stand, cutting board, meat fork
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the handle with hot, soapy water before drying thoroughly

The Best Budget Electric Knife

Proctor Silex Easy Slice Electric Knife

$20 $19 at Amazon

What we liked: What you see is what you get with the Proctor Silex. It’s a simple, easy-to-use knife with no extra features. There’s a handle, a trigger, and blades. It handled chicken joints without a second thought, made thin white meat portions with the skin intact, and could cut medium and thick slices of ham with little effort.

What we didn’t like: The blades skipped across the bread crust and were hesitant with the ham’s bark, making very thin cuts challenging. To be fair, it cut thin slices, but not as thin as the Cuisinart.

Key Specs

• Weight: 21 ounces
• Blade length: 7.5 inches 
• Handle length: 9.5 inches
• Total length: 19 inches
• Cord or cordless: Corded
• Materials: Plastic, stainless steel
• Accessories: None
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the handle with hot, soapy water before drying thoroughly

The Best Electric Knife Set

NutriChef Portable Electrical Food Cutter Knife Set

$35 $33 at Amazon $29 at Wayfair View on Kohls.com

What we liked: The NutriChef is a single-button knife with a finger guard for safety. It was lightweight and easy to hold and maneuver. The thin blades carved fine slices of ham and white meat during my tests, although the knife struggled when trying to separate the thigh from the backbone in the chicken test. This set has a wooden stand holding the handle, carving blades, and a bread blade set.

What we didn’t like: The finger guard got in the way of slicing bread completely through, and the knife struggled to get through the thigh joint, but it still sliced thin lobes of meat.

Key Specs

• Weight: 13 ounces
• Blade length: 7.75 inches
• Handle length: 8.75 inches
• Total length: 16 inches
• Cord or cordless: Corded
• Materials: Plastic, stainless steel, wood
• Accessories: Wooden stand, bread blade, meat blade
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the handle with hot, soapy water before drying thoroughly

Another Great Electric Knife Set

Hamilton Beach Electric Knife

$25 at Amazon $22 at Target $22 at Macy's

What we liked: This is another knife that seems like a throwback to older designs but is a great example of not fixing what's not broken. The Hamilton Beach is a straightforward design that felt comfortable in my hand. It sliced through chicken joints easily and cut thin slices of white meat without tearing the skin. It has a finger guard, but I appreciated that I could angle the blade and get a complete, clean, thin bread slice. This set came with a meat fork, which was handy for keeping the meat securely in place and my fingers at a safe distance. 

What we didn’t like: The bone-in hams I used for testing had a thick bark from curing and smoking, and the Hamilton Beach required some effort to slice through it, so very thin ham slices weren’t on the table with this model. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 21 ounces
• Blade length: 7.5 inches
• Handle length: 9 inches
• Total length: 18 inches
• Cord or cordless: Corded
• Materials: Plastic, stainless steel
• Accessories: Plastic storage case, meat fork
• Care: Hand wash the blades and wipe the handle with hot, soapy water before drying thoroughly

The Competition

• Elite Gourmet Cordless Electric Knife with Dual Serrated Blades: The Elite Gourmet performed well in the bread and poultry tests, but it really struggled to cut through the ham’s bark, resulting in thicker slices than I would have liked. It was a good knife in all other aspects.
• BLACK+DECKER Comfort Grip Electric Knife: The Black + Decker was very comfortable in my hands, and the safety toggle switch was easy to depress while cutting. However, the blade jiggled when firmly installed, and although it cut cleanly and easily and the blades held firmly, I didn’t have full confidence in it.
• Brentwood TS-1010 7-Inch Electric Carving Knife: The Brentwood wasn’t comfortable to hold while cutting because my hand got tired from activating the safety features. Keeping the safety switch depressed while holding the trigger was tricky, and the knife repeatedly stopped mid-cut during the bread and chicken tests.
• NutriChef Cordless Electric Knife: This cordless knife simply lacked the power of the other models I tested. It struggled through the bread and chicken tests, and the knife kept running for about a half-second after releasing the power and safety switches, which left me doubting its safety.

FAQs

How do you clean an electric knife?

Some manufacturers make dishwasher-safe blades, but, generally speaking, washing the blades with hot, soapy water is the best way to wash any blade. Wipe down the handle and cord with a towel or sponge soaked in hot soapy water to remove any food residue. Dry thoroughly before storing.

Is an electric knife worth it?

That really depends on what you want in a knife. An electric knife doesn’t outperform a well-sharpened slicing knife—the two are about on par. But an electric knife works faster. 

Do electric knives get dull?

Yes, electric knife blades get dull, just like any other blades. But most blades are serrated, keeping them sharper for longer. An electric knife may also not see as much use as many other kitchen knives, prolonging the time between sharpening. Electric knives have two blades, so sharpening them will cost double what a single serrated blade costs. Weigh the cost of sharpening versus replacement (as much as I hate to recommend that).

Can you use an electric knife to cut bread?

You absolutely can. Many of the knives I tested did a great job of slicing bread, and some models came with a set of bread blades.

Why We’re the Experts

• Greg Baker is a multi-time James Beard Award-nominated former chef who lives in Tampa, Florida. 
• He’s reviewed knife sharpeners, charcoal starter chimneys, and more for Serious Eats.
• Greg sliced many chickens and hams to research this article.